Do you often find yourself doing your team’s work?
Do you often find yourself doing your team’s work?
Last week, I spoke with a manager, and she said, “Ashish, I often find myself doing my team’s job.” This is how the rest of the conversation went.
Ashish: “How does that happen? Tell me more.”
Manager: “When they are working on tasks, they are often unable to finish them. They are not confident if they will be able to finish it in time or not. When the deadlines are approaching, I have to jump in to ensure that we meet the deadlines.”
Ashish: “Is there a skill gap in your team?”
Manager: “No, no, they are skilled. In our team, we have all the skills that we need.”
Ashish: “Then what happens?”
Manager: “It impacts the tasks I am supposed to do. I am not able to effectively keep my stakeholders informed. In certain cases, clients don’t get the attention they need from me.”
It is not the first time I have had this conversation with any manager. It can be tough to balance your team’s work with your own as a manager. Juggling the two can often lead to inconsistent or poor outcomes, leaving your team behind.
There are a few reasons why managers do their team’s work. The first and most important reason is that they care about their team and want them to succeed. This is demonstrated through their willingness to delegate tasks and set goals for the team. They also make sure everyone knows what those goals are and help them reach them. In the end, managers can focus on their job objectives and the team’s success.
For the team to be successful, the team must function well. Effective Delegation prevents mistakes and ensures the completion of tasks on time. Moreover, the manager leads and manages the team effectively. However, when the team’s work isn’t productive or doesn’t meet expectations, it can harm the manager. In such a scenario, the manager may feel responsible and be distracted from their primary goals.
More often than not, the limitations are in the manager’s delegation skill set. How effectively the manager delegates work to their subordinates drives the overall productivity and efficiency of the team. When done correctly, Delegation can unlock so much hidden productivity and engagement within the team. Moreover, you free up your time to focus on higher-priority tasks.
Some of the elements that are critical to effective Delegation are
Overall project timelines
Team member’s individual skillset – strengths and improvement areas
Effective communication of expectations
Support from the manager or other team members
Manager’s ability to provide constructive feedback
For a detailed guide on How to master Delegation, read here.
Another major factor that causes managers to do their team’s work is not able to provide Autonomy within the team. Teams that have high levels of autonomy function smoothly. In such teams, members know their respective roles very well. Moreover, they take a lot off the manager’s plate and work with the freedom to deliver what is expected from them. It brings responsibility and accountability to the team members. It needs a very high level of managerial expertise for the managers to pull this off. But once achieved, it can be enriching for the managers and the team alike.
While attempting to give Autonomy to the team, you must tread carefully. Not all team members may be ready to take high levels of Autonomy. That’s why you must go through a structured process to understand when and where you can give Autonomy. obviously, you go through a progression curve to keep increasing the levels of Autonomy higher and higher.
Here is a more detailed piece to understand the nuances of giving Autonomy to the team.
Finally, you need to watch out for the signs of disengagement in the team. Not being able to deliver the work on time and as per expected quality despite having all resources is one of the signals of disengagement. If you start to see this as a pattern in one or more team members, you must begin scanning for other signals of disengagement. As a manager, this should be a DEFCON 1 state.
Early warning signals can help prevent loss of productivity, business, and team members. If you see this happening, you must seek help to address the disengagement situation in the team.
What signals should you watch out for? Read here.
In essence, you shouldn’t take the situation lightly. IF you find yourself doing your team’s work regularly, something much change. Neither you nor your team will achieve their full potential in this situation. All of you will remain in limbo for your professional growth.
How to become an indispensable manager for your company?
How to become an indispensable manager for your company?
The feeling of being indispensable to your organization is an exceptional one. It has the power to satisfy every aspect of professional, social, and emotional needs you have as a working professional. It gives you a sense of being valued and respected. It doesn’t come easy. There is a lot of hard work behind it. Not just to get there. But to stay at that level also. But the rewards compensate very well for all the hard work you put in.
As a manager, being indispensable means that you and your team are critical to the organization’s success. You have a crucial role to play and contribute value to the team that others could not carry out.
For a manager, there are some tangible and intangible benefits of achieving such a status in their organizations.
More autonomy and responsibility
Witness faster career growth
Work on the most critical problems faced by the company
Get to be a role model for high-performance standards
So, the question is, How do you get to that state? It doesn’t happen magically. You need a structured thought process to get there. People are not born with such a capability. You can actually build it by working on some critical aspects. In total, there are 11 qualities that you will have to achieve. You might already have a bunch of them. You can start working towards the rest of them. You can read about all these qualities here.
In addition to these qualities, you must be a result-oriented manager. A result-oriented manager has a natural bias for results. Result-oriented managers are committed to working with their teams to achieve collective outcomes. They are always looking for short and long-term solutions to problems and put in the extra effort to succeed. These managers understand that they cannot make that progress without a shared understanding of goals and an alignment of interests. They are also decisive, take charge when necessary, and can motivate their team to achieve the desired results.
But often, there is a risk that managers may fall into a result-only trap. This is when they focus so much on results that they try to achieve them at any cost. This often leads to a negative impact on the team. The cost of falling into this trap can be enormous in the short and long term.
So what is the right way to be a result-oriented manager? Read here.
Keeping your team’s psychological safety in mind is one of the most essential points to remember to avoid falling into the result-only trap. Researchers have found that Psychological safety is one of the critical factors of successful team performance. It is the feeling among team members that they can take risks without fear of retribution. You can not become indispensable if you do not have a high-performing team backing you up.
Psychological safety is the belief that you are safe to be yourself around other people. It breeds in an environment that is free of psychological threats. In such an environment, team members feel confident that their co-workers will not embarrass, humiliate, or punish them for speaking up or making mistakes. Such an environment fosters creativity, risk-taking, emotional intelligence, empathy, growth mindset, and sound mental health of the team members.
What can you do as a manager to create a psychologically safe environment for your team? Read here for answers.
Being indispensable to your organization is challenging yet achievable. The riches that wait for you beyond the hill are worth the effort to go through the grueling journey. Moreover, once you learn how to do it, you can easily replicate it in any new environment.
The secret to consistency: Building and sustaining a team
The secret to consistency: Building and sustaining a team
A manager’s role in a company can vary depending on the type of company they work for and the position they hold. However, in general, managers are responsible for the overall success and growth of the company. They own different chunks of the company’s objectives and are supposed to achieve them. Obviously, they can’t do it themselves. They need people working with them to achieve those objectives. AKA a team. Hence, managers are also responsible for ensuring that employees fulfill their roles and meet company goals.
A team is vital for a manager because it provides a support system for them. A manager can’t do everything alone, which is why having a team of dedicated people helping them achieve their goals is so valuable. Having a team also allows the manager to delegate tasks and responsibilities to the team members, making the job easier and more efficient.
In essence, a manager is as good as their team. To be a good manager, who delivers the company’s objectives consistently, they must have a good team that delivers on their objectives consistently. Finding the right people to join their teams becomes increasingly tricky as businesses grow. It is especially true in today’s competitive market, where skilled professionals are in high demand and are often hard to come by. To bring consistency in their efforts, managers not only have to attract the best talent but also have to retain the talent they have hired and groomed over the years. Constant chopping and changing in the team brings the overall team performance down. Note again, the quality and stability of your team will directly impact your’s and your team’s performance.
So how can managers attract and retain the top talent in their teams? Read more.
One of the key factors to attracting and retaining talent is effectively selling your team to a prospective candidate. It could be an external or internal candidate. To hire for your team, you must consider yourself a salesperson. In essence, if you get someone excited about working in your team, the chances of that person accepting your offer and joining your team would be higher when you make an offer to an exciting candidate. Most good talent would have multiple opportunities in the market. You need to tell them how working for you is better than working for anyone else.
This process should become an integral part of your interview stage. You can allow the candidates to interact with your team and encourage them to find out answers to the following questions.
What work will they be working on after they join your team?
What is working for your team better than working for any other team?
What can they look forward to learning?
What growth prospects can they expect?
Who would then be working with? Will others in the team add value to them and vice-versa?
In a nutshell, help them subtly discover “What is in it for them?” You can read more about how to effectively sell your team to a prospective candidate here.
Eventually, people will leave your team for several reasons. You can’t control it. A healthy turnover is healthy for the team for several reasons. One, it doesn’t stagnate people in their careers. Two, it allows for fresh ideas and perspectives to come into the team. Three, as a manager, you will gain from bringing new energy.
There is no fixed quantitative benchmark for what a healthy turnover looks like. It will depend largely on the context of the team. What you can assess is for what reason people are leaving your team. These reasons are healthy if you as a manager can’t control them, e.g., someone wanting to relocate closer to their family, go for higher studies, or change career directions. If people leave for reasons you can control, i.e., the environment in the team, wellbeing, culture, work quality, quality of peers, etc., then you must be worried.
There are situations where you may be able to retain someone after they have expressed their intention to leave the team. If you can understand their concerns and address them effectively, they might be willing to give you a second chance. But whatever the case may be, you need to have a proper checklist to effectively offboard members from your team. So, what should you do when a team member decides to leave your team? Read more here.
To conclude, the managers are responsible for their teams being highly efficient and competitive in the market. To achieve that, you must have highly talented professionals on your team. You can either attract great talent in the market or retain the incredible talent you already have in your teams.
What is the one skill that will always come in handy for managers?
Managers and leaders are responsible for the results their teams bring. Their wins or losses are often turned into an assessment of the manager’s competencies. In order to guide their teams through victories repeatedly, managers need to become masters of multiple arts. Apart from effectively handling managerial processes like change management and delegation, managers need some skills that assist them in carrying out each and every job. Their efficacy is often a result of these skills only. When we talk about the skills of a manager, we can begin by listing the technical skills. These are particular to their niche and vital for optimum performance. Beyond these, managers need skills that help problem-solving, such as critical thinking. But the list does not end here! The day-to-day operations of a manager also require them to possess several essential skills. Managers typically handle teams that are made of varied people. Ensuring that work is done efficiently and that the team runs smoothly needs managers to master human skills. Human skills play a critical role in our personal and professional lives. Primarily, they are essential for building a cohesive team through mutual trust, respect, and negotiation.
You can read more about the top 10 human skills for managers here.
One such skill which is vital for maneuvering the workplace’s daily business is listening. We typically do not worry a lot about listening. After all, as long as we are in the earshot, we are listening, right? But that is not the case. Generally, we are passive listeners, meaning that we do not put much effort into deriving meaning out of whatever we hear. This behavior can be pretty dangerous for managers.
A lot is going on in teams – from professional bickering to personal gossip – and a manager needs to be aware of all of it. Navigating the office environment can become a massive challenge if the manager is unaware of the environment. Therefore, neglecting to listen is among the biggest mistakes a manager can make. This has become even more important in the remote working situations.
Managers who ignore what is being said lose touch with their teams. Those who do not listen are easily termed arrogant by team members who feel discouraged. In totality, not listening actively can cause several troubles for you. The lost ideas, engagement opportunities, and goodwill might not call back!
Not listening for understanding is among the significant listening sins of a manager. Check out here what the others are.
Now that we understand how not listening hurts teams, we must look for a solution. The panacea lies in adopting a different approach – active listening. Active listening happens when people intentionally listen and attempt to understand others. You can use body language to demonstrate your attentiveness and raise questions to get more insights.
This approach is constructive for managers as it brings multiple benefits – great interpersonal relationships, a lot of energetic ideas, and the reputation of a caring manager. Teams led by managers who practice active listening are undoubtedly happier and more productive. Hence, you should definitely try to become a better listener in the workplace.
You can read more about active listening for managers here.
While you are at it, you can also take the free active listening self-assessment. As the name suggests, the assessment will help you understand the nuances of your communication habits. It will also help you learn the crucial difference between active and passive listening. Importantly, you will be able to identify your weak areas as a communicator. The active listening self-assessment empowers you to develop as a communicator. Resultantly, you can grow into an influential manager.
Once you know your listening skills, you can check out the free active listening toolkit. The toolkit contains helpful content to master active listening and practice it with your team. With clear roadmaps and guidance, you can become a pro at active listening in no time!
☝️Ok, this Dilbert had nothing to do with active listening. But it was damn funny to not be included. 😂
After all, managers can do their jobs the best only when they know what their team members feel. Sometimes, we might develop an unintentional habit of passive listening, which could harm us unnoticed. Therefore, it is crucial that you identify how well you are doing right now.
Active listening is among the most critical skills of a manager, but undoubtedly not the only one. Revisit our last newsletter to check your progress on managing delegation at work.
Management styles vary a lot, and for obvious reasons. Managers and their teams are very different, and what may be useless for one might be the best trick ever for the next. One management style that is often the topic of hot debates is micromanagement. People may hate or love it while pretending not to – but everyone has heard of it.
The term micromanagement is among the most reviled in a manager’s vocabulary. And rightly so! When we typically talk of a micromanager, we envisage a tough manager with thick glasses who keeps an eye on everything under the roof of the workplace, an office’s big brother. Additionally, we assume some more things about this hypothetical manager, most of which are harmful. It happened because micromanagement has earned a negative reputation over time. But is that the correct conclusion? Let’s find out.
The usual definition of micromanagement covers a few things – hyper fixation on details, an abundance of updates, and an extreme level of engagement with employees. Beyond the basics, we also understand that a micromanager’s approach is designed to achieve the highest level of productivity and efficiency possible. A tinge of perfectionism is clearly visible. Overall, the road to micromanagement is paved solely with good intentions.
But, issues arise when we begin to analyze the impact of micromanagement on employees. It has been noted that the critical features of a micromanager’s style can pose significant challenges to achieving goals. Excessive attention to detail that may not be crucial in the long run is an easy way to derail projects and run them behind schedule. Moreover, the time and efforts spent on irrelevant documentation are wasted. It also demotivates employees who do not feel confident and trusted. In the end, the manager might lose touch with their team members, who feel stressed and disengaged at work.
So, what should managers do? First, you should read more about micromanagement and why managers should avoid it at all costs.
As all coins have two sides, so does micromanagement! Although we have noted the several harmful effects of micromanagement, that may not always be the case. When you are in a managerial role, there are times when you will need to hold the hands of your team members closely and walk them through each and every loop on the way. Say, for instance, when you have a new team member and are running short on time. Micromanaging things – with significant involvement and constant checks – is the way to go.
Similarly, there can be other situations where you must don the thick-rimmed glasses and become your most pedantic self to row the boat across. The key is to note that management style is contingent on the circumstance. Moreover, it would be best if you tried not to hold a rigid view on adopting a particular management style. You can also read when micromanagement can be a good option and see how it works!
Now that we have understood that there is no straightforward answer to the conundrum of micromanagement, you might be wondering what you should do. Managers need to adapt approaches to situations; therefore, you will have to increase or decrease the intensity of your micromanaging tendencies. Before doing so, it would be best if you were aware of your micromanagement habit.
Initially, you might try to notice your behavior with your team consciously. But, that assessment has its own troubles, as it is mired with biases and subjectivity. A holistic approach is needed to overcome these limitations, which is available here. You can use this free micromanagement assessment to check how strong your micromanagement habits are.
The free micromanagement assessment helps you in many ways. Firstly, you will know where you stand on the micromanagement spectrum. Secondly, you can use this information to identify areas that might be affected. Once you know weak spots, you can concentrate your efforts on them better. Lastly, taking this assessment will aid in creating a healthy environment by eliminating harmful practices. All in all, you can unlock hidden productivity in your team with the micromanagement assessment.
You can empower your teams to achieve more when you better understand micromanagement and your management style. Further, guiding as needed and autonomy when required is an excellent way to become a great manager. Adapting your approach will also benefit you because you can connect with your team better when you know them better. In totality, it is crucial for you to learn about micromanagement and yourself for the success of your and your team’s efforts.
The quest is to be a great manager, isn’t it? Leading your team and effectively managing everything is your job as a manager. A good manager carries out these tasks efficiently. But, a great manager adds more to the mix! Beyond merely discharging duties, great manager takes their team to the next level. They do this by motivating their teams so that they are inspired to achieve more.
Great managers know their teams inside out; therefore, they can use them to generate optimum output gracefully. Also, they know how to facilitate productivity in their teams by creating the right environment that offers support. Teams led by such managers are seen to be more successful in achieving higher levels of employee engagement and satisfaction.
If you haven’t already, read what’s the difference between good and great managers.
There are a few skills that make a great manager. These, of course, include their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Besides having a sharp intellect that enables and lets them maneuver around hurdles, great managers prioritize balance too. Their approach to management is often based around empowering their team members. Employees in their teams enjoy autonomy. They can explore and learn by doing. However, the same thing, i.e., delegating tasks, is often a challenge for many good managers.
Managers hesitate before delegating tasks when they do not understand the strengths and weaknesses of their team members acutely. When you know your team well, you will know their capabilities. Gathering this knowledge and trusting your team is the beginning of delegation. After all, a great manager helps their team realize their potential.
Even so, effective delegation is key to two crucial things – building a high-performing team and becoming a great manager who leads that team. Hence, mastering delegation is necessary. Delegation is not about pushing your workload unto others. Instead, it is an excellent way to build capabilities and unlock hidden productivity in teams. As it is a critical management skill, managers must know how to do it.
Read more about practicing the art of delegation here and understand how it works: the why, how, and what to avoid.
You would notice that you are probably delegating some tasks within your team already. However, the results are not very great, and hits are mixed with plenty of misses. It is not surprising because deciding what to delegate and who can be tricky. Moreover, you might be unaware of the nuances of your delegation style.
To find what’s amiss in your approach, hop onto the effective delegation assessment. Take the effective delegation assessment for managers today to understand how good your delegation skills are. Don’t do what Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss is trying to do 😂
The assessment will provide you with an objective analysis of your delegation skills, which you or your peers might be unable to do. You will also identify blindspots that are nibbling your productivity unnoticed. Essentially, it will guide you through creating a roadmap to achieving productivity in your team through delegation.
At some moments, you might feel that you are doing the right things, yet there is no visible progress. Conundrums like these leave us puzzled too! In such situations, we remember that implementation must be followed by testing to measure performance. You can retake the assessment after working on actionable insights on effective delegation from our Knowledge Base.
Once you know where work is needed, you must figure out how to do it. Carrying out effective delegation has never been easier than right now, thanks to the effective delegation toolkit, designed especially for managers who grow their teams with themselves.
Download the free effective delegation toolkit today to access frameworks and templates that make delegation a smooth ride. BTW, you can’t delegate that to anyone 😄
You will grow into a great manager with effective delegation among the sharpest arrows in your quiver of managerial skills. As delegation shifts tasks from your end to your team, you can find more time to focus on high-value activities such as strategic planning and decision-making.
On your journey to becoming a great manager from merely good, effective delegation is an important stepping stone. Make sure to get the most out of it by focusing on your weak areas and learning the nuances. It will help you make the most of the resources available. Your ability to manage people and tasks will turn you into an inspirational leader for all.
Are certain behaviors secret to building Accountability in the team?
The environment in which your team functions is an essential element in success. When leading a team, consistent support from your team members becomes vital. Primarily, they affect your performance majorly. Moreover, your team members are crucial in developing a harmonious culture where everyone can thrive.
Similarly, the personal relationships of employees matter too. You will love to see some key behaviors in your team members as a manager. You can take a look around your organization to understand what sort of actions are required. In corollary, you can take note of habits that will be helpful for the team. The responsibility to promote these behaviors falls upon you as well.
Although, sometimes, your team members may not be at their best behaviors. Therefore, it becomes your duty to inculcate those behaviors in your colleagues, which lead to productivity and harmony. In order to get this done, you should first understand what it means and then plan your steps accordingly.
As a team leader or a manager, you are bound to have expectations from your team members. However, whether those expectations are justified or not can be a matter of confusion initially. At times, the behavior of your team members might be entirely different from your expectations. In such a situation, you might be confused about exactly how a team should behave. Depending upon the situation, you might even be disappointed at how your team behaves. But as a manager, it becomes your responsibility to bring them on the right track. Nonetheless, you have to clarify your expectations in behavior. These things should be clear to you personally before you make them known to your team members.
To learn more about what behaviors managers usually expect from their team members, continue reading here.
When a manager builds a team, they usually look for people who do not need constant hand-holding. Instead, you will appreciate team members who take up challenges and hold themselves responsible for their results. Accountability is an excellent quality to have in a team member. However, you might often face the challenge of a lack of accountability in your team. Or otherwise, you may need to increase the degree of accountable behavior in your team. For doing this, you can take up multiple ways.
Firstly, you can serve as a model for behavior for your team members. A manager or leader always acts as the prototype of ideal behavior for employees. You can lead them to develop personal accountability through your own example. It will go a long way in creating a healthy culture and increasing your organization’s productivity. Secondly, you can take steps to build personal accountability. This can come from everyday activities like making space for clear communication and feedback.
A more detailed guide to developing personal accountability in your team is available here.
Apart from working individually, you can encourage your employees to have accountability partners that keep them in check. After all, two are better than one, for if either falls, one can help the other. These partners can come from the workplace itself too. But that need not always be the case. They can simply pick someone they are comfortable with tracking their progress. If two people work together on a similar project, they can keep checking each other’s progress over time.
Moreover, your accountability partner does not have to be a single person. You can create groups that keep each other in for shared goals and commitments. Additionally, your organization can arrange to provide employee accountability partners as well. These people can engage with employees and help them remain consistent with their objectives.
More than mere accountability, these initiatives also provide a space to network and discuss feelings about their work. Hence, accountability partners can be a great addition to your array of productivity-enhancing managerial tools! Read this to learn more about accountability partners, where to find one, and how to coordinate with them.
All in all, you can change your team dynamics for the better by carefully placed interventions. Therefore, as a manager, you must always look for opportunities to enhance the value derived from processes. As the behavior of team members is a vital part of the development of company culture, which directly affects productivity, it becomes an important area that needs focus. Hence, you can take steps to create a culture of accountability in your team that will make it easier for everyone to collaborate and achieve more. These bitter pills of behavior improvements will indeed show you results in the long term.
Good Manager vs. Great Manager. What does it take to cross the chasm?
A manager’s role is to help their team achieve their objectives and ensure everyone is working towards the same goal. A good manager typically:
Sets clear goals and strategies for the team and ensures that everyone knows what they need to do to help reach these goals
Gets involved in daily operations, if necessary, to make sure everything runs smoothly
Provides support and guidance when needed but also allows staff to take responsibility for their own actions
Encourages creativity and innovation while also enforcing standards and discipline when needed
Is understanding and supportive of individuals, but also takes proactive steps to address any problems
But most of us want to go from Good to Great, and, as an individual, you will not settle for having a good manager. You would want to work for a great manager. If you have worked with different people in your career, you can start to differentiate between the Good and Great Managers you would have worked with.
Let’s do a little exercise, close your eyes (it goes without saying that you are not driving or doing something where closing your eyes would be dangerous :)). Think about all the managers you have worked with and pick the one you had the best experience with. In your mind, start listing down the things that made you have the “best experience.”
Typically, working with a great manager feels something like this:
They make you feel good about yourself as an individual and a professional
You don’t have to think before you speak about what’s on your mind with them
You know someone is looking out for you when it comes to your concerns, growth, and needs
So, there is clearly something that a great manager is doing, but a good manager is not doing. So what is it? What makes a manager good to great? There are ten traits that separate great managers from good managers. Read here for more.
One of the significant differences usually not discussed is the degree of authenticity that a manager demonstrates while working with their teams.
Authentic leadership has been defined in many ways, but at its core, it is leading with integrity and being true to yourself and your values. Managers who follow this leadership style are not afraid to be themselves, even if it means being different from the rest of the pack. Authentic leaders are often seen as more trustworthy and effective than traditional leaders, and they are also more likely to inspire others to be their best selves. Authentic leaders are also committed to making a positive difference in the world. They want to make a difference not just for themselves but for others as well.
Moreover, the greats can easily differentiate between aggressive demeanor and assertive demeanor. They can emphatically put across their point without being aggressive or making someone feel threatened in any way.
Assertive managers can express their opinions and feelings without putting down or insulting the other person. They can also listen to and respect the point of view of others, even if there is a disagreement. Assertiveness can help you build better relationships, resolve conflicts, and get what you want at work. Being assertive can help you in
Building better relationships
Resolving conflicts
Building and maintaining boundaries
Getting what you want
If you wish to know more about the benefits of being assertive and how to master assertiveness, read more here.
In essence, going from good to great is a journey for any manager. You will fall, trip, get up, and go again in this process. One thing you must do is just keep going. Seek help where ever you require it in this journey. When you reach the magic land of being a great manager, your professional life will become even more fulfilling.
In case of emergency, put on your own mask before helping others!
In our daily lives, we often encounter lethargy and demotivation. However, these issues can manifest huge repercussions when they affect an entire team. Motivation is what drives people to achieve their deadlines on time amidst all the clutter. Projects that require coordination and teamwork are affected by the motivation levels of all the team members. Consequently, it becomes imperative for a manager to motivate themselves and their team members constantly.
Nonetheless, it is obviously not surprising to find yourself bewildered over employee motivation. Yet, the question of building motivation in your team remains a perplexing one. Moreover, employee motivation can be a complex issue at times because of its broad scope, including diversity and individual differences. Motivational techniques may not work universally, but managers and leaders can definitely try some of the proven effective ones.
Before beginning to motivate your team, it is crucial to motivate yourself. A manager simply serves as a motivation for their team in multiple ways. Effectively, their motivation and enthusiasm toward work can also serve as an example of model behavior for employees. Further, a manager’s motivation is important because they have to lead the team. They are responsible for taking problems head-on and solving problems day after day.
Constant challenges from the external as well as the internal environment are part and parcel of managerial and leadership roles. Therefore, managers must find something that motivates them to get up and do their best daily. The Japanese concept of Ikigai can be beneficial here. Ikigai, in its simplest form, stands for your reason for being. It is the thing that moves you every day to continue achieving smart goals. The best part is that you can use this technique not only to find your own Ikigai but also to help your team and team members find theirs.
Employee motivation can still appear tricky because it involves multiple people who are not you. Their reasons, responsibilities, and responses can be poles apart from yours. As a result, it might be hard to find effective motivators within the organization. There are several techniques that a manager can use to motivate their employees. Managers usually focus on offering encouragement and support and creating positive experiences at work to keep their team engaged. You can find a few top employee motivation techniques you can use with your team.
Employee recognition is among the most effective and popular ways to motivate employees. It shows them that their efforts are valued. Additionally, getting recognized gives one a sense of security and comfort in the team. It works like an elixir for team performance. Generally, we see recognition as an acknowledgment of efforts made in the workplace. But employee recognition includes much more than that! All in all, you have to make employee recognition a part of your team’s culture. This article on the recognition of employees as a motivational tool will help you understand the various forms of employee recognition that you can use to motivate your team.
All in all, employee motivation is indispensable in your team’s journey to success. Although motivation is subjective often, a manager can attempt to enhance engagement and encourage their employees. It might require you to interact closely with your team to understand their personality and employ techniques accordingly.
Successful managers know that a people-centric approach is instrumental in not merely building a great team culture but also in increasing productivity and improving performance. You can become a high-performing manager by hacking into the motivation game using the resources listed above. Test and try to see what works best for your team. Creating a motivated team is a mix of inspiration, infusion, and inclusion – balanced just right!
An employee’s perspective on what is it like to work for a great manager
In the last edition of The Top newsletter, we brought light to the difference between a good and a great manager. As you can see, it is largely a question of the degree of certain behaviors that great managers go to.
Largely, the impact of working for a good or great manager is extremely rewarding. Being a good or a great manager to your team members is not about making them happy by being soft on them. It is also not about compromising on performance. Instead, it is much deeper than that. It is about the experiences you give to your team members daily that make you a good manager to them. These experiences are like signals that anyone can feel and perceive. Not an exhaustive list, but this is what it looks like:
Employees feel appreciated, valued, and respected
They might feel like they can be themselves and let their work speak for them
They might feel like their work is essential and that the manager cares about their success
There is a feeling of calmness, order, and productivity in the workplace
Dilbert Comics characters
What do managers do that make employees feel like this? Is there anything they consciously don’t do also? Yes, a lot. Here is an employee’s perspective on working for a good or great manager.
Often, managers think that likeability, i.e. how much will their team like them, is the key to success as a manager. There is some truth to it. People are generally more likely to respect, trust, and work with someone they like. And as we all know, people are usually more likely to be successful when they have positive relationships with those around them. In essence, if your team likes you as a manager, you are more likely to succeed in your role. And so will your team.
Likeability is a quality that is difficult to define but easy to spot. It is intangible, but it has a significant impact on success. So what is likeability? Likeability is simply the ability to make others feel good about themselves. You do this by being positive, friendly, and interested in others. To be likable, you need to be genuine. You can’t pretend to be someone you’re not. People can see through fake personalities, and they won’t like you if you try to be someone you’re not. Be yourself, and people will appreciate that.
Read more about likeability and its impact on managerial success here.
The success of a manager is often measured in their ability to keep their teams productive and stick around. Managers who struggle to keep their teams productive and tight-knit, often think about what is blocking them. To answer that you need to go deeper into what causes an employee to be unproductive or quit the company. You will notice that there is a lot that can be controlled by the manager themselves.
There are a few common mistakes that managers make in their journey of people management. These mistakes often result from a lack of understanding of the nuances of people management or blind spots that managers have. Two-thirds of employees feel that their bosses lack proper managerial training as per one research.
There are 8 proven manager mistakes that can make the team members quit their job. Read here to know more.
Bonus read: Top 11 Reasons Why Humble Leaders Are More Successful. Dilbert Comics
To conclude, a good manager knows how to motivate and lead his team in the right direction. They also set reasonable expectations and behave professionally. They have the unique ability to see the potential in their team and use this to their advantage. On the other hand, a bad manager can be toxic and destructive, leading to low morale and a lack of productivity on an organizational level. It is a journey that is arduous yet rewarding.
Hard Truths About People Management That No One Told You
Most people become managers because they perform exceptionally well as Individual contributors, and hence they get promoted. One of the first things organizations do to give them more responsibility is handling and managing others, aka. “a team.” Lo and behold, you are suddenly a manager responsible for other people’s tasks.
This transition comes naturally to some, but it doesn’t come as easy as that for others. The most significant change is to understand that you are not only responsible for your tasks but others’ tasks as well. How to ensure that the team’s objectives are met? Suddenly, there are new expectations. And this is when no one has taught you how to manage teams or people before. No school or college imparts this knowledge. You are thrown at the pool’s deep end, and you have to swim out of it. Maybe there is a small life jacket thrown your way in terms of manager training.
As you keep progressing in your managerial career, you discover the responsibilities and challenges along the way. There are some hard truths about people management that most managers only figure out after years and years of people management. Some keep fighting these hard truths without accepting them.
One of such hard truths is that “There is no such thing as a perfect employee.” You will never find an employee 100% fit in every situation. The right way to approach this puzzle is to look for different pieces that fit together. It is not about finding the perfect employee. It is actually about creating the ideal team that delivers on your objectives day in and day out.
Another hard truth that managers take time to understand and accept is that “You can’t control everything.” You can try your hardest to control everything, but in the end, you’ll eventually fail due to various factors. That’s why it’s essential to learn how to delegate and let go. Delegating tasks and responsibilities allows you to focus on the crucial things. By being proactive about delegation, you’ll be able to manage your time more effectively.
There are six other hard truths like the above two. You can read them here.
When managers take the people management role for the first time, they start managing the team’s work the way they used to work as individual contributors. When they see things not happening the way they would have done it, they feel naturally inclined to “step in” and “rescue the situation” themselves. This automatically leads to a micromanagement tendency. They initially succeed with this technique because Micromanagement works well in certain situations.
But they get a false sense of success and understand that this is the only way to get the results from the team. And hence, the bad habits of Micromanagement set in deep into their managerial styles. That’s when the heartburn for managers starts. The team becomes demotivated by excessive Micromanagement, their performance drops, and they start exiting.
Read more about Micromanagement and how you can avoid it as a manager.
In the end, managers must understand that people management is all about balance and situational awareness. You are balancing the team’s needs vs. performance needs. Balancing stakeholders and ensuring no one is ignored. Understanding situations and responding accordingly. Basically, one size fits all approach doesn’t work. Actual effectiveness in people management comes in by building the core skill set required for people management. These are the manager’s ability to guide, analytical skills, emotional competence, and interpersonal skills. Each of these is an onion that you need to open layer by layer.
There are a few tips that we have put together for effective management in such new roles.
In the end, people management can be extremely rewarding or extremely frustrating. It just depends on how you approach it. You can take it as it comes and leave it to luck. Or you can take it by the horns and learn how to become an effective people manager. But one thing is for sure. Your career growth is dependent on your ability to lead and manage people. If you are good at it, you will succeed, no doubt. But if you are not, you will still grow to a certain level before hitting a plateau.
When a team member is struggling, it can be challenging to know what to do. I am sure you would have found yourself in this situation in your career already. If not, wait for it. It will come to you. It is natural to feel tempted to give up on them and hope they will miraculously pull themselves together in these situations. On the other hand, you might be inclined to do everything in your power to help them get back on track.
If you notice that one of your team members is struggling to meet expectations, it’s essential to take action. This could mean anything from encouraging and motivational words to constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement. Doing so can not only help the team member rebound but also set an excellent example for the rest of the employees. Acting in a supportive manner helps keep morale high and ensures that everyone is working towards the same goal. If a team member is struggling, you must address the issue as soon as possible so that everyone can move forward in a positive direction.
More often than not, the problem is self-confidence. The team member may be suffering from low self-esteem or have low confidence in their abilities. One way to deal with this situation is to let them handle it independently and figure it out. Instead, more proactive or engaged managers will intervene to help the team member navigate this situation. After all, it will impact their team’s performance in the long run. Luckily, there are steps that you can take as a manager that can help a struggling team member to build self-confidence.
Here is a more detailed piece on building your own and your team’s confidence in this situation.
When an employee goes through such a phase, they need the manager’s compassion. At this stage, if the team member feels judged, they will never gain back their confidence. Think from their perspective for a minute. You are assessing their performance. They are trying to prove to you that they are worth being on your team. Your compassion will be the start of confidence for them. It will create lasting trust and loyalty on their side. For some managers, being compassionate comes naturally. For others, you may have to learn to be compassionate.
Read this if you want to dig deeper into the specifics of being compassionate.
The power of positivity is often undermined in such situations. I understand you are also under pressure to deliver on the team’s objectives. But think for a moment. If you don’t solve it now, the overall team’s performance will get dragged. Isn’t it worth investing some time and energy into building confidence for your struggling team member? In this situation, you and your other team members also need positivity. This is where Affirmations come to the rescue.
The word “affirmation” is derived from the Latin meaning “to make firm or strong.” Affirmations are like software updates for your brain. These are constructive statements we deliberately and consistently say to ourselves to create a positive psychological response. And they work surprisingly well! Affirmations can help an individual stay motivated and focused on their goals. So, they are not only relevant for your team but also relevant for you as a manager.
In essence, it is easy to take the easy way out and give up on an individual trying hard to prove themselves to you. But that may only give you a short-term relief of knowing that you have gone past the situation. The more rewarding feeling is when you help a team member get back on the performance track. The benefits that you will reap will be much more intense and prolonged.
Is making decisions an art or a process? 3 simple steps to master it
Team managers and leaders make several decisions every day. Big or small. It may include everything from designing the goals for the next quarter to choosing the right candidate for their team. Managers are the ones who are armed with all the information and skills needed to make educated decisions that enable the progress of the team.
The decision-making process involves choosing one alternative over the rest after a careful evaluation. This includes gathering the essential information and drawing comparisons after a detailed analysis. Afterward, you must act on the resultant decision and handle its effects. Your choices impact the whole team in many ways. At times, they can be the factor that makes or breaks the game for the team.
While good decision-making opens avenues of growth for the organization, bad decisions can put you on the back foot by creating conflicts and harming the environment.
Therefore, we cannot negate the importance of quality decision-making in any team. Although decision-making is a buzzword we hear often, you might be wondering what actually differentiates a good decision-maker from a bad one. And further, how can you become a better decision-maker as a manager?
In order to understand this puzzle, you need to understand the top decision-making abilities which make all the difference. This includes improving efficiency step-wise.
For instance, before beginning to evaluate the options, you can try to collect relevant data to support your ideas. In the later stages, you can include a decision audit process to gather findings about the impact of previous decisions. Such steps will help you fine-tune the strategy and increase efficiency. Focusing on these abilities during different phases of your decision-making process will help you bring a turnaround in your team.
You can read more about the Top 6 Decision-Making Abilities You Will Need As A Manager to augment your process further.
You might have noticed that decision-making involves putting considerable focus on the process. A set decision-making framework will help you immensely make your decisions efficient. When you guide a team, your context and critical values will remain constant, ensuring adherence to these can become a part of your framework. You can similarly develop a framework that suits your needs. Apart from making the process simpler, it will also help you add some speed. And, to take it faster further, you can turn to mental models.
A mental model is a capsule representation of a big concept that simplifies decision-making. In common managerial parlance, it refers to the set of existing experiences and internal norms that a person uses as the basis for interpreting and understanding things and events around them.
As it encompasses the person’s values, beliefs, and norms, a mental model becomes a handy guide in moments of confusion. In addition to being a frame of reference for managers, mental models also help streamline decision-making across the organization. You can learn more about How Mental Models Help In Decision Making As A Manager!
While making any decisions, we try to be our rational best. But, as humans, we tend to fall back to intuitions and heuristics without even realizing it. It might be a surprise that people use intuition much more than logic in decision-making. Our frameworks can suffer from biases that we see as norms.
These issues can arise with managers and leaders too. When a person becomes a manager, they also become an influencer for their team. The bias held by a manager can thus affect the team’s environment, the flow of work, and most importantly – the employees. Biases in a manager can take many forms in the workplace, ranging from unreasonable favoritism to inexplicable discrimination.
All in all, the impact is detrimental to the decision-making process. This is a hurdle on your way to effective decision-making as a manager. Therefore, removing them is essential. In order to do so, you can begin by understanding The Top 10 Most Common Manager Biases. After learning about these biases, you can start working on tackling them to free your decisions from irrationality.
In totality, we can conclude that you can enhance decision-making through three key steps. It begins with understanding essential abilities to improve the quality, using frameworks and models to add speed, and recognizing biases to add objectivity to your decisions. You can help your team generate unforeseen efficiency on the road to success through these exercises.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, effectiveness is defined as “the quality or state of being effective.” In a similar vein, manager effectiveness can be described as the ability of a manager to achieve organizational goals and objectives.
As managers, you are assigned vast responsibilities. There is a lot that sits on your shoulders. It requires a tremendous amount of knowledge, good judgment, patience, and strong leadership skills. Therefore it is also essential to have high effectiveness levels to achieve positive results.
Effective people management is not only crucial for the overall success of an organization, but it also has several benefits for managers themselves. For one, effective people management leads to increased productivity and satisfaction among employees. It also helps to build stronger relationships with employees and foster a climate of trust and cooperation. Additionally, effective people management can help managers achieve their objectives more quickly and efficiently, which leads to improved outcomes for the organization. So, if you want to be successful in your career, invest in effective people management!
If you manage your teams effectively, your job becomes a breeze, and you can look ahead in your career. In essence, effective team management is the key to unlocking your career growth.
The question is, how do you become effective in people management? What do you need to do?
We have been researching this topic for the last four years, and after working with 100s of managers, we have unlocked the four core attributes that can help you become an effective manager. These are
Analytical Skills – Your ability to collect and interpret data, solve problems, read between the lines, and much more
Emotional Competence – Your ability to manage your own and your team’s emotions, empathy, conflict resolution ability, and more
Interpersonal Skills – Your ability to balance stakeholders, become your team’s voice, communicate effectively, flow the information seamlessly, and much more
Guidance Ability – Your ability to develop your team members, give them direction, be a role model, and (you guessed it right) much more 😁
Don’t get bogged down by the “much more.” I have a detailed guide ready for your to unlock all of this.
But the journey of becoming an effective manager starts somewhere else. It begins with you being aware of yourself first. Self-awareness is a journey in itself, and I will not become philosophical (although this is my favorite pastime). Self-awareness as a manager is all about understanding your current standing as a manager. How do people feel when they work with you? How did your managerial style get shaped? Who influenced unconsciously?
Self-awareness can help you in understanding more about yourself. To develop self-awareness, it’s essential to understand yourself thoroughly. This means being aware of your values, strengths, weaknesses, assumptions, and areas of improvement.
If you wish to go on this journey, you can read more about it here.
So now you are on your way to becoming a manager that is killing it with their team and the management. You cracked it. This is the time when you start preparing for your next steps. How do you grow from here? Obviously, there is a more significant step from becoming a manager to becoming a leader. But that is for later. For now, you need to take small steps in growing yourself as a professional. You need to take smaller steps that will lead to bigger things. These smaller steps are the stepping stones to Leadership Skills that you will need later in your career.
Here are 10 tactics to help you achieve personal growth as a manager.
In all this, don’t forget that this is a journey. It is a structured process that you must carefully go through. You may need support in this journey, so don’t hesitate to ask for help. You can reach out to the managers you have worked with and pick their brains on things you struggle with. For more resounding support, take professional help through structured pieces of training and tools that can help you in this journey.
When a team is in a crisis, it can be challenging to determine what to do. A crisis can cause a number of different problems, including confusion, chaos, and damaging morale. As a result, it can be challenging to make decisions or put plans into action.
In times of crisis, a team can be overwhelmed and lose focus. The team leader may feel stressed and uncertain about what to do. It leads to a loss of confidence and a decrease in productivity.
As a result, fighting fires is a natural occurrence for any manager or leader. But, many managers find themselves constantly fighting fires – fires caused by their employees, fires caused by faulty products, fires caused by external factors. A one-off crisis is acceptable to manage. But when it becomes repetitive, it becomes a challenge. It can be challenging to keep up with the demand and manage all the issues that come up, especially if you find yourself fighting one fire after the other. It feels that you are losing control of the situation and constantly playing catch up. You also feel exhausted after each day, and it starts impacting your mental wellbeing. You feel like giving up.
Has it happened to you? I am sure you would have felt helpless. If you find yourself again in such a situation, you can try the following measures.
The most common reason managers find themselves fighting many fires is low levels of ownership or accountability in their teams. The first and foremost step you need to take is to reflect if your team feels accountable. Building ownership and accountability are complex in teams. But when you achieve it, things become easier to manage. First of all, there are fewer fires to fight in teams with high ownership and accountability. Secondly, even when the fires come up, the entire team stands together to fight them instead of only the manager holding the fort.
How do you build accountability?
The second most common reason managers find themselves firefighting is time management. Managers who manage their time better find themselves fighting fewer fires. Why? Time management brings much discipline to self and the team. So most of the internal reasons due to which crises come are reduced.
With better time management, managers can avoid feeling overwhelmed and stressed, leading to making poor decisions that could adversely affect their business. Poor time management also often leads to chronic stress, which can negatively impact both the individual and the team.
Moreover, managers can pre-empt and prevent crises faster and better. They have more time to plan and strategize, which leads to better outcomes. When crises happen, they manage them more effectively and without damaging consequences.
If you want to get better at time management, we have a more detailed piece.
Once you have had a look at time management, the next step would be to look at how you set and meet deadlines. Most crises arise out of poorly planned and executed deadlines. Managers who are adept at setting and meeting deadlines tend to face fewer such situations. Why? When deadlines are met on time, it shows that the organization is capable of handling high-pressure situations calmly and effectively. It builds trust and confidence among stakeholders, leading to a reduced sense of crisis and chaos. In turn, this leads to improved performance and more effective response to any crisis. So, if you want your team to handle stress and pressure well, make sure they are familiar with the importance of setting and meeting deadlines.
Setting and meeting deadlines is an art that you can learn.
In essence, if you constantly find yourself firefighting, it is time to stop and think for a moment. You can’t go on like this. Something needs to change, and you are the change agent that can and will change. No one else will change your situation. So what are you waiting for? Get going!
