4 golden rules of being a good manager

Rachita Joshi
Sep 4, 2018 · 2 min read
“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” — Peter Drucker

With my past 10 years of experience being an employee at organizations of various size, I have put together 4 traits every good manager has:

  1. Don’t be a manager, be a leader
    Build trust. How do you do that? Do what you say and stand by your words. Watch the back of everyone on your team. Identify emerging leaders and help them flower. Don’t act as an expert on things that you don’t know about. Let the experts on the team be the guides.
  2. Look inwards
    Before you criticize your team, look inside and make sure you don’t point out things in others that you lack yourself.
  3. Use emotional intelligence
    Understand the working style of individuals in your team. Not everyone has the same working style as you. This is the single biggest lesson to learn. Next, see how you can work with those individuals whose working styles are on the opposite spectrum of yours; without getting frustrated. And please, if you don’t have EQ, don’t be a manager!
  4. Be a learner
    Lead by example, but learn from others. See how you can bring value to the team by bringing the combined team energy together. Don’t use your position of power to show people why they need to respect you. Remember that great leaders earn respect, not expect it.

Written by

Tech enthusiast, entrepreneur at heart.

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