Being a manager can be difficult. You need to know how to coordinate people and resources to achieve goals, make complex decisions, and provide and collect feedback. A recent poll found that he relies on managers for 70% of team engagements. This highlights why professionals need to know how to direct and coordinate the actions of their colleagues to achieve results. If you're looking to advance your career and realize your leadership potential, here are her seven tips to help you become more confident in your role.
Improve decision-making
Sound judgment and decision making are of utmost importance as a leader. While many experts focus on the outcome of decision-making, it is much more important to examine the process followed to determine a particular course of action. In his Management Essentials online course, Harvard Business School professor David Garvin says he has three components to a good decision-making process.-
Quality
This includes a detailed analysis of the problem and a comparison of different options. -
Feasibility
Requires team buy-in to increase the likelihood that decisions will be properly implemented. -
Popularity
Not too soon, not too late, implemented at the right time By using these criteria to assess how you address workplace challenges, you can improve your approach to decision-making and develop processes that lead your team to success. -
Set clear goals and outcomes
Setting goals is the foundation of management. According to Google research, one of the most important behaviors of great managers is having a clear vision and strategy for their teams. Setting goals not only provides a roadmap for work to be done but also motivates employees. Goals should be clearly defined and linked to a set of outcomes (small actionable tasks) so that employees can clearly understand how their individual contributions relate to the larger organizational outcome. Once the goals and deliverables are established, it is essential to iterate on them at every opportunity to monitor progress and keep the project on track. By connecting your team's work to larger strategic goals, you can give your employees a shared sense of purpose, understand the "why" behind their efforts, and improve their performance. -
Delegate tasks to the right team members
At its core, management is about getting things done with or through others. The overwhelming work involved in implementing projects and plans should never fall on the shoulders of one person. As a leader, your job is to assign tasks to your team members according to their strengths. HBS Professor Amy Edmondson said in an interview with Management Essentials: "You have to empower others and delegate the real work of figuring out how to get things done so they can come back to you and ask for help." Delegating tasks to the right people is important. Ensure that delegates have the resources, skills, and bandwidth to complete their assigned work, answer questions, and provide assistance. -
Keep employees engaged
Employee engagement is critical to the long-term success and profitability of any business. Effective managers are able to successfully engage and motivate their employees. This ultimately increases employee satisfaction and has a positive impact on productivity levels. A Gallup study found that a highly engaged business unit achieves 21% higher profitability than his, but only 15% of his employees worldwide are engaged in their work. This presents a major obstacle for managers who rely on highly motivated employees to work toward organizational goals. Listening to your employees is key to driving employee engagement. Ask team members for their input on every important decision you make. By involving team members in the decision-making process, team members can contribute more directly to the company's success and make positive contributions in the future. -
Giving and Receiving Feedback
Many professionals hesitate to be honest and critical in conversations for fear of hurting the feelings of others or damaging working relationships. However, knowing how to effectively capture and provide feedback is important to your team's and your own development. Make a habit of giving employees regular, informal feedback instead of waiting for a formal review period. When providing feedback, make sure your comments are specific and actionable. It's not enough to just tell your direct reports that they've done a good job. To help them grow, we need to take note of the areas where they excel and where they fall short. In addition to providing feedback to his team members, you can also ask them for their opinion on your own performance. Find a trusted colleague who can tell you your strengths and weaknesses firsthand. It's important to listen to their thoughts with an open mind and ask them to point to specific examples of good and bad leadership. These insights allow you to develop a personal action plan for improvement. By giving and receiving feedback on a regular basis, you and your team members can help each other grow and develop a deeper working relationship. -
Leave time to think
Learning from past experience is an essential part of being an effective manager. Many valuable lessons can be learned in real time, but successes and failures can be examined more closely through conscious reflection. "We need to take some time to reflect on what we just went through," says Colonel Paul Reese, featured in Management Essentials and former director of the Center for Army Lessons Learned. "If you don't do that and you just keep running, you don't always get a chance to reflect on what worked and what didn't." Retrospectives can be done at both the individual and organizational levels. To check your performance, schedule time each week to reflect on the goals you set over the past week and analyze your progress. This self-examination process helps you identify where you went wrong, how certain decisions led to business success, and helps you develop a near-term game plan. When reviewing team performance immediately after a task or initiative, allow time for reflection and encourage open and respectful discussion. Don't limit conversations to specific individuals. Encourage everyone on your team to participate and identify practices that need to be continued or adapted in future projects. By setting up regular periods of retrospectives and reviews, you and your team can take corrective action and learn how to work more efficiently. -
Invest in a manager training program
Whether you've been a manager for two days or 20 years, our management training courses provide the practical training you need to become the best manager you can be. Management training can help you understand leadership frameworks and improve your communication and decision-making skills. It also helps you become a more data-driven manager by using business analytics to guide your strategy. Management training programs come in a variety of formats, including convenient online options for busy professionals. An example is Management Essentials. It is completely online, and you are free to complete the coursework over 8 weeks. Throughout the course, you will learn management concepts and techniques by examining real-world business challenges faced by experienced leaders.
