The areas of improvement for managers mean that some of your management skills are lower than expected for a manager’s role. So, it is necessary for additional coaching and training to develop the right skills to help you carry out your duty as a manager more effectively.
How to Improve as a Manager?
Introspection is key. Take some time for honest reflection on your strengths and weaknesses as a manager. What makes you successful in your role? What areas could use improvement? What are the things that make you feel energized and motivated in your work, and what are the things that tend to drain you?
Once you understand yourself better, focus on improving your skills in the areas that need them most. Seek out new challenges, or talk to other managers for advice.
Be patient — change doesn’t happen overnight. But with some dedication and effort, you can continue to grow and become an even better manager.
Here are the 16 areas of improvement for managers examples in detail:
1. Demonstrate That You Know the Job
One of the most common areas of improvement for managers is showing job competency without arrogance. You must demonstrate by your words and actions that you know the job.
To have credibility, you must show that you understand what is happening in the workplace. With it, you may be able to lead your team effectively. Employees tend to feel anxious and uncertain whenever they see their manager looking incompetent, panicking, or flapping.
A good manager knows how and when to show confidence. And it is not boasting or an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Instead, it is a real sense of belief in yourself which comes from developing a genuine respect for who you are and what you can do.
Feeling secure in yourself provides the foundation to build essential skills such as solving problems, making decisions, and negotiating. Above all, having confidence gives you the capacity to guide your people through tricky situations without them feeling any impact.
Always instill confidence in your staff, compelling them to do extraordinary things they would not otherwise do. Also, a good manager can function orderly in all situations.
2. Use Your Authority Appropriately
One of the top areas of improvement for managers is to stop controlling everything employees do at work. When you interfere in everything team members do, you are misusing your authority, and it is the hallmark of bad managers who lose good employees.
A good manager doesn’t use their position for self-gratification or control of people. Instead, they use their authority with wisdom and sensitivity to the appropriateness of the circumstances.
Read also: 8 Examples of What to Tell Your Manager to Improve On
3. Create a Reciprocal Relationship
There are many areas of opportunity for managers to build strong relationships with their teams. Understand that your employees want to know a little bit about you and for you to know them.
And getting to know your employees doesn’t mean you get them into your office and interview them. It happens when you walk down to their workstations and talk to them.
Walking around the workplace and talking to people is something you must do every day.
Many managers struggle to get on with their employees because they do not know how to create the right relationship. You must build a balanced relationship that mutually benefits you and your team members.
4. Take an Interest in Your Employees
Take the time and listen to your employees. Also, try going out of your way to make every team member feel valued. Each of your staff members has concerns, ideas, and opinions about their work.
Making yourself available to listen, even if only for 30 minutes every day, will show that you are interested in your employees. When you do not listen to your employees, it gives the impression that you are not interested in them.
So, find out what your staff members are doing every day. And be sincere to make them feel you are genuinely interested in them – you are not just prying.
Related: 13 Tips on How to be a Great Supervisor at Work
5. Empower Instead of Micromanaging
When you think of many pressing areas of improvements at work for managers, micromanaging comes out on top. A manager must be available to deal with complex issues your team members cannot solve independently.
However, it is better to encourage your team members to try and solve their problems before coming to you for help. When a manager empowers employees, they become confident and creative.
Always ensure your employees try to solve the problems independently before coming to you. Doing that will empower them to feel good about what they can do without you getting involved.
6. Respect Your Team Members
The things your team members want from you are few. Why do you not greet your members when you meet them in the morning? People want to feel respected, and one way to show respect is by greeting someone.
Regardless of your position and job title, you are no better than others working under you.
It takes no effort to be decent and greet your team members when you bump into them. Understand that without them, you cannot achieve anything. And crucially, you are responsible for setting the tone of the culture you manage.
7. Don’t Wait for People to Fail
Regardless of how talented a person is, they can still make a mistake, sometimes without knowing it. People want to become better employees.
The less performing member of your staff needs to improve. Your inconsistent employees need to become consistent.
Employees want to know how they are contributing to the company. It is your responsibility as a manager to let everyone working under you know what is happening in the company.
If you cannot make your employees understand how they are performing, how do you expect them to improve?
Don’t wait until something serious happens to give feedback. If you want your team members to improve their work performance, you must meet regularly with each person and provide them with feedback.
Also, remember that most employees do not want to receive feedback that has been filtered to sound good. They need all information, good and bad to take appropriate measures to improve the right way.
8. Have a Good Sense of Judgment
It’s vital to make sound judgments during emergencies. When something happens unexpectedly, it’s often up to the manager to quickly assess the situation and decide on a course of action.
Part of having good judgment is staying calm under pressure and dealing with issues quickly. In a crisis, there is often no time for deliberation. So you must act fast and stay focused on the issue or subject.
A good manager is always prepared for emergencies and knows how to keep their team organized during chaotic times. Your ability to remain calm and collected under pressure is often the critical factor in determining the outcome of an emergency situation.
9. Involve Your Staff in Key Decisions
Avoid focusing only on what your team members are doing wrong, and pay attention to what they can do. Your primary responsibility as a manager is to help your staff members putting their skills and qualities to better use. So, involve them in making decisions and value their input.
Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all in management. As a manager, you cannot treat all your staff members the same and expect that everything will work out somehow fine. You need to manage each person in a unique way that brings the best out of their abilities.
Read more: 16 Character Traits of a Hard Worker
10. Honour Your Commitment
Your employees expect you to be consistent in how you reward people, discipline people, and what you expect from their work ethic. Employees want to know that when you say something, they can count on it to be true.
They want you to be truthful in the manner that if you say something will happen, it happens.
Sometimes things get tricky for a manager and force you to change direction from the original plan. That is understandable. But, once you say you will do something, you better do it.
Small things can slip your mind, but these perceived little things can be your employee’s big things.
So, if you have a habit of ignoring important things to your employees, you are breaking down the trust of your team. People will only trust you if they find your actions are consistent with your words.
11. Seek First to Understand
As a manager, it is critical that you first seek to understand the situation before trying to be understood. Too often, managers act from a place of authority and bark instructions or try to take charge without knowing what is happening.
So, take the time to listen and learn. Ask questions until you have a clear understanding of what is happening. Only then should you start formulating a plan and presenting your ideas. By taking this approach, you will earn the trust and respect of your team, and they will be more likely to follow your lead.
12. Be the Right Example for Your Staff Members
To be the right example for your team members means being a role model in your behavior and values. Your words must match your actions. If you ask someone to do something, you must also be willing to do it. You have to be a leader.
Your team members cannot hold themselves accountable when you have a “Do as I say, not as I do mentality.” That is hypocrisy – and no one wants to work with a hypocritical boss.
So, don’t ask your staff to do things that you are unwilling to do yourself. Your actions and words must match. If you want people to own their work, set a good example they want to see.
13. Tolerate Honest Mistakes
Good employees get bored doing the same thing over and over. So, they try to be creative all the time, and that can lead to making mistakes.
When people make honest mistakes, you do not have to punish them for trying out something new. Be loyal to your team, and make it clear you will stand by them.
You can always discuss with your team what went wrong and how they can avoid it next time. Doing so, you are showing your team that your loyalty lies with them in their effort to succeed.
14. Don’t Ignore Poor Performers
Good employees want to see you dealing with people who do not perform, but sometimes they do not want to speak up. Pay attention to persistent poor performers if you are going to keep good people on your team.
You must notice when someone is struggling with their work and address underperformance issues head-on instead of allowing them to continue.
Some of the actions you can take include coaching poor performers or reassigning them to a different job that suits them, but there is no point in allowing an employee who persistently fails to continue. Keep poor performers from demotivating the rest of your team.
Read also: How to Display Behaviour that Shows Professionalism in the Workplace
15. Don’t Be too Nice
There is nothing wrong with being nice to your employees, but being too nice will cause some challenges. One of the problems with being too nice is that you tend to avoid confrontation.
A manager must talk to team members about what is not going right, which means they might get angry with you.
You may try to avoid annoying one employee, but your other employees notice that someone is getting away with things. When you are timid about bringing issues up so as not to upset an employee, you create more problems for yourself.
So, why should they behave or do differently from that employee you cannot confront? Engaging an employee who persistently misbehaves or fails to get the job done is the right thing.
It is not a personal thing. You are just dealing with an issue. You do not have to yell or scream. Just point out the problems.
16. Help People Progress
It is unlikely that everyone on your team will stay with you forever. Talented employees have ambitions and goals they want to achieve. Achieving their goals could take months or even years, but they want to do something else at some point.
As a manager, you are responsible for making your team member’s career paths visible. You must show them how they can go from one place to another and then provide support so that they get there.
In other words, you are a stepping stone for your employees to get somewhere, and do not fear that. It is an achievement to become part of your employee’s success.
Conclusion
To be a better manager, you should know how to change your people’s state of mind. It is changing from a negative state of mind to a positive one or changing a frustrated employee to become passionate.
If you can influence your people and get them to change their attitudes, you will get the correct result.
If you manage people with an iron hand, you instill fear in them. But remember that no one will do the best job when they are afraid. They will comply to avoid the negative consequences but will not put in their best effort.
When you bully your staff member, compliance is the best you can hope for. You will only get the best from your employees if you respect them.
Set your expectations high, but also make sure they are achievable. If you only expect mediocrity, that is what you will get.
Set the standards and lead by example. If your employees see you working hard, it will be difficult for them to perform below your standards.
What areas of improvement for managers examples would you like to share? Please leave your thoughts in the comment box below