What Bad Managers Stop Doing to Be Great

You don’t see the top ones doing these things anymore.

I’ve known some great managers and some truly diabolical ones.

Some are lovely people and some are not. But it isn’t that which makes the difference in their success as managers.

It is their ability to develop specific ways of behaving.

And it is these changes that the great ones make.

They stop doing and start managing

For some struggling managers, it is incredibly hard to let go.

They can’t see the big picture for the minute detail they are drowning themselves in. They are still trying to dot every I and cross every T that happens within the team in person.

It is the only way they feel in control.

But in doing so, they lose control

Imagine you are managing a team of 20. Insisting on reading 20 people’s emails a day alone will mean you haven’t enough time in the day.

Add in liaising with all twenty daily, wanting to know context, and insisting on continual updates. You will be appallingly behind in your first week. And frantically worrying about why you are not in control.

If you manage to keep up the façade and keep on attempting control, your team will feel strangled.

Their hands will be tied behind their backs. Unable to send an email without approval. And they too will be falling behind because you haven’t the time to give it.

The brave and successful manager gives overall direction, steps back, and lets their team fly.

They are there to support, encourage, pick up the pieces if needed, and trust once again.

They stop thinking “I” and start thinking “team”

I’m not suggesting they stop supporting individual team members. Of course, they should.

But their aim is a successful team and that changes everything.

Great managers understand success is not achieved with individual glory but by a balanced and bonded team who are (corny though it is) happy in their work.

They learn to align goal planning with the business’s objectives and communicate why.

Their team’s success is always the goal

Great managers take their own ego out of the equation. Their team comes first.

It becomes a given that if they have a happy, cohesive, and successful team, everyone wins.

When colleagues are jockeying each other up for promotion, the great manager is head down, supporting his team in every way.

They maximize emotional intelligence

Lots of people can organize, but great people leaders prioritize developing their emotional intelligence.

People with IQ are not only aware of their own emotions but the emotions of others. They can identify those emotions and understand how they can effectively be harnessed for success.

They can control their own emotions, and not let them affect team relations and teach team members to do the same.

Having emotional intelligence separates great managers from the rest.

They know communication is everything.

And that to communicate you need to understand the people you are communicating with.

Great managers are great listeners. Poor ones zone out till it is their own turn to speak.

Bad managers waffle on but fail to give clarity in ideas or expectations.

Great managers have conflict in their teams, but only in safe, healthy ways that promote innovation. Any genuine issues are spotted and quickly dealt with.

Trying to manage this without any emotional intelligence is like a duck without web feet. Dead in the water.

They let go of what they can’t control

With their emotional IQ, great managers recognize the human capacity to surprise.

It is endless and they recognize that.

• Someone on the team will upset the most valuable client.
• The star player will up and leave without a glance goodbye.
• The boss regularly moves the goalposts.

When you are dealing with human beings, you never know what to expect next.

The great manager knows this, accepts it, and can roll with the punches without letting the unexpected get to them.

They leave their egos behind them

Great managers are never smug.

They know good isn’t great. They thrive on the knowledge that they can be better tomorrow than they are today.

They grow and grow and then grow some more

Great managers recognize the need to know more about the business, the industry, and their role in it and don’t see it as a chore. They are actively excited by it.

They work on their communication, goal-setting, delegation skills, and emotional intelligence. They know that the team will only get better and better if they do.

They actively seek out mentors and are open to development opportunities wherever they arise.

On the other hand, self-satisfied bosses at any level are incapable of inspiring loyalty and universally disliked. By everyone apart from themselves.

Leave the ego behind and you are on your way.

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