How to be a better manager

Management — 01 April 2009

How to be a better manager

Thinking back to last weeks management blog post on the difference between types of management and talking to a solicitor colleague recently.

He reckons that in some parts of the country, employment tribunals have more than doubled in the last 5 years.

Why is this?

Well, he reckoned that television becomes reality and people see The Apprentice and celebrity chef programs on TV. People who do well are almost always represented as walking about, pointing and shouting at others (and quite often swearing and being rude also) to get the job done.

But that’s television – it’s not management…

It’s meant to entertain the viewing public – not get the job done…(that get done “offline”)

So how to be a better manager in the light of all this bad advice? Here are 3 suggestions.

1. Listen more. Talk less.

You will be able to make better decisions with all the facts and people will be happy (or happier) if they can see the manager has listened. Solutions will be more readily accepted if staff have had an input.

2. Learn to prioritise

Unfortunately, not everything can be important all the time. Just because something isn’t important to you – it doesn’t mean it’s not important to the person involved. So you need to be able to (tactfully) say to people that you won’t be dealing with that particular issue today, tomorrow, this week, ever… Without shouting abuse at them…

3.Get UP TO DATE information

Too many managers rely on “gut” or what they think – not the facts. After all stopping to check the facts and figures doesn’t make for good TV does it. Decisions about jobs or sales or finance MUST be based on up to date information.

Finally, recognise TV management programs for what they are – TV programs….

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