What makes a good manager?

[OwThatsGottaHurt]

I've recently been promoted and am now officially managing a team. I did receive some manager training as soon as I was promoted but it's only now a few months in that I see the challenges.
My aim is to be easy to speak with and supportive of my team.
Challenges I'm facing is having awkward / difficult conversations...

What tips do you have for a new manager?

Read 'Extreme Ownership' by Jocko Willink.

He's ex navy seal which puts some people off but don't let it. He knows a shit load about effective management of people. I wish my managers would read it.

I will thanks- I think my husband has the book already actually!

Bump

To encourage your team as much as possible. Try and be positive. I find people work much harder when they feel supported and happy.
I find the difficult conversations hard as well but I think the more you do it the more you get used to it. Also be constructive with criticism.

Thanks Wendz that's good advice

Take time with your staff to get really clear on their goals, the work outputs you expect to see and exploring how they plan to achieve them. The more time you spend upfront, the less time you'll spend correcting later on. Also give them as much ownership of their work as possible. All this saves you oodles of time later and makes your staff feel motivated and valued.

Not expecting people to be mind readers, and not blaming other people if your forgot to communicate something to them.

Following as I want a manager position at my work, hoping to pick up some tips!

Compassion

I liked the book Radical Candor.

Watching this thread with interest as a newish manager too and need hints...but agree with candlelit. Also take time to know your team...one size does not fit all, what will work with one member wont with another..I have one with low confidence and poor organisational skills and another who is very organised, good skills but a very prickly character... wanted to be manager

I'm in the same position as you.
So far, I've been honest with my team if I don't know the answer to their question.
I've been available and approachable but also make sure I respect their time off and don't contact them when they're not at work (shift situation).

i have had a lot of crap managers in my time. the best have been open to questions and suggestions, laid back and flexible, and fun.

bottom line should be - are my staff getting the job done well? Yes - so it doesn't matter of X is always 7 minutes late, she stays when she needs to, and does an excellent job.

Make sure they have all training opportunities open to them.

make sure you know and understand their workload.

don't abuse your position.

be understanding of their life outside work

don't be all about presenteeism

make sure they know you have their back - you're a buffer between them and senior management

Can't agree more with tectonic. I've been driven to the brink of a nervous breakdown by bosses who expect me to read their minds. And then when I challenge it, say that "it's obvious", "you shouldn't have to ask", "any professional would just know" etc. We're talking thinks like deadlines and deliverables, like: "can you take a look at this? It's urgent." What does that mean! Minutes? Hours? Days? Feed back verbally? Email? Memo? Deal with the issue without further discussion with manager?

When you delegate work or give a task just make sure you've been clear on timeframe/deadline and format of the deliverable. And listen if your subordinate if they try and communicate that the work or deadline is unreasonable/unachievable, and suggest ways to help them make it achievable. Communicate well and clearly and everything else will flow, no surprises.

I think understanding the employees work and workload.

From being a manager myself I'd say it's important to realise that while you can be friendly I don't think it really works to be friends with your team.

Yeah,
ask/offer, not demand
When on holiday,out of hours, don't contact.
If job getting done, that's enough, you can't get blood from people.
Understand people have a life outside work,
Say thank you.

Thanks for all the feedback it's really useful. Agree with people doing their best for a good boss - I've done that before too and will try to model that good boss's leadership skills.

Difficult conversations are easier if you spend time preparing what you’re going to say beforehand.

If you’re picking someone up on a single incident then deal with it ASAP after the incident. Find a place where no one else can see or overhear what’s going on. Be really clear and specific. Get it over for them as quickly as you can and don’t bring it up again.

For more complex problems then it’s worth really thinking through what you want to say and what you’re asking them to do. I find it helps to think of how I would write up the meeting afterwards because that helps me work out what I’m trying to achieve with them. If there are lots of issues don’t try and fix everything at once - work out what needs to be dealt with first. If you need them to demonstrate a change, then set realistic short term targets and agree to meet with them again in 2 or 3 weeks for a follow up meeting. Confirm everything you’ve agreed in an email, so there’s no doubt about what you’re asking them to do. Bring that along to the next meeting so they can see you’re serious about it. If that doesn’t work and they’re still not performing set even tighter targets and repeat.

I’ve managed a lot of staff, including a few who have needed pulling up. I can only think of one who didn’t respect what I was doing and asked for a move elsewhere - the others all responded well and we kept up a good relationship.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. My last boss was the absolute worst at this , drove me absolutely insane and made it seem like they didn't give a shit about me.

Here's what not to do:
Bang on about the importance of improving office communication and then not bother to tell us, or only tell one person who doesn't tell anyone else, that you're working from home today/taken a random day off.

If I pass a technical issue on to you to talk to web developers about, tell me what they have said about it as it directly affects my job. Don't tell someone else on the team and make me get info from a 3rd party.

Keep asking me the same questions over and over because you can't be arsed litening to the answer the first three- times--.
Talk about giving me more responsibility in a few weeks and then never mention it again.
Be a sexist prick and disparage your wife in front of the whole office in your second week of the job. Sorry, that's irrelevant but God, that man was an arse. Consequently I did the bare minimum for him and nothing more.

Never ask people to do something you wouldn't be prepared to do or wouldn't be able to do yourself. Be fair, be realistic.

Be supportive, listen to people. Encourage discussion, debate, cooperation and ownership. Ask for their ideas, and be prepared to accept that you might be managing some people far more competent and experienced than you in their particular role within your team.

Depending on how ' new' you are to the team, a quick meeting to say how much you are looking forward to joining them and taking ( whatever it is ) forward with their help.
Then over next few days a 5/10 minute get together individually to get to know them and ask how they see themselves and what they would like to do. Tell them you have an open door policy and have no plans to micro manage them ( hopefully you don't)
If there are any processes within their position you do not know /understand then make it your intention to them that you wish to be shown. I feel as a must ,to be a manager you should be willing to assist/ do any job that any member of your staff does.