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Introduction: A Manager is the one who gets things done effectively through people and resources.  To get the thing as done and achieve success certain skills are necessary for a Manager.  A skill is an individual’s ability to translate knowledge into action.  It is not necessarily inborn.  The skill can be developed through practice and through relating learning to one’s own personal experience and background. 

Build self esteem: Keep reminding yourself that you are valuable.  Nobody has the right to put you down without your permission.  You can gain confidence by undertaking more tasks, interacting with colleagues and building on your strengths.  A positive environment filled with positive people and positive thoughts can only lift your spirits.  Replace fear with faith, doubt with determination, worry with work and hate with love.

Just a Manager or also a Leader? Management gurus say that most organizations are being managed too much and not led enough. The terms ‘manager’ refers to a person who ‘looks after’ or manages people, material resources, etc., You may or may not be a leader of men.  If you are just a manager, you may be content to do your work without going out of your way whereas if you desire to be a manager who is also a leader, then you will be concerned about your employees and this concern is what touches people/subordinates.

Be a good Leader: “Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things” Leadership qualities are always imbibed, never transmitted.  Leader is the one who puts his personal interests behind for the sake of his team members. You need to first have the desire to lead people.  Not a feeble wish like ‘I wish I were a leader’ but a genuine fiery desire to take the initiative.  Ask yourself why you wish to take the challenge, and bear the brunt of failure if things go wrong.  If your answer is ‘aspiration’ then you are already on your way.

Foster mutual trust: If you want to be an effective Manager as well as a Leader, you are not supposed to take the risk of failure.  Then, what if you fail? You won’t.  Express that you trust them, in thought, word and deed; and let them realize they can trust you.  Such rapport ensures that your co workers will be more willing than ever to pursue the works as a unified entity.  And, when that happens, failure will not even be a possibility. 

Responsibility: With every job comes responsibility.  It is something that  gives you a sense of value and pride in your work.  However, when you lack the authority to back your responsibilities, there will be demotivation and lack of enthusiasm.  Always, make sure someone in higher authority is aware of what you are doing/or plan to do.  Give feedback and discuss frequently so that everyone understands and agrees on who is responsible for what. Remember that it is not practical for the Management to confer you with authority for every task assigned to you.  Unfortunately, unlike authority, responsibility often overlaps between individuals and department.

Motivation Matters: When it comes to people, there are not rules sent in stone.  The best results come after a lot of trial and error.  Motivation is invaluable but it need not be scarce.  There are two things you must have in ample quantities-sincerity in your efforts and a certain degree of flexibility in your attitude. Motivate your employees so that they have zest for life, make the impossible possible.  Be appreciative when your subordinate takes the initiative to do something and always encourage him to give you his feedback and ideas.

Cope with Conflict: All the psychological tensions among the staff pile up into a big mound, ultimately causing people to trip, fall and explode.  The reason for this is the accumulation of tensions.  Why should you allow such conflict and tension to pile up in the first place? You should learn to be sensitive to others, yet desensitize yourself.  We expect others to put up with us, while we rarely reciprocate in the same manner.  Dealing with conflict involves timely intervention, bringing the problem to the forefront and try resolving it across the table.  However, also keep an eye on people trying to create factions. Meaningful conflict is healthy.  People openly disagreeing with one another and lobbying for different ideas reflects the healthy nature of our Organisation.

Workplace Quality: At workplace you need to treat your employees with dignity and respect.  As a Manager, you need to be responsive to employees’ personal concerns and treat them as a capable individual.  They need to be provided with information that will enable them to execute their effectively and have opportunities for open exchange of communication.  You have to be someone whom the employees can look upto, and who will take their concerns and ideas seriously.

Sense of purpose: For an employee, pride may be in simply knowing that they are performing to the best of their abilities and that they are making a difference.  Pride also comes from knowing that they are constantly learning new skills.

Negative Impact:  Never give negative feedback in public but always criticize in private.  Don’t rake up what the person did years ago and hold it against him.  Be timely.  Be fair. Do not overeat when thing do not go as per plan and lash out at the person responsible.  Address the issue, don’t attack the person.  Most importantly, do not have any preconceived ideas about the errant person.  If you do that you would have already hung him before the hearing.  Patience and rationale are what are required and expected of good managers.  Never threaten or use force.  If you feel that the person needs discipline, then take appropriate disciplinary action promptly. 

Emotional communication: Just displaying facts may not always positive results.  One must incorporate emotion along with vision.  The idea is to be leader and not just a manager.  A leader must not only be able to share his emotions but also connect with his people’s emotions.  This way, communication barriers can crumble easily. 

Tackling with Tact: Diplomacy and tact are the secrets to a successful work life.  To be tactful you have to get to know your people with differing egos.  Know about the pressures and demands they are facing.  Acknowledge their strengths and identify the areas where you expertise will help their efforts.  Employment is about relationships.  Follow protocol and the chain of command.  Talk and consult with your superior if you face any problems.

Power and Authority : Contrary to popular opinion, authority is not about yelling or punishing.  It is not about domination or about ruling with an iron fist.  It has more to do with listening, monitoring and guiding subordinates.  Remember, with power comes greater responsibility.  As a manager, you can wield authority over your employees, but you are also responsible for their well being, satisfaction and efficiency.  You are accountable for implementing policies and procedures, maintaining discipline, building morale and ensuring optimum levels of performance.  Do not allow power to go to your head. Recognise the fact that authority essentially vests in the post and not in the person occupying the post. 

Managing Time:  Learning how to handle your time well is an essential skill for success in any profession.  You need to allot time in accordance with the priority.  Once you get your priorities right, you need to put them in order and make place for them in our time schedules in such a manner that each one gets its own share of time.  You should be able to distinguish among works which are both important and urgent, important but are not urgent, urgent but are not important, neither important and nor urgent. 

Need not be a perfectionist:  Extreme addiction to perfectionism is one of the significant factors in non achievement.  Misplaced perfectionism can prove to be dreadful.  So rather than trying to work towards perfection, focus on working towards excellence.  Make sure your targets are realistic.  A gradual increase in standards will help you set realistic goals based on your limits and abilities.  Find out if there easier less rigorous ways to accomplish your work.

Delegate right: Effective delegation gets things done quickly.  It you happen to be burdened with more tasks than you can hope to finish, spread some work around by delegating a large part of it.  If the assignee is really incapable of the task assigned, then that’s ineffective delegation.  Delegation doesn’t mean dumping work.

Efficiency: Efficiency is about greater productivity for less expenditure.  It is about doing things quicker, better and thoroughly.  Take the time to study the job first and do some careful planning to roll out an efficient process that can be executed by anybody.  Try and train someone in your work so that it will go as you planned even in your absence.

Conclusion:  As a manager you should be more participative and democratic than just being an Authoritative manager, if you want to become a better leader of your men.  Since you also have to produce results, it is not enough to have a happy team. So you must keep a firm check on the bottom line.   With a little toughening up, streamlining the attitude of the employees will be easy.  Your employee wants your nurturing personal attention and help.  He wants to be recognized and appreciated.  He wants you to know him and understand his problems too. He wants mutual trust and transparency as well. Understand that Employment is all about relationships and get going.  All the Best!

Guidance of a Good Manager self esteem good leader Leadership qualities Effective manager Emotional communication