So you want advice on when to bunt and when to bring in a pinch hitter?
That’s something a lot of managers don’t get. Managers of people are really intended to be leaders who do a certain amount of paperwork. And leadership is a service activity- it’s not about you as the manager.
Overall, I’d say that the main jobs of a manager are:
[ul]
[li]Clear roadblocks and other detritus from your employees’ path to success.[/li][li]Have your employees back when it comes to dealing with upper management.[/li][li]Effectively communicate and inspire your employees to achieve upper management’s goals and agenda.[/li][li]Make equitable decisions in the situations you’re called upon to arbitrate.[/li][li]Praise your employees in public, but reprimand them in private. [/li][li]Don’t be stingy with the praise. People like to be told that they’re doing well.[/li][li]Don’t be stingy with the correction either, but don’t be arbitrary or mean about it.[/li][li]Cultivate a team attitude- don’t pit your employees against each other.[/li][/ul]
And probably most of all, let your employees’ performance speak for itself, and don’t be a stickler for following the rules no matter what, except in the case of regulatory requirements, health and safety. In other words, don’t be a pest about whether or not someone is 2 minutes late, or something dumb like that, unless that has an actual job impact.
I think that this has already been covered, but don’t forget that “WE fail…YOU succeed.” (The YOU here being your direct report.) If something bad happens, make sure you take your share of the blame (and there will definitely be some). If there’s a big success, make sure everyone understands that the person who should get the credit is your direct report, not you.
Plan for things to go wrong. What will happen if someone gets sick, what will happen if multiple people get sick. Take care of the crap that keeps your employees from getting the work done that has to get done. Make sure that everyone has the tools and training so the work gets done. I think as a manager you should know how to do everyone’s job that works for you. Maybe not as well as your employee but at least enough to know what affects them and to pinch-hit if necessary.
My sympathies.
Our of curiosity, what sort of team is the OP managing and in what industry? Managing, say, a McDonalds is different from managing a team of developers, a sales team, a platoon of Navy SEALS or the folks from Marketing. Although there are some overlaps.
The OP mentioned Gantt charts, schedules and projects plans. Is he “project manager”, “people manager” or both. There are some similarities and overlap, but also some differences.
“Gantt” is not ALL CAPS. It’s not an acronym. It’s named after its inventor Henry Gantt.
Yeah, but remember that as a manager, you are also the “company”. And HR is very much a tool at your disposal.
Related to management, I always liked this quote from Saving Private Ryan:
“I don’t gripe to YOU, Reiben. I’m a captain. There’s a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don’t gripe to you. I don’t gripe in front of you.”
-Captain Miller
There is the concept of “executive presence”. Much of it is how you speak and carry yourself, particularly how you get other people to do stuff.
People will generally do what you say because you are a manager. That means a couple of things. One, you probably don’t have to try as hard as you think to get them to listen to you. Two, be aware of what you are telling them to do (directly or indirectly) because there is a good chance they will do it.
Managing people is about leadership. That doesn’t mean that you know everything and direct every detail. I’ve led teams where I am literally the least knowledgeable person on the team. But the project is successful because I bring the knowledgeable people together and get them to work towards the defined objectives.
Listen. Make sure you tell the team they’e doing a good job often. If you make a mistake, admit it quickly.
It’s all about trust. Your team needs to know they can trust you to help them solve problems and you must be able to trust your team to do their jobs. Mistakes happen. You fix them and move on.
Remember, it’s easier to not hire someone than it is to fire someone, so learn how to interview effectively to build your team.
Communication is key. Don’t keep them in the dark.
It doesn’t hurt to bring in homemade cookies and treats for the team. I also had a stash of chocolate I would bring out on Fridays, but it was always available for medicinal purposes. I also used them when I needed someone to go above and beyond as a little bribe. It was fun and I know the team appreciated it.
I learned so much about what NOT to do from bad managers.
Above all, remember this. People do not quit jobs. They quit bad bosses.
Remember to praise publicly and criticize privately. When there is a screw up, we screwed up. When you get praise, we did a great job. I always tell my teams that we are the team that gets along with other units; if there is a problem or a conflict with another department, it is my job to hash it out. If I screw up, I try to admit it. Give a shit about your staff, but stay focused on what you need to get done.
Can’t believe it’s been 9 years, but yeah, shortly before I got kicked to the curb at my old hospital, they started pulling this crap. I was actually considering giving my notice when they hired someone who believed in this.
Everybody has skills and weaknesses, good and bad qualities. Work with their skills and good points, and deal with their weaknesses and bad stuff. Don’t try to change them, or make them do things they are not good at.
Remember: They are your employees, not your friends. You just have to get along with them. And always treat them with respect until they show they do not deserve it. Then get rid of them.
Where to buy a bullwhip.
Where to buy a megaphone.
Where the bodies are buried.
Don’t get into the habit of using your subordinates to vent about other people - ESPECIALLY other subordinates. I’ve had a few managers like this. Apparently I’m easy to talk to, or am a good listener or something. On the one hand it was amusing to learn that various of my coworkers tried to expense painting their home offices or got in trouble for something or made silly unreasonable demands. But I knew I wasn’t supposed to be privy so that stuff and lost respect for the managers who did that over time. (I also quickly realized not to reveal any of my “dirty laundry” to those managers lest I be gossiped about next.)
I’ve had the same experience. I tried really hard to love Project, but I just can’t make myself. It’s supposed to be flexible enough that you can adjust it to meet your particular needs, but I find that an excel workplan is far more effective for me and takes way less time to set up.
I agree it’d be good to know more details about your situation. Are you building a team from the ground up or being promoted within your cohort? Are you at an office job or some other type of environment? Do you have offshore people working for you or are they all within your country? A lot of the tactical stuff you either have to figure out from experience unfortunately or, if you can find a mentor who has been in a similar position, that would probably help immensely as well.
The best managers I ever worked for knew that different people are motivated by different things. Take the time to find out what motivates your different team members.
You can be friendly to your subordinates, but they are not your friends. You have to be prepared to discipline them, or even fire them. If they’re your friends, you can’t properly do that as the emotional baggage of being a friend holds you back. Watch shows like Kitchen Nightmares or Bar Rescue and you’ll see managers in sinking business who won’t fire people who are destroying their livelihood because ‘they’re my friends!’ sob I promoted up and was put in charge of people I used to work alongside, and that advice helped me a lot.
One hard thing is when there is an obvious performance problem, and people come to you demanding that something be done about it. Especially when the solution is winding its way through the HR process. All I ever said was that I was aware of it, which wasn’t enough for people.
Managers had better learn how to keep secrets.
I feel like a lot of this advice is idealized stuff from “How to be a Good Manager” books. Here is some practical advice from my personal experience and observations:
-Never voluntarily take on any projects or tasks you can’t complete successfully. There are no “A’s for effort”.
-Shit rolls downhill. Make sure you have someplace to roll yours.
-Never become so dependent on any one or more “superstar” employees that your shit will fall apart if they decide to leave the company.
-Involve HR and your manager ASAP when you have an employee who is not performing and document everything.
-Be nice and friendly to everyone.
-Don’t risk your career for any of your employees.
-Never be drunker than your employees at happy hour.
Model the desired behavior.
It’s been 6 weeks or so, and I’ve figured out the one thing I need to know as a manager: does it ever get less horrible?
I’m managing a team of IT auditors - 8 people in 3 different work streams. (One of which was a a last minute surprise just before my predecessor left.) I’m supposed to review their work and send them feedback before the reports go up the chain to the client.
But first, Typo, please come to this meeting. Then set up another meeting. And update this weekly status report. And the monthly status report. And the biweekly status report. And the other biweekly status report. And a detailed history of every email you’ve been on, but give the 10,000 foot view. And report your status.
Argh! I’ve been able to review a handful of documents, which then get kicked back to me by my superiors. My backlog of core work gets bigger every day. When I finally get time to review work from my team, I see sone quality issues that I don’t have time to address.
The one and only thing I’m doing effectively is a weekly admin task my new senior manager wants to take away from me. That would be OK, but he wants me to hand it off to a team member and review it every week. Reviewing it will take me at least as much time as doing it. Not a worthy trade-off.
I’m flailing, which means I’m failing. Nobody’s said anything to me yet, but it’s a matter of time.
My prior management experience was leading 4 people in one work stream on a project I knew extremely well. That was successful. I think because I knew what I was doing, and the environment. Now, when my senior manager asks me who the players are, what are the real deadlines, what are the broad goals - I have no answer. And no time to get one.
I’ve given up on things getting enjoyable, or good, or tolerable. At what time can I say “I’ve given this manager thing a fair chance, but it’s been X weeks and it’s still a nightmare - I’m going back to being a worker bee”?
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When it’s clear that it’s not worth it. But then, I’m one of those lucky people who can afford to say “fuck this shit, I’ve got better things to do with my life”. I think I’m spoiled: about half of my projects/jobs have been in the decent-to-good range, so I know those exist. Makes “why the hell am I here when watching paint dry would be more productive” a very clear-cut question. Now where did I put that pot of paint…
Do you have a manager who’s a reasonable person, who may be willing to help you figure this out? Or is it just “we need a 100-[del]slide[/del]deck for tomorrow, containing all those details nobody told you you needed to know in 64-point font”? Shouldn’t it have been your superiors who told you what the fuck the broad goals are? If they can’t be arsed give you direction the experience has failed but the onus isn’t 100% on you, at all.