What makes an effective manager?

How do managers get the best from their team and win their loyalty? There are many different styles of management but great managers accept that no employee is perfect in every aspect of their job. Managing in an exceptional way starts with recognising this and playing to peoples’ strengths in the workplace.

An effective manager will accept that there will be areas of weakness and it may not be worth spending time trying to change this. It’s not that a great manager will never help improve an employee’s skills, they just switch the emphasis to developing areas where the employee already has potential, talent, knowledge and skills.

How do they achieve great results?

Great managers recognise strengths in their team, they support, empathise and encourage around these strengths. When it comes to weakness, it’s about managing that weakness – perhaps by providing a mentor, coaching, training or arranging for the individual to work with someone whose strengths balance out their weaknesses.

Those with strong management skills take time to understand the abilities within their team. In turn, this can help with integrating workers into a top performing team. It is almost like choreography! Being smart when recruiting also helps. Recruiting people who are a good personality fit to a team is key, as well as having the necessary skills.

Some employees love a challenge, some like a routine, some are ambitious and some are not. It’s about recognising and playing to that. A great manager will also give employees space to do their own work, this can help give the worker a strong sense of accountability and responsibility for the work they are doing.

How a good manager handles their mistakes

A good manager will learn from their mistakes and will admit to them. They accept that they may have been micromanaging, displaying favouritism or setting unattainable targets for example, and they learn to trust their employees and to be self-aware.

Good communication

A good manager will tailor the way they communicate to individuals. They tend to be transparent, the longer a difficult matter is left the harder it is to manage and a good manager will know this from experience.

A great manager will set a positive tone, praise the employee when it is due and adopt an open communication style.

A trusting, open style of management can work well with remote workers.

Listening to personal and team goals

Effective managers have strong listening skills – they listen to the opinions of others and make them count. They show they care.

The manager’s job is to turn talent into performance and this is what great managers excel at.

Decision Making

A strong manager will take the decision to muck in when the going gets tough. They also know when to delegate - again it’s about self-awareness and seeing delegation as a learning curve for the team.

A manager’s decision making will have a direct impact on the effectiveness of the team and whether they are bringing out the best in people. Good managers tend to handle pressure well and avoid bringing emotion into the situation - this attribute can help to make the right decisions in stressful situations.

A great manager should be a great role model – we’ve all experienced poor management in the workplace but good managers earn respect and guide the aspirations of those following in their footsteps.