Manage well even when its hard

If you’re a manager, always bear in mind that your job is likely to more difficult than easy. You have the tough job of helping people do their jobs well. Some of the tough responsibilities include;

Doing what’s effective, not comfortable: Many times, your job will not be comfortable. Keep your focus on what will deliver the impact needed even if it takes you out of your comfort zone. Your priority should be on ensuring the team, the individuals and organisation are progressing in key areas.

Being calm in the storm when all hell breaks loose: If you are stretching people or if they’re working on challenging projects, there will have times when individuals, even teams will experience moments of fear, doubts, confusion or even paralysis. Be the helping hand and calming influence even if you are experiencing your own fears. While your team counts on you for motivation, you are responsible for your own morale and must hold it together to steer things in the right direction.

Creating learning moments instead of providing answers: It can be tempting to offer answers when there’s a problem, but equip people to find their answers even though such an approach can take time. It is more sustainable in getting things moving. Provide advice if required, but focus more on proactively creating learning moments that will help people distill key insights that can inform future experiences. People will not necessarily learn from something they’ve done; it’s when they take time to reflect that learning occurs.

Being your best because provoking the best in others is mandatory: Global research suggests that up to 80 percent of managers are not doing a good job as expected. This may be because a person has not been equipped to be a manager or simply doesn’t want to be one. However, if you are one now, willingly or not, you must do your best. People, strategic thinking and self management skills are key skills to develop as they’ll help you understand people and what motivates them to do their best.

Now take action: What one thing can you do to be a better manager? n