What does it take to be a great manager?
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A couple of weeks ago, one of my employees asked me what, in my opinion, one must do to be a good manager in a technology company like MyHeritage. I answered him with a few ideas that immediately popped into my mind, and I promised him to try and post my thoughts in a more organized way. So here they are…
The skill sets that are required to be a good manager — and one set of skills alone is not enough — can be divided into two categories: technical ability and management skills. I will start with the technical aspects, but it’s important to stress that a good manager can’t have one without the other.
Technical Abilities
High-level system understanding is a key capability for any manager. A high-level understanding of systems requires knowing the meta-architecture of the system, its major components and the interaction between them.
However, understanding the high level system requirements alone is not enough. A good manager should have the ability to dive into the gory details when required. Of course, the manager must strike a careful balance in order not to drown in too much details, But, sometimes, the devil really is in the details. Note that it’s OK to say “I don’t know”; you are not expected to know everything.
A good manager is capable of making technical decisions, but decision-making alone is not enough to make a good manager. A great manager knows how to involve others in the decision-making process, explain their rationale, give consideration to tradeoffs and constraints, and achieve buy-in.
Good management requires a combination of excellent technical aptitude, and business and domain knowledge. You should additionally set yourself up as a consultation point for the people around you by creating an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable approaching you, and creating a space for different ideas to coexist in order for the team to arrive at the right decision.
Being a technical focal point requires you to understand the relevant technologies: current and future trends. Familiarity with the relevant technologies, the ability to explore them, analyze them and POC them allows you to choose the right tools for solving technical challenges, pushing them to integration — to the benefit of of the team you manage, and the business.
A good manager has the abilities to solve complex issues, assist others and provide meaningful feedback on their technical work (designs, code, etc.).
This pretty much summarizes my thoughts about the technical aspects of the manager’s role. In the next section I’ll discuss my thoughts about the management skills that are required to be a good manager.
Management Skills
A good manager is a leader. The best way to be a leader is to lead by example — to behave the way you want others to behave.
An element of strong leadership includes having great mentorship skills. It’s not enough to know what should be done and how the system works; you need to show others how things should be done, teach them, accompany them and leave space for mistakes (as long as lessons are learned, followed by meaningful improvement).
To be a good manager, and have successful teams, you need to communicate your expectations clearly. Define the goals together, show the way to achieve them and monitor the progress.
A manager can’t be successful if the people in his team are not successful. A key point for achieving team success is motivating people. Every person is inspired and driven by something particular to them,and a good manager can identify these drivers and act upon them to generate and increase motivation across the team.
Beyond motivation, a good manager genuinely empowers people to make decisions. The manager then stands behind these decisions, and is able to justify them. If things go wrong (and sometimes they will) don’t jump to blame. Instead, show the team how to learn from that mistake.
Sometimes, high management levels will make decisions you might disagree with. You can and should try to convince your superiors to reverse decisions you don’t like, but once the final word comes out, you should stand behind the decision and do what’s necessary to execute it. Of course you and your team don’t live in a bubble, and you must cooperate with others to help the company achieve its goals. Leave your ego outside the office.
In order for you as a manager to gain trust, you must maintain transparency regarding all your actions and the team’s progress. This doesn’t mean that everything you do should be visible, since this would run the risk of flooding people with information. Transparency should rather focus on the most significant items you manage.
A manager can’t know everything or be everywhere all time, but good managers knows where they need to be. It’s important to focus on what’s significant — where your impact would be greatest. This focus is closely related to time management. A good manager is a master of time management. This, of course, means that you need to know what to handle yourself, and what to delegate to others (and if you feel you can’t, it means you have failed in building a successful team). You must be able to to identify what you should handle yourself, and how to prioritize correctly to free enough time for thinking about and strategizing for the future.
As a good manager, you should create a culture of collaboration, sharing of ideas, and openness. You must credit those who deserve it (remember — this is part of effectively motivating your people), and of course, protect your team.
In closing: being a manager is a challenging position, and to be a good one you must combine technical and management skills, to benefit you, your teams, and the company you work for.
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on February 7, 2016.
