If you’re like me, you’ve had both good and not-so-good managers. There’s plenty to learn from both, whether it’s what to do or what not to do. Since I’m someone who likes to focus on the positives, I’ve decided to share a few traits that my favorite managers have in common.
They Trust Their Team
We talk about trust all the time, and if you’re familiar with Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team, you know that in his model trust forms the foundation of a healthy team. But what does it look and feel like to be trusted by your manager? When I was relatively new to HR, I created a training on performance management. While I’ve done this a hundred times since, this was my first. The audience was the manager of an 800 person department and I was nervous about getting it right.
My manager at the time was a seasoned executive who had previously worked at two Fortune 100 companies. There was no question he could improve on my presentation, but after reviewing it, he praised it and said I was ready for showtime. Why did he do that? I expect that my training was “good enough” and rather than spend his time taking it from 80% to 100% he chose instead to enhance my self-confidence through his support. By supporting me and not becoming a micromanager he also saved his own time to focus on more strategic work.
They Challenge People
HR Business Partners in large companies often support several departments. In one of my roles, my clients included three Vice Presidents and their global teams. One of these VPs needed to do a complete reorganization and asked me to take the lead. This included interviewing over twenty managers, stakeholders, and team members to identify strengths, blindspots, and talent gaps that would inform the new org structure. I found this project both fun and challenging. On top of my normal day job, it kept me incredibly busy.
One of the other VPs I supported saw what I was doing and asked “Doesn’t he care that you have other clients?” I thought about this and responded that he didn’t care, but he didn’t not care. The point was, we had a very critical piece of work to do and I was the person best positioned to do it. What I remember from this time is not how busy I was, but how much I contributed and learned in the process.
They Show They Care
After nearly fifteen years in hard-driving tech organizations, I joined a different kind of company working for one of my all-time favorite bosses. Only three months after I started, it was time for annual performance reviews. I wrote mine in the way I had been taught. It was thorough, detailed, and self-critical. My manager was in another state so we got on the phone for our review conversation.
Rather than just diving in, she gave a little laugh and said “Mikaela, before we get started I have two things to say. First, you wrote more than many people who were here for a year and you were only here for three months. Second, why are you so hard on yourself?”
This was such an aha moment for me, realizing not only how I had been conditioned by my prior experiences, but that I was now in a very different place. Her warmth and candor brought my anxiety down and increased my loyalty to her and my role.
If trust, challenge, and caring don’t come naturally to you, choose one to work on and give yourself a goal. If you’d like to become a better manager, consider registering for our upcoming leadership development workshop: Coaching For Managers, on March 16th and 18th.
“As a manager, you have a wide variety of conversations with your colleagues and the people who report to you – spanning from tactical work guidance to career advice to frustrations at work to performance feedback. This workshop is focused on giving managers a mental framework and tools, along with ample practice time, so you can leave prepared to effectively coach your team members.”
