how to become a better manager | 12 tips on how to become a good manager and leader
Let’s chat about how to become a better manager with this management deep dive! Although becoming a manager may be the “natural” next step in your career, and hey the pay might be better too, leadership is a service to the team of people you’ll be managing. It’s about the people in your team, more than you. It’s crucial to get your people-related skills honed to support the team that works with you, and ultimately by getting your team to a healthy place, their output will be healthy too. These skills are also essential if you’re running a start-up or small business that’s growing or will grow in the future. Here’s 12 tips on how to become a good manager and leader! Grab a pen and paper, and strap in.
Table of contents
#1 be obsessed with building culture
#2 get to know the career goals of your team
#4 be a leader, not just a manager
#5 celebrate success & growth in your team
#6 be clear + communicate effectively
#8 make it worth their while to stay
#9 don’t accept the behaviour of talented jerks
#1 be obsessed with building culture
As a manager or leader, you are a major contributor to the culture of your workplace. Culture can feel like a strange concept to unpack - it’s a vibe! It’s a feeling! It’s the combination of many, many things combined and interacting, and together these things impact how your team feels, works together and ultimately whether your team decides to stay! Your culture has the ability to attract the best people, and keep them once they’re onsite. It’s everything from the words you use, to the wins you celebrate, to the tasks you all complete each day, to the social activities you enjoy together. Everyone in your team contributes to it, yes, but as a manager you are a major player in what culture is in your workplace. What you encourage, will be encouraged by the rest of your team. To open up this idea a bit more, check out this episode with Shane Hatton:
#2 get to know the career goals of your team
For many managers who read this they think, “what the heck? Isn’t this about what we do here at this business?”. Yes it is, but your team members have career goals, and if you can’t accommodate them someone else will. Wouldn’t you rather keep your best people and find a way for them to achieve their career goals whilst also achieving your business goals? Also - management is actually about service to the people in your team - it isn’t solely about giving you more authority or a bigger salary (although those things are involved). To align with your team member’s career goals well you need to look for alignment with the people who work in the business. That means aligning the values and strengths of each team member to those around them, and to the purpose and vision of the business. So ensure that the vision, mission and culture of the business is incredibly clear, and you’ll be attracting the people that align with those things.
If someone in your team is looking to move in a certain direction in their career, look for ways to make that possible by staying in the organisation, whether in your team or not. In most cases it’s more beneficial (and less expensive!) to retain current employees, utilising their experience with the business, for the benefit of both the business, and for the betterment of their career.
But what if a team member says that what they want in their career is completely out of alignment with what we do here? Great question. You absolutely want to keep your best people, so do as much as you can to keep them in your business. But fun fact: 100% of people will leave their job, if not now, then down the track. You don’t own people in your team. Millennials and Gen Z’s are expected to change jobs and potentially industries a number of times in their careers, so that means they won’t be in your team forever. Be supportive, encouraging, offer as many opportunities as you can, and after that the individual will make the choice that’s right for them.
The benefit of being focused on this is also that by making your business vision clear, you’ll be attracting the right people to your teams, so even if you are looking to hire, you’re set up to find the best people for the job.
A practical thing here is to set up performance reviews, even just once a year, with each team member. Chat about their career goals and include them in these formal reviews. Even if you’re running a start-up or small business, these goal-planning, progress and performance check-ins are crucial. Document what is discussed so it can be referenced later. If you’re unsure of what kind of documents to use for these performance reviews check out the templates from the Fair Work Ombudsman - adapt them to suit your workplace and the roles of the people in your team.
#3 be open to feedback
Oooof, feedback. Some managers might hear this word and think, “yeah, Pete in my team needs to get better at his job!” Ok, chill for a second. Feedback is a two-way thing in the land of work. Feedback is an essential piece to being better at managing a team - it’s a way to get to the bottom of issues, it’s a chance to acknowledge successes, it’s a place to find new opportunities as a team. Open feedback forums are the lifeblood of your team. So many workplace issues could have been resolved with a simple one-on-one chat - it’s time to get comfortable with giving and receiving feedback. And some of that feedback might be about how you lead - try to listen with openness and understanding. Set up regular meetings with each team member to check in and see what the vibe is. Try to keep these chats, those outside of formal reviews, as relaxed as possible. Provide every opportunity for them to speak without you interrupting and listen to their joys and excitements, their career goals and any issues they’ve come across.
When feedback about your performance as a leader comes up just know that every manager makes mistakes, and you will too. You’ll overstep the mark and say something stupid in a meeting, set deadlines that aren’t realistic or give your team too many tasks to complete at once. Because you’re a human and no one is perfect. These open discussions go a long way in preventing everyone’s human errors from getting in the way of business success, so prioritise these chats to help put out any fires, jump on new opportunities and clear the air between team members. Biggest tip: do not dismiss this feedback because you don’t like hearing it. No manager just arrives at perfection - this feedback is crucial to you continuing to improve as a manager.
It can be helpful to have these chats on neutral territory, so don’t invite them into your office. That’s your ground - your safe zone, not theirs. Meet them in the office kitchen, the cafe downstairs or in a spare meeting or conference room. Have a cuppa or coffee to help it feel less rigid and performance-y. Don’t ask them to fill anything out before they come or to answer 25 questions - have some general guideline questions and let the conversation do the steering.
See now why being a manager is more about serving your team? Great people and communication skills are a must.
#4 be a leader, not just a manager
The career ladder is long-dead, and simply taking the next step up the ladder to “manager” has certainly gone with it. If you’re in a management position, you’re a leader. A leader is someone who sets tone, culture and energy. A leader motivates, encourages and sparks inspiration from people. A leader takes care of their people. Yes you have tasks to complete, but you don’t complete those without the right environment. Don’t let the only motivation your team has to come to work become the fact they get paid. Make them want to come to work because you create an environment they love and want to contribute to. Your focus needs to shift from simply ticking off achievements, to an environment where those things are achieved because the people achieving them are strong, supported, inspired and aligned - thanks to your leadership.
Get inspired by some other leaders! Learn how others have led in their industries, sectors or businesses and make notes of what could work for you in your leadership role. Align yourself with a mentor to encourage you in your leadership goals and skills. Find a leadership coach and invest in your improvement as a leader! Listen to the right people and sources in the leadership space. Read, listen, watch, engage, and utilise what you learn.
Check out this my millennial career episode about finding a mentor to help you find the right mentor for you:
Feedback from your team is also critical in ensuring your leadership is hitting the mark. Address the leadership issues your team brings up, and don’t shy away from admitting your mistakes. No one expects you to be perfect, and acknowledging your errors goes a long, long way to ensuring your team trusts you.
#5 celebrate success & growth in your team
Every win as a team, no matter how small, needs to be celebrated! Whatever you reward, you will see more of from your team. It’s surprising how many managers simply don’t tell their employees how great they are! Be excited about their achievements - tell them in meetings, in front of other team members, in emails, on Slack, in presentations and in your one-on-one chats. You want your team to grow in their skills and experience, and they’ll seek to be better in their roles if you’re clearly demonstrating an appreciation for this.
This is especially important for those younger team members, who might be fresh to the workforce generally, but also still building a portfolio of experience. Don’t demonstrate to them that work is a place to slog your guts out for no appreciation - show them that all wins are celebrated, there’s always more to learn and they’re on track. These younger team members will one day be leaders themselves, and will have you as one of their first examples, so be a great one.
Acknowledging success and growth can practically look like the below:
When looking at the numbers or KPI’s your team has nailed - highlight who’s brought that over the line. Who was the one out there on the road seeing clients? Who was on the phone getting sales? Say. their. names.
Remember the career goals your team members have set. When you see them setting up structures to achieve those, head over to their desk or give them a call to acknowledge what you’ve seen: “hey, I saw you’re been trying to improve your delivery of deadlines - saw you bought a diary to help achieve that. That’s amazing, well done.”
When a team member handles a difficult situation well, tell them what they did that helped solve the issue.
In your one-on-one meetings say directly to the person what they’ve been doing brilliantly! Show them their efforts have not gone unnoticed.
If someone has worked tirelessly to deliver a project, give them an afternoon off.
If your team has been working crazy hard, buy them lunch.
Walk into work with a round of coffees and donuts for everyone simply because you value your team.
If your team genuinely needs to work late (as is custom in many industries), order dinner for the team.
Think about spontaneous ways you can surprise the team with appreciation! Whatever you reward, will recycle.
#6 be clear + communicate effectively
Many managers feel like they’ve said things a thousand times to their teams, but why isn’t the team getting it! Why aren’t I seeing it yet! Question: have you clearly expressed your expectations? What one person says, and what another hears, can often be opposite - so make it your mission to ensure that your expectations have been made as clear as possible. Ask your team members questions like: “do you understand that I need to see X by X?”, or “have I made it clear what’s needed from you at this point? Let me know if I haven’t”.
Communication is one of those skills that will always need improvement. Work on giving honest, bold feedback or thoughts without it being brutal. Whatever communication code you expect of your team, you need to model that in your communication too. Always be asking your team, “did what I just share make sense?”. If you want to be completely sure, ask team members to share back what they believe you just asked them to do.
This is especially important in an era where many more people are working remotely from each other - we don’t have the benefit of face-to-face expression and side conversations that create broader context. Be aware also, that as a manager you’re in meetings that your team are not - they don’t know that there’s a bigger goal at play, until you tell them! They don’t know there’s an upcoming project, because you haven’t told them. You’re responsible for relaying bigger plans, projects and goals coming up, and you’re responsible for getting your team on board for those, as well as giving everyone a role to play in its success. Your communication has to be clear and accessible to everyone who reports to you.
But another thing to note on communication is don’t just communicate about work stuff! Ask them how they are, check in on their weekend hobbies or adventures with their families. Show with language that you care about them as a person outside or work, as much as you do about their job-related tasks.
#7 trust your team
Micromanagers, beware! Your management style lacks trust. If your team doesn't feel trusted to do their job independently, then they won’t hang around and your best team members will be running toward new job opportunities before you know it. You need to turn off your control freak and practise letting team members work independently - we know it’s hard, but for your team to work well, you need to set direction, then back off. Your role is not to hawk over every move they make - ultimately you need to be able to walk away and know they have the skills, experience and curiosity to get their job done well. You won’t gain this if you criticise every step of their day.
But what about Scott who is just failing miserably at his job? Hovering over his shoulder everyday will only make it worse. Instead, think:
Does Scott need training?
What’s Scott’s previous experience with this task? Is this his first time?
Are you or someone else able to sit alongside him on a regular basis to coach him in how to do this task?
Can you encourage Scott to do some research or reading to get skilled up?
You need to give employees every opportunity to learn how to do their role proficiently.
Ways to practise trust with your team involve:
Delegation - select the most suited people for the task, AND look for opportunities to grow certain team members by giving them a task for the first time. Equip them with the information and training they need to give it their first go, and assign another team member who’s done it before to check in on their progress.
Encourage curiosity - instead of barking orders at a team member with what they should do, encourage them to self-teach. Encourage them to ask others with the skills they need, to read blogs that give them a better understanding or watch training videos that specifically show them how to complete a task.
Help them find a mentor to work alongside them. This person could be you, or a fellow team member. Someone who can sit shoulder to shoulder and offer guidance.
#8 make it worth their while to stay
Look to enrich the lives and days of your team members right here, right now. Don’t wait until that team retreat next month, or when they get another job offer and all you can do to make them stay is put forward a counter offer. If you haven’t fostered a great environment for your team members, valued their contributions and supported their growth, then they will leave.
You want to keep your great people, right? What are you doing to ensure that is the case? No one wants to be hiring perpetually because people are leaving all the time! It’s all costly to hire new people, versus keeping your current team. Save yourself the hassle.
Be aware that making it worthwhile for your team to stay isn’t a set and forget - you need to be evolving with new ideas on how to make your workplace the place all employees want to be a part of. You don’t do this once - you continue to look for opportunities in this space.
Practically speaking there’s many, many things you can be doing to make employees want to stay:
Pay them competitively, and listen openly when they request pay rises or promotions
Don’t waste time with too many or poorly focused meetings
Offer flexibility - around kids, illnesses, mental health needs, carers needs, working from home, flexible working hours
Ensure they have the tech, gear and subscriptions they need to do their jobs effectively! Don’t be a stinge because you don’t want to pay for PDF software, when the team uses and edits PDFs all day long.
Celebrate diversity! Educate yourself to understand how different your team members are - be curious, ask questions and encourage team members to be uniquely themselves.
Build a fun social calendar - organise fun events where everyone taps out of work for a day and hit up lawn bowls!
Offer growth opportunities - where possible support their education and training, encourage learning and curiosity in the fields or skills that interest them.
Listen to them - value their ideas and feedback.
Be around! Don’t be an absent leader. Give them the info and approvals they need to get their job done.
Look to set up team deals and offerings that are attractive - discounted gym memberships, vouchers or offers that staff can use after hours.
Money alone is not an incentive for people to stay, so don’t fall back on the old: “but I pay you, so?”.
#9 don’t accept the behaviour of talented jerks
Ego is a major buzzkill in the workplace, and just because you have a team member who is really good at the tasks in their jobs, does not mean they should not be held accountable for jerk-like behaviour. Too many times people have left roles because the workplace had been held hostage by the hurtful words or actions of a fool. If inappropriate language or behaviour happens within your view, address it immediately. If this behaviour is reported to you by other team members, investigate it. It doesn’t take much jerky behaviour to disintegrate your team, so get onto it.
Also have a think about any behaviour generally you’ve seen in meetings or sessions with the team - are you allowing anything that pushes the boundaries, is uncomfortable for some members is it just plain discrimination? Again - use the one-on-one chats with your team members to check in on these issues and ensure you approach them with speed and delicacy.
Also check to see if you’re the jerk! Sometimes we’re blind to our own behaviour. Accept the feedback from your team and ensure that you’re not the one sabotaging the culture of your workplace.
#10 delegate + use smart systems
If your team members are constantly asking you for what you want them to do next, then you don’t have smart enough systems in place. If tasks continue to be dropped or deadlines aren’t being met, you potentially have a systems issue. Don’t instantly blame the people in your team! And hey if someone in your team is really skilled in setting up systems, get them involved in establishing a rock solid process. You need to delegate first of all (don’t hog all tasks, please), and use smart systems to assign tasks to specific people. Set realistic deadlines, and give each team member the tools, software and guidance they need to complete their roles. No doubt you’ve seen countless ads for workflow software and you can 100% sign up for one of those (Asana, Monday, ProofHub etc) if budget’s allow, but a simple spreadsheet goes a long way (check out YouTube for a bucket load of ways you can create these kinds of spreadsheets). Set up processes and procedures, flow charts, workflow maps, videos - anything that helps your team understand who does what, when it needs to be delivered, the expected result and the overall goal of each task.
To set up workflows that actually work, ask your team members how much time and focus each step of the process needs and ensure the system has built-in deadlines to suit. If teams are struggling to meet deadlines, adjust them to ensure tasks can be completed to the best standard possible.
Also set things up in such a way that if you are travelling, or sick, everyone in the team can find the information and answers they need from internal documents, workflow trackers and planners. If someone asks you a question about a project, you should be able to say: “everything you need to know about project X is on the brief”.
#11 assume good intent
Especially in the cases of underperformance, you must assume that team members have good intent underlying all of their actions. If someone in your team seems to be struggling with their role, or an aspect of what they need to be doing each day, your job is to assume they’re either missing critical knowledge (so could be lacking experience or training) or need more support from you. Encourage your team members to always reach out if they’re coming up against a road block. It’s not your job to complete theirs - your job is to find a way to enable them to do their job comfortably. Ensure they understand every step of the process they’re involved in, and see if there is a systems issue also at play. It’s not always on the team members shoulders - you need to ensure they’re surrounded by support to complete their tasks each day.
Likewise if a team member displays behaviour that does not align with your workplace's culture, assume that they’re missing some key piece of information - perhaps they aren’t aware of the result of their behaviour, or that genuinely they aren’t aware that that kind of behaviour or language is not tolerated in the workplace. Don’t just make assumptions or conclusions - always assume that team member simply does not know, and they need to be informed.
#12 make diversity tangible, not token
This is about the vital importance of ensuring every person who engages with your organisation, including your team members, feels valued, appreciated, and a part of what’s going on. Each team member brings their own unique identity to the team, and they’re often very different. We need to celebrate this difference for the strength that it is, and actively look to include team members in our organisations who are different from one another!
So what does this look like in practical terms?
Are breastfeeding mums in your organisation supported to pump breast milk in a dedicated room with privacy and dignity?
Is the language used by team members appropriate, addressing team members with their preferred pronouns?
Are you providing enough access and support to team members with a disability - ramps, disabled toilets, suitable desks and computers?
Are Indigenous Australians in your organisation encouraged to celebrate their culture with the broader team?
Are you actively looking to hire the right people for the role, no matter their background or any support you may need to provide?
Do team members from various cultural backgrounds feel comfortable with how their culture is referenced in office conversation? Are comments made about their name or the food they bring to lunch each day?
Does gender and sexuality come up in office conversation with a negative tone? Think about how that impacts members of your team who identify as LGBTIQ+.
It can feel difficult trying to get to the bottom of where possible discrimination might be in your organisation. The best place to start is - you guessed it - by asking your team members. A simple question of: “have you been discriminated against at work? Have you seen one of our team members be discriminated against?” Highlight that it’s something the organisation is deeply committed to eliminating.
There are also many training organisations that work with businesses to improve inclusivity and education - search in your area to get a better sense of who could support you to be a more inclusive organisation.
Resources for managers
If you need templates, ideas or downloads, then check out the below:
Subscribe to my millennial career for more career info and fun
Fair Work Ombudsman - they provide support around workplace legislation, downloads and templates that can come in handy.
LinkedIn has a learning section - follow along and continue to read articles around leadership
TED & TEDx have some amazing videos - many about understanding people and how to lead them well
