What the World’s Best Managers Believe?

What makes the difference between the best managers and the rest?

Those who know me know I’m a huge fan of the Gallup research into this topic, explained in detail in their excellent book; “First Break all the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers do Differently”.

What’s most interesting, but not surprising to me, is that the world’s best managers, according to Gallup, think differently to those less successful managers. They have what is often an instinctual understanding of human behaviour as well as a sharp business focus. The profound relationship between thought and results fascinates me as a psychologist. Our thoughts  govern our actions – which in turn helps determine our results – so it most certainly makes sense to understand what these great managers are thinking so we can tweak our own approach to improve our own results.

I recently read an interesting article by Steve Tobak , (managing partner of Invisor Consulting and regular contributor to BNET, the interactive business network), which also examined the thinking behind the best managers.  He cites 10 key things he thinks good managers believe as:

1. My overriding priority is to help my company achieve its strategic and operating goals by facilitating the efficient flow of business and decision-making.
2. It’s my job to behave like a mature adult by being genuine and empathetic with my own and other’s issues, especially when everyone else is acting out like spoiled children.
3. If I don’t work my tail off and be hands-on when necessary, I can’t expect anybody else to do it either.
4. It’s challenging but nevertheless critical to provide genuine feedback, both positive and negative, to my employees, peers, and management, and request the same from them.
5. Compromising my ethical principles in the name of “the ends justify the means,” or for any other reason, is unacceptable.
6. It’s my job to promote my team’s accomplishments and take the heat for their failures.
7. I need to provide my employees with the tools, training, and support they need to be effective, instead of setting unachievable goals and setting them up for failure.
8. I shouldn’t just “promote” a can-do, customer service attitude, but actually “walk the talk” when it comes to supporting customers and stakeholders.
9. It’s important to entrust my employees with as much responsibility as their capabilities will allow, and to hold them accountable for the same.
10. I need to strike a balance between shielding my folks from the ripples of dysfunctional management and openly communicating events that may affect them.

There are 2 things I particularly like about his list:

1. Managing others is not simply about treating people with respect, showing empathy and giving encouragement. It’s about challenging, having high expectations of staff and believing in their ability.
2. That there should be a strong sense of ethics and integrity – of “walking the talk”, and of setting the example through our own behaviours. It should never be one rule for us – and another for everyone else.

But most importantly – do you know what I think sums it up?

———————————————————————

For more information to help you with the people side of management,
including how to improve employee motivation and get the best out of your team, take a look at these great resources:

———————————————————————

What Managers Need To Understand About “Discretionary Effort”, And How To Capture It

Over the last 30 years or so, a number of surveys and reports  examining employee attitudes at work would suggest that less than one in four employees said they were performing to their full potential and capacity.  In one survey, a staggering 44% of the employees actually revealed they only did what was required of them, and held back any extra effort.

Whilst it may be difficult to quantify exactly what this might mean for your team or organisation, there can be little doubt,  if your people are doing only what they have to, to keep the “boss off their back”, then this will be reflecting in the results you get: whether that’s sales, numbers of customer complaints , staff attendance, profit or any other measure by which you determine success.

In an economic climate which threatens the success, and in some cases, the existence, of some businesses, we need managers who not only know they need to engage “all hands to the pump”, but understand how to do that. Read more

Your first month as a new manager – if you knew then what you know now…

I've recently been learning from my mentors how to do some of the techie stuff which has been scaring me for months! Learning how to navigate my WordPress site; learning the intricacies of Facebook and Twitter, and LinkedIn  and a whole new platform which will help me develop on-line programmes and resources to support new manager training.

Learning these things has been a little daunting, but with a little patience and persistence, a good coach, and some practise, I'm getting there! Read more

As a committed manager, what do you want most from your learning? Models, theories and management speak, or practical, proven tools to improve the performance of your team?

Do you want to be a "transactional leader" or a "transformational leader"?

Those of you who know me, know I'm a fan of the writer Aubrey Daniels, who wrote a book I often quote in my workshops; "Bringing out the best in people", and a tweet I read yesterday on Aubrey's blog really resonated  with me - it might with you too.

As a "management guru", Aubrey was asked to give his views on what the differences might be  between the two types of leadership/management, and here's a little bit of what he wrote: Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »