Simply The Best, Part 2: Managers we have seen for “Selective Emulation”
Following on from our previous post, we have compiled a checklist of defining characteristics that the best managers exhibit:
People
Talent Acquisition; “The fish rots from the head”, so hire people that are better than you are. Top managers are A people and they hire A+ people. B managers hire C quality people. This also helps boost your own succession planning.
Performance Management; don’t stop until 80% of the team is performing at the desired level; you need to clear the path and manage out the lazy, the greedy and the untrustworthy.
Talent; hire people who’ve had something go wrong. They are likely to show initiative in adversity and excel in the long term.
Celebrate success; the best long-term performing teams reward top staff with events that show appreciation. And it is prudent to invite their long-suffering partners too as in tough times, working long hours starts at home.
Decision Making
Decisiveness; decide whether to decide quickly. Some decisions don’t need to be made quickly, but do this consciously.
Empowerment; expect your team to recommend decisions to build accountability and hone the team’s decision-making skills. They often have more context to help make the right choices.
Adaptability; stick with your direction until it really doesn’t make sense anymore. For example, be prepared to remove KPIs that aren’t relevant and constantly evolve what you are measuring to drive business success.
Communication
Transparency; expect the highest levels of clarity and transparency from the team. Bad news needs to be escalated quickly. The newspapers are full of stories about businesses hiding information from management and customers until it’s too late.
Clarity; communicate key information promptly and regularly, especially when there are significant corporate events happening. Also be sure to avoid communicating messages which may appear trivial.
Feedback; balance the good news with next steps and areas for improvement. No business should rest on its laurels.
As coaches, we know that whilst technology and working practices are rapidly evolving, the basics of top-quality management remain largely constant. Ensure you have what it takes to be a top manager.
As an old mentor of mine said to me when I started as a manager:
“Always aim for the top: there is more room up there”.