How to be a top 10% Manager

Are you worried that you might not be as good a manager as you hope to be? If you are, there’s good news and bad news. First, the good news: you have great self-awareness. And the bad news: you might not be very good at managing. But that’s not a knock on you.
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According to Gallup, just one in 10 people naturally have what it takes to be a manager. That increases to a whopping two in 10 if the right training and support is in place. So how can you be a better manager? Should you be more demanding, organized, and hardworking? Maybe. But one thing is certain: you should be a better listener.
To be a better manager, you need to understand your individual team members, know how to motivate them, communicate effectively, and walk the walk. Here, we’ll dive deeper into these topics and show how they help you be a better manager. 

Let’s dive right in.

What is a manager?
Does this question sound naive? Probably. But it has an important answer. So, what is a manager? Not a leader. Don’t get us wrong, managers can be leaders, and leaders can be managers. So what’s the distinction? Specificity.
Managers are responsible for driving a single person (or a small group of individual performers) toward a specific goal, whereas a leader tries to drive a large group. Let’s consider how their strategies to achieve those goals differ:

So to answer our seemingly-obvious question: a manager is someone who leverages individuals’ unique skills and motivators to further a team’s mission within an organization.

Great! But how do you do that? It starts with understanding your employees.

Get your shovels out
It’s time to dig deeper than surface level.

Many managers know their direct reports, but do they really understand them? To successfully leverage the talents of your direct reports, you need to understand three critical things about each of them:

1. What makes your employees tick? When do they leap into work?
2. How can you trigger their best work?
3. How do they learn?

1. What makes your employees tick?
While you’ve hired a person for one role, there are bound to be certain elements of their work that they excel at, and others that they may dislike or struggle with. Some people would describe administrative tasks as tedious or annoying. However, you may have an employee who revels in the details of these tasks and is uniquely talented at identifying small changes that make big differences.

As a manager, it’s your job to figure out what those things are. Then, you can enable employees to spend more time on the things they excel at and that they’ll take ownership over.

2. How can you trigger your employees’ best work?
Understanding what makes your employees perform is one thing, but encouraging that behavior regularly is another. Therefore, managers need to understand what positive triggers drive their employees’ best work.

Some employees crave public recognition. Others prefer being recognized by their manager, executives, or clients. Being able to provide the type of recognition your direct reports seek is vital for keeping them engaged and motivated.

3. How do your employees learn best?
Growth is important for employees. It makes them more valuable to an organization and it makes them more satisfied with their role. Cultivating that growth is one of the most important things a manager can do, but it’s far from simple. Just as each employee is motivated by different things and excels in different areas, employees learn differently too.

Consider two employees in a marketing department. One may be fully capable of learning a new strategy for garnering data insights simply by watching a video. Meanwhile, another employee may be equally as talented, but might not fully comprehend the purpose of the strategy until they have the opportunity to try it themselves. Trying to force them both to learn in the same way won’t lead to the growth that pushes the entire team forward, and could even lead to one disengaging.

Lead by example and empower your team to follow
Think for a minute: how do you want your direct reports to work? Now ask yourself, ‘do my actions indicate that?’
Managers who work long hours tend to have direct reports who work longer too. But working longer isn’t always working better (in fact, it can be worse in some cases). Managers should be cognizant of their role as an influence on their teams. If a company values work-life balance, and they definitely should, managers should lead by example and sign off at an appropriate time.

This is only possible when work is evenly distributed among your direct reports. For example, just because one employee excels at a certain task doesn’t mean they should be burdened with the entire team’s responsibility for it in addition to numerous other responsibilities. When employees are working significantly more than their colleagues or manager, they’re at risk of becoming resentful or disengaged.

For great managers, it’s not enough to simply set an example. They need to empower their direct report(s) to follow it.

One-on-ones are the foundation for success
By this point, we’ve outlined three critical elements on how to be a better manager. But none of them are possible without regular one-on-one meetings with your direct reports. Regular is the key word here.  If it’s “once a year – check the box” meeting, don’t even bother. One-on-one meetings are essential for:

• Getting to understand your direct reports’ goals, motivations, and learning styles.
• Keeping your direct reports appraised on organization-wide goals, challenges, or changes.
• Ensuring your employees are keeping their heads above water.​

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In addition to cuing managers into these vital motivators, one-on-ones are paramount to employee engagement. The less facetime managers have with their direct reports, the more likely those direct reports are to become disengaged. 
To put it simply, one-on-ones are to your direct reports’ success as maintenance is to a car. Things wear out and break down without it. Every environment is unique, but a good rule of thumb is that these “regular meetings” should be at least monthly.
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Lauber Business Partners can help improve your organizational health
We can help you get there. Lauber Business Partners’ Manager Training program helps managers develop the strategies and skills necessary for taking their teams to the next level. In addition to manager training, we also offer other human capital services—including Leadership Coaching and Team Development—to support your organization’s long-term growth and effectiveness. Want to learn more? Get in touch with Lauber today!

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