What in your experience makes a good mansger

[Lavender14]

Starting a new role soon which will be a step up and I'll be line managing a number of my colleagues. I'm really keen to do a good job and to support and get the best from them while balancing what's best for the organisation which is community work based.

Hoping people will share their positive experiences of being managed - what things did your manager do that was supportive/ helpful/encouraging to you? Was there a particular approach your manager had that you thought was really good for you/ your team? Particularly if there was a supervision/coaching and mentoring element as that will be a big part of my role.

Thanks so much!

Being approachable and down to earth and not micromanaging. Trusted people to get on with the job. Not playing favourites. Avoid being overly pally and blurring lines and then having to play the boss card - never ends well. Good luck in your new role!

If they are parents know the name of their children and offer them flexibility with school runs, kids being sick, appointment etc. a bit of give and take needed here I.e work is still completed around that time to the standard required.

Always ask about well-being in 121s, how they're feeling, any concerns.

Show interest in their work and achievements and challenge the employee.

Show interest in their development areas and help facilitate that.

Just off the top of my head...

Can i suggest LinkedIn learning or Coursera or similar and do a line mabagement course. It really helped me in my first job. https://www.coursera.org/specializations/leading-teams i had done that one (you can audit for free). And it really shaped me and set me up for success

@JoMaloneCandles and I seem to think similarly.

Work hard yourself, and if they ask you a question or to approve or reject something, do it promptly.

Be fair and approachable - no favourites.

Be flexible, as long as the work is done, understand that people have lives outside of work.

Care and ask how they are.

Support their career progression.

Definitely don't be a micromanager, this is a huge source of attrition in many companies.

Praise in public, difficult conversations in private.

Be transparent, communicate targets and company updates.

Encourage them all to see the bigger picture and how important their work is to the success of the company.

Bring in biscuits on office days!

Treat everyone fairly, no favouritism to parents, as per previous poster suggestion, that just breeds resentment. Certainly no need to know children’s names. No micromanaging. Any problematic staff to be dealt with promptly so it doesn’t impact other team members.

I’d say don’t dominate meetings. Listen as much as talk. Park the ego. Trust your employees.

Don't have favourites
Don't over share or be too pally, distance is helpful
Be competent at your own job so they emulate you and respect you
Be an umbrella in terms of protecting your team from stress from higher up your organisation, only pass on what is necessary
Limit how long meetings go on for e.g. have a 5 min timer on your phone so you dint get too used to the sound of your own voice. Better yet, have meetings standing up so everyone gets to the point quickly
Ensure presenteeism isn't valued over competency and set a good example for work/life balance, time your emails so they send the following day after 8am for example so ppl don't think u expect a reply at 10pm at night

My experience of bosses is that there are two extremes: the lovely empathetic bosses who are scared of making decisions which might be even slightly unpopular, resulting in chaos; the autocratic ones who run an efficient team but everyone hates them.

The best bosses, IMO, are the ones who manage to find a position somewhere between those two extremes.

Know your organisation's policies so you can fall back on them rather than making things personal e.g. if x person hasn't done y, in the meeting talk about how their behaviour contravenes your behaviour policy rather than how it annoys you

Don't implement change too quickly, give big changes time to mature. One major change done well is better than 10 done badly. Also this avoids being a boss who is like "I watched a 10 min TED talk last night and now I think we should do XYZ immediately" every week.

Remember that different people need to be managed differently. Fair doesn't always mean treating everyone the same way - some people you will need to be very firm to get your point across and others will need a softer approach.

Don't expect them to do anything you wouldn't do yourself.

Lastly, do not tolerate or model any bitching abut anyone in the workplace EVER. Those have been my worst jobs, where management condoned this. It made me so anxious about who was saying what about whom behind their backs.

Ooh ooh also, my current boss who I love does this. She sometimes says "I'm not sure, I need to sleep on this and i will get back to you" then does.
It is so refreshing to have someone take a calm and considered approach rather than rushing a yes or no then doing a 360 afterwards.

I've started my first management position this year and it's definitely a transition out of being someone "doing" and takes time to get confidence in yourself to set direction. A few things I've noticed:

Everyone has a different opinion of what "micromanaging" is to them. Some people just use it when they don't like feedback they've been given.

Try to manage the individual in front of you, not just have a static management persona. Learn what makes them tick, what sort of communication style brings out the best in them and use it

Expect to find huge swathes of your week will just disappear on random stuff that you had no idea existed on Monday. Don't be surprised when your to do list on Friday is untouched.

Don't sweat decisions. Most aren't life threatening or irreversible. But being unable to make a decision will really hinder the team being able to make progress and do their jobs. And is rubbish for morale.

Get comfortable with difficult conversations. No one likes it, no one feels they're good at it, but it's part of the responsibility that the higher pay gets you. Also, have them early. It's only going to get worse if the issue rumbles on for months and then the recipient is blindsided.

Someone who knows/understands the job their staff are actually doing. I know that sounds simplistic but you'd be surprised at the amount of managers that haven't got a clue. They proceed to order equipment or put in place new procedures that are useless or counter productive. A very small example of this was one manager (male) who insisted my new typing chair had arms. He was adamant and got incredibly shitty when I practically begged him not to do it. I think it's also important to strike a good balance between being approachable and still being seen as a figure of authority. I think most employees prefer a defined "leader" but someone who is firm but fair. It's also easy to show favouritism without even realising it, which is an absolute no no.

Treat everyone fairly and don't favour parents with school aged children.

Supportive to existing members of staff.

Put your team members up to get the praise and credit- make sure you acknowledge their great work, publicly, to seniors.

Be aware the buck stops with you. The flip side of pushing them forward for credit means you have to shock absorb the criticism or mistakes. Try not to throw them under the bus, even if it was their fault.

Give them opportunities, let them try new stuff, give the big paper to the board, do the cool trip you quite fancy yourself.

You also need to both explicitly and implicitly make expectations clear though. So if they need to do a piece of work, they have to do it, and should speak to you if it's a problem. Agree on not bitching, no favorites. The most problematic teams I've inherited are where previous managers have done favourites. Be friendly, but not friends. Get a round in and then leave.

People can use the first part to their advantage. Is it really fair on childless colleagues?

Absolutely an awareness that different members of staff need to be managed differently.
One will like and thrive on a hands off approach, one needs a bit of room to vent, one needs a metaphorical hug, so it's important to learn who is who.

You offer everyone flexibility on the same basis, I think. But also get that if a kid is puking, someone has to pick it up (but also reasonable to expect if there is another parent in the picture it's shared).

Communication is key - always.

Stepping up to manage people who are currently on the same level as you is always difficult.

How do you think they regard you currently?

In my experience, that makes a big difference.

I had an awful time stepping up to manage colleagues who were all older than me, and never would have accepted me, even if I'd been the best manager in the world.

I got 2 years' management experience out of it and then left (the most difficult 2 years I've ever had in a workplace!)

One manager stands out for brave hiring - he wasn't particularly good at the difficult side of managing people (hard conversations, how to help people improve, how to manage the workloads fairly and effectively), but I always respected that when forming our team he didn't hire replicas of himself. He deliberately hired people who were all very different from each other, with very different personalities, strength and weaknesses. It was very effective. Within the team, there was some butting of heads due to personality clashes, but everyone generally got on outside of work, supported each other and you knew that regardless of different working styles, everyone had each others backs.

Another stands out for being selfless at supporting her team get ahead. She was excellent at her job and confident in herself, so she never tried to compete with her staff by claiming someone else's idea was her own, or keeping the best work for herself etc. She found out what people wanted from the organisation and for their career and she helped them get there. I still have an enormous amount of respect for her.

The managers I’ve truly respected are the ones who have always spoken to me nicely. It sounds small but I have had one who was always so rude in her approach that we all stopped bothering to help her or work extra. On the flip side I had one who also mentored me and she always showed me kindness and respect, she never put me down or demotivated me. The fact that you care enough to ask is lovely! Good luck OP.

Understand theu have got lives outside of work.
Ask and don't tell them if you need a favour and be flexible with them.