The Art of Management: 3 Tips to Become a Super Effective Manager
It’s not complicated, you just need to listen, engage, and filter.
If you had asked me 20 years ago, I had all the answers. It took several years to realize that the more I learned, the less I knew.
In fact, it took moving my family to North Carolina and accepting a job as a consultant to find my listening skills.
As an adult, I had always been quiet unless around friends, family, and good beer. I was content to hear what others had to say. I’m sure some of that was due to a lack of confidence in certain situations, but you get the point.
My quietness and tendency to think before speaking helped me win the respect of most colleagues. Apparently, silence is an art and can even make you look intelligent. I was never one to suck the air out of a room. That was for someone else to do. Offering quick insights and clarifications were my preferred tools of the trade.
When I was first promoted to management, as a result of my manifesto for a new specialized team, it terrified me. I had no idea how to “manage” people.
But I jumped in headfirst.
To add even more drama, my wife and friends were openly surprised that I had accepted a management position. Early on in my career, I had zero use for managers and preferred they stay out of my way. My opinions were well known among my peers.
While I had no idea what was driving my ambition, I fully embraced my newfound role. To my surprise, I excelled and quickly discovered my style of leadership.
In one short year, I received the only promotion to senior management within my cohort of 20+ new managers.
This is what helped me stand out. These principles have worked well over the past two decades while I built my own businesses and advised others.
Three Concepts To Make You Super Effective
1. Listen, Probe, Then Respond.
I was never the person that sucked the air out of the room with long-winded arguments or anecdotes. But I did tend to form my responses before learning everything necessary to be helpful.
As a consultant, you interact with a lot of people. People with different experiences and motivations. Some don’t necessarily know what they want.
It’s your job to help people clarify what they need or want. This can’t happen if you tune them out or hone in on an opening to spout your response.
Clearing your mind to focus on what they have to say is essential to becoming an effective listener.
“Before you speak, ask yourself if what you are going to say is true, is kind, is necessary, is helpful. If the answer is no, maybe what you are about to say should be left unsaid.”
— Bernard Meltzer
Even listening isn’t necessarily enough though. What people tell you may not be what they truly mean. Or, context can be missing that may change your whole understanding of the conversation.
As Elizabeth O’Neil shared in 3 Reasons Why Your Team Doesn’t Tell You the Truth When You Need to Hear It Most, probing questions are important to avoid harmful assumptions.
After listening, ask probing questions before giving your own point of view. More information will deepen your understanding and prevent you from making assumptions. It’ll also give you time to formulate a more thoughtful response. “Help me understand what you mean by…” and “I’m curious about….” are great question starters.
Using techniques like the ones Elizabeth shares help ensure you and others are on the same page. This leads others to feel valued and helps you become more impactful.
Listening also helps build bonds with others. Who doesn’t want to be heard and appreciated?
2. Invest in Relationships.
I’ve always been an open person. Perhaps, to a fault. I’m quick to overshare and have had to work on that for much of my adult life. This can really cause problems when context is missing.
In any business, people are people. Said another way, you and I both look for connection in and out of work. You want people to understand you. They, in turn, want to connect with you.
You are a more effective person at work (and in life) if you take the time to know the people that share your time. Realistically, you share more time with people at work than you do most others. At least before the pandemic, when offices were still a thing.
At work, not everyone will open up about their personal life, but they will share their career ambitions. You can’t help them if you never ask. The same is true in reverse — you have ambitions and others can help you as well.
Invest in great relationships, they will pay a lifetime of dividends.
— Bill Walsh
My most effective relationships began over casual conversation. No agenda-just swapping stories. Simple things like funny escapades or silly videos of our kids. Even something as offbeat as how I grew up surrounded by dairy farms.
In fact, when I had offices, the door was always open and it was common to have multiple people visiting me at once. That’s how some of the best ideas were born.
Taking the time to know your team will pay dividends. Helping someone realize their dreams, or opening them up to opportunities they had never anticipated, is an amazing feeling. I promise you the initial awkwardness is worth it.
In my experience, the more time you invest in people, the better you will do over the course of your career. No scientific backup, just an anecdotal observation.
Some of the best relationships I have started with co-workers or people I had managed at one point.
If you ever anticipate starting your own business, relationships will be critical for getting initial traction. The more people that you’ve poured into, the easier it will be to recruit later on.
When you take the time to relate to others, you also learn they perceive others and how others perceive them. Knowing when to share or filter this feedback can help build a more effective team.
3. Build a Wall Around Your Team.
While not a perfect analogy, managing people is like parenting. You spend an enormous amount of time encouraging them as well as protecting them.
There is drama in any workplace. Some of it is merited while some is not.
Protecting your team from drama and distraction is a major part of your job as a manager. It allows your people to do their best work.
This is a mindset many managers never fully grasp. It’s also an effective way to retain talent. Just as long as you don’t shelter them excessively and stunt their growth opportunities.
For your team; be an umbrella, protecting and safeguarding in times of crisis.
— Anurag Asopa
Much of my first year learning to manage was finding a balance on what voices or noise I let through to my team. This manifested in several ways.
- My people were often caught in misguided battles between departments to staff their respective projects.
- Others needed scapegoats when projects went off the rails.
- And others selfishly tried to kill promotions for my people simply to keep them on their projects.
I quickly learned how to negotiate and push back. If my team was to be effective, the outside voices needed to be filtered and challenged.
Yet, it is possible to go overboard when building your moat. Too much filtering can kill growth opportunities. The line isn’t always clear so you will need to learn to make judgment calls. And live with the consequences.
Remember, you are working with adults so getting out of the way and becoming comfortable on the sidelines will make you more effective as well.
Key Takeaways
Management is no mystery… or rather, it shouldn’t be. There are a million books written on the subject, yet most overcomplicate it.
If you only take three things from this post, know that these concepts are enough to help you shine. They have worked well for me over the past couple of decades while building and mentoring businesses.
The short version:
1. Listen to your employees. Stop working on your response and channel that effort into asking questions that add clarity. Then, and only then, offer feedback. Your silence and absolute attention are key.
2. Get to know your team. When you build relationships with your team, that transcends the workplace. As adults, some of our best relationships may start at work. Sharing builds trust. Once you know their goals, motivations, and relevant life experiences, you can build them up.
3. Build a wall around your team. By limiting external influences and distractions, your team will be freed to be more effective. There is a happy balance to be found here though. Not all outside concerns or requests are bad so judgment is necessary to avoid limiting growth opportunities.
Casey is the founder of Fullstride, an advisory firm for mid-sized businesses pursuing their first Warehouse Management System (WMS).
