The success and failure in the workplace depend on many facts about managers qualities. Managers can build successful work teams, but they can also destroy strong ones.
But the best managers confront the most challenging issues each day without losing their composures or integrity. And that is because they have the right management qualities and attributes like the one below, that provide impeccable leadership.
Here are 15 Known Facts About Managers Qualities
1. Influence their Staff
One of the essential qualities of a good manager is the ability to manage through influencing, rather than control. Influencing requires active engagement, sensitivity, trust, direct communication, openness, people skills. Any manager who influences the team and stakeholders achieves better employee engagement and results.
2. They are Self-Aware
Some self-important people believe they are capable managers. And this is no surprise. Many of them think that if they are that self-assured, they must be the most excellent managers. But most of these people have minimal abilities. So they manage their teams way beyond their competence levels.
One of the hardest things to do for the over-confident managers is to ask for help when they need it. Their pride and ego prevent them from asking. Good managers are very confident, self-assured, but not self-important. They are aware of their weaknesses and not afraid to ask for help if needed.
3. Have Sense of Humour
A sense of humor is another quality of a good manager. Many successful managers who have a great sense of humor use it for the right reasons, not for ridiculing or joking at the expense of the team members’ feelings.
Being humorous allows them to deal with morale killing issues in the workplace. They find it easy to motivate team members or lift the confidence of the team during any crisis.
4. Recognize People
The best managers know that team members respond well to recognition. So, they recognize the great work of their team members. They calls-out the team successes and the struggles they have overcome.
When managers show their appreciation, it means they recognize the team efforts. It is a good thing to show that they understand how everyone contributes to the business vision and goal.
5. Engage with Employees
It is unimaginable, the number of time managers spends without talking to their people. One of the easiest ways to connect with your employees is by talking to them.
The best managers spend a lot of time outside their offices engaging with employees. They walk around, talking to each person, and listening to what they have to say.
Managers with excellent leadership qualities even go on a walkabout when there is nothing meaningful to discuss with their staff members.
They do it to keep the communication and interaction lines open. It is because there are no better ways to gain employees’ trust than having a regular two-way conversation with them.
More read: The 9 Unique and Compelling Styles of a Leader
6. Prioritizes Work
One of the reasons why many managers struggle is because they fail to prioritize. Being a manager is not an easy task. There are times when you become overwhelmed with many competing tasks to do in a limited amount of time.
Good managers are very organized because they know how to prioritize. It is a skill every manager has to learn. Because there is a time when you have to say I will deal with this later.
Do not be afraid to keep some tasks on hold until you finish the most important ones. Only make sure that you know what will happen if that task is not completed at its scheduled time.
7. Grant Autonomy to Employees
One of the biggest obstacles to employees’ development is micromanagement. As a manager, you should have trust, instill beliefs, and put a lot of confidence in your staff.
You cannot claim to be an effective manager if you do not have those crucial management traits.
The real managers grant their teams the autonomy to make their own decisions. They are part of the team and manage with the staff rather than reminding the employees that they are in charge.
They don’t micromanage. Instead, they provide the tools the team needs to do the job. And then step out of their way, but always available if required.
Team members, in the end, feel they have a stake in what they do and start to hold themselves more accountable.
8. Always Solve Problems
The more tough challenges good managers face, the more motivation they become. Instead of being fearful of challenging tasks, they enjoy solving problems – always they get deep into the root cause of the issues and then take action.
They don’t say I know this problem let me fix it and move on. You may see the cause based on past experiences. But it is vital to see recurring and new issues from a fresh perspective.
Every problem new or recurring comes from a source, which may be different from the previous one. It means a different set of actions may be required to find the right solutions to the issues.
That is why good managers always want to go many levels deep to diagnose the problem and fix the root cause.
9. Listen Attentively
Why the best managers always connect with people in the workplace? It is because they listen before speaking. If you don’t pay full attention to people when they are talking, you’ll not understand their message.
Many managers do talk with their staff members every time. But they don’t listen well to what the staff members say. You have to listen to the message and speak based on a better understanding of what you have heard.
10. They are Flexible
Nobody knows what new challenges tomorrow will bring. So, the manager has to ensure the team is flexible and capable of functioning tomorrow. Having individual members of the team with the desire to explore a new path and ideas is essential.
Managers need to be flexible, too, and open-minded. They don’t have to impose strict rules on everything. Let your staff question practices that are no longer helpful to them. They don’t have to keep repeating something every day without questioning it.
There is no such thing as best practice — best practices only maintain the status quo. And maintenance doesn’t bring improvement, but creation does.
There is always a new idea, thinking, and innovation. So the best managers always take a flexible approach. They let their teams be curious, find new ways of doing things and move forward not best practices.
11. Ask Quality Questions
Your team wants to answer questions that stretch their thinking beyond current levels. It matters because questions can stimulate their thinking about important issues.
Also, the best managers always want to know the thoughts of their team members. Thus, they ask right open questions like; what do you think? Where are we on this? How do we get this done?
Related: What Makes a Good Team Leader
You can gather a lot of valuable information by asking a few simple open-ended questions. When asking them, listen to their answers, and don’t interrupt.
If you want to clarify something, wait until the person comes to a natural break and then ask.
12. Have Imaginations
The best managers are those who manage the unknown. Being imaginative is one of the qualities of a good manager. When managers fail to imagine things, it becomes tough to prepare for emergencies.
Besides, if they can’t imagine new ways of doing things, old practices will remain the best forever. That means they will never create anything new to improve and compete.
To keep developing your team, you have to be imaginative and look beyond what you can see or what past data say.
13. Good Coaches
You cannot be a good manager if you are not a good coach. One of the most important tasks of a good manager is to create more capable managers.
It can only happen through deliberate and regular coaching. Most managers focus on short term results, rather than long term performances.
It means they don’t make time to coach their direct reports. They only focus on day-to-day activities and daily results, which are essential.
Coaching improves the competencies of team members. In the end, it makes their work more meaningful, and they start producing better results for the company.
14. Promote the Right People
Good managers promote people based on their level of aptitude, skills, and interest. Many times people get moved into higher posts not because they are suitable for the position. It is because their faces fit the role, or they are favorites with the manager.
Also, usually, the best employees get promoted into management roles. And most of them do not have the necessary skills, knowledge, or experience for the management positions.
It is only to find later that the people they promoted are in fact, poor managers. It becomes a big problem for both the company and employees. The company ends up losing its talented employees while the employees leave with their confidence shattered to pieces.
15. Have the Courage
Good managers don’t hesitate to act whether their actions will be well received or not. They are ethical leaders, but they know the right time, place, and manner in which to be courageous.
They do not say yes to everything regardless of how those who ask may feel. Saying no is something many people struggle with because they think it is a negative thing.
You need to have the courage to refuse or say no in a positive way if it is the right thing to do for the team and business.
It is good to be a well-liked manager, but that’s not the core of your role. The heart of your position is to build and lead a very competent team that can achieve the business goal.
More Interesting Facts About Management
- Team First
Great managers serve their team first. They find out what the people want and provide it before ever asking for anything in return. They only ask for team members’ help after offering them value.
- Freedom to Talk
The best managers hate anonymous communication. They instead encourage employees to say whatever they want without fear of repercussions.
Anonymous feedback through a suggestion box can be useful to uncover critical issues. But the suggestion box can also be is a tool that encourages a vindictive and smearing culture in the workplace.
- Build Mutual Respect
Great managers know that employee loyalty works both ways. Managers respect the employees, and they return the respect to the managers.
- Manage from Front
Good managers manage from the front. But they leave team members to do the job without interference. And usually, they are very swift to praise for the effort, although not tolerant of slackers.
- Have Open Door Policy
Good managers have an open-door policy to make it easy for everyone to raise concerns, moan or come up with an idea. If you do not reach out to your employees, do not expect them to engage with you.
- Provide Freedom
Great managers do not micromanage their staff members. It means they do less controlling but gives more freedom and support to the people they manage.
- Instill Positive Attitudes
The best managers instill positive attitudes and confidence in their teams. The benefits from that always trigger team members to adopt a “let us get-it-done” attitude.
- Employees Have the Answers
Good managers don’t think they are responsible for knowing all the answers. They don’t go into every discussion convinced that they know what the resolution needs to be. Instead, they listen more and speak less. Then they help their teams to come to a consensus on resolving all issues.
- Seek Personal Improvement
Good managers build teams to challenge them to develop real insights into their weaknesses. They are not afraid to surround themselves with people who are smarter than them. People who teach managers things they do not know.
Do you know more facts about managers qualities of managers you can share with us? Please leave your thoughts in the comments box below