3 Ways To Be a Better Manager

Typically in these blogs, I give advice for people who are looking for jobs or I talk about ways to be a better employee. The thing is, many people work at jobs where they are in charge of a group of employees and their job performance is tied directly to the team's performance. Often, in these situations, the people who were promoted to management are the people who were great at their jobs. This means that they know what they are doing, but the downside is that they may not have a lot of training on how to be an effective leader or they may not have the best people skills.



If you're in this position, here are 3 ways to be a better manager and get the most out of your team:



Learn the job - Just because you did this job somewhere else, doesn't make you an expert. Once you've landed the job, you have to take the time to actually learn the job from the people who have been there longer than you. No matter what position you have, admitting that you don't know everything and asking the people who are actually doing the job for help doesn't make you look weak. It shows that you value the work they are doing and understand that until you know how things work, you can't be an effective manager.



Don't be a jerk - There are many managers that are out there doing a great job. Their team respects them and productivity and morale are up. On the other hand, there are plenty of bosses who are just jerks. They do what they want and don't care what those under them think about it. To them, it's more important to be respected professionally than to be liked. These kinds of managers make their employees miserable and their performance suffers. Let your employees feel respected by you, treat them well and they will be willing to go all out for you.



Take responsibility - Instead of blaming your employees for not making the team a success, look for ways that you have dropped the ball. Make sure that they have all the tools they need to do their job. If you don't take charge and give them a clear roadmap, they won't know how to achieve the results you want. Develop a strategy and get your team to buy in to it. When everyone is on the same page, working together becomes much more productive.



Have you ever worked for a bad boss? What do you wish they would have done differently?