For years we have been used to considering leaders as charismatic figures, competent in their field, but these two characteristics are not enough to make an effective manager.
To be able to motivate a work group, achieve goals and maximize performance, there are several qualities that a manager must know how to cultivate every day.
We have identified 9 of them and we talk about them in the next lines.
Who is the effective manager?
If leadership skills can be identified in different people in the company, regardless of the role held, there is no doubt that the effective manager must necessarily also be a leader.
In the infographic containing the 10 qualities essential to leadership , we had already tried to identify some aspects common to the manager’s success.
Peter Economy, with his pseudonym The Leadership Guy, in an article written for Inc.com summarizes in the 9 characteristics described below the effectiveness of a manager in the business world today.
1. The effective manager is aware of his role
The team leader must first be aware of their role. With this Economy, it does not mean that the manager must make his superiority weigh, but that he is able to delegate certain activities, supervising not so much the tasks at a daily level, as the respect for the values of the company and the achievement of the objectives . In addition, the leader must know how to convey, communicating them with his own example, the strategy and culture.
2. The manager knows how to make difficult decisions
Decision making is another essential feature for the effective manager. Knowing how to choose people, tools, strategies, directions to take, even in difficult moments, is part of the role. To have the necessary tools to decide, it is necessary to understand the situation, to do the interests of the whole organization rather than the individual (or of himself), to be firm even if aware that not everyone will be happy.
3. The manager is empathetic
The ‘ emotional intelligence is necessary for managers to understand how to approach its employees and guide them in different situations, especially in the more challenging. Empathy is expressed in the willingness to praise, even in public, personal successes and to face any problems or misunderstandings in private.
The goal is to be close to people, adapting their behavior based on the context and avoiding too authoritarian behaviors. The effective manager does not look for the culprit of a situation, but helps his collaborators find a way out, with a constructive attitude.
4. The manager is authoritative and not authoritarian
The authority of a leader is manifested in his ability to take responsibility for the performance of the whole team, as well as his own. The collaborators, therefore, know they can count on a leader who supervises without being intrusive and is available to listen.
Authoritativeness is not to be confused with authority, the manager is effective when he is able to highlight and reward successes or, on the contrary, is able to identify the root of a problem and quickly find a solution.
5. The effective manager has a positive mindset
Leaders capable of spreading a culture based on optimism and positivity know how to feed their work team with the energy necessary to perform their tasks in the best possible way.
But not only that, because the company climate affects motivation and, when the manager speaks by example, communicating the strategy is enormously simpler and more effective.
6. The manager transmits trust
In complex situations and in the phases of organizational change , only the leader who embodies positive values is able to transmit the right confidence to achieve business goals. The leader is sure of himself and his skills and his security becomes contagious, because in a peaceful environment all employees feel they can express their full potential.
When there is trust, the team turns to the manager for advice, to share an opinion, to ask questions or to get a more complete picture of business strategies.
7. The manager’s ethics is based on honesty
Those who assume positions of ever greater responsibility should do so by respecting people and behaving transparently. Sincerity and commitment are the basis of the success of a manager and his team.
With a view to transparent leadership, it is not necessary to control every activity, but it is possible to delegate with confidence in respecting the skills of individuals.
8. The manager has organization and concentration
The planning of activities is one of the skills required for managers: knowing how to organize tasks, providing the critical and limiting the urgencies is possible essential to create a climate in which to work and pleasant.
The leader is able to think about the consequences of the different options available to him, to evaluate alternatives wisely and find the way to success. Equally important is his ability to communicate the plan and make sure it is respected.
9. The manager must inspire new leaders
In the first few lines of this article we have seen how the leader is a charismatic figure and to be truly effective the manager should be able to inspire the growth of new leaders with his behavior. Frequent, frank and transparent communication serves to motivate employees to give their best.
The diffusion of a climate of trust serves precisely to create the conditions for everyone to feel they can achieve their goals, contribute to the company’s success and be tomorrow’s managers.
In this article we have tried to identify the characteristics and effective behaviors of managers who, to achieve their goals and exceed expectations, invest in the professional growth of their collaborators.
InsideOut has studied and created Grow , the new concept training product to develop managerial effectiveness and help you:
- be recognized as a manager, leader and coach
- learn to evaluate collaborators in a realistic and objective way
- increase awareness of the employee’s areas for improvement
- create a safe and respectful environment for giving and receiving quality feedback
- recognize and manage moments of demotivation and low performance
