We have seen the most qualified and educated people badly fail at management over the years due to lack of empathy and communication skills. There is for sure no certain way of determining how to be a good manager as them term management broadly covers domain management, perception and organisational management etc. Taking it from company experiences over a decade and analysing our HRMS, software development managers, sales managers and administration, we surely have valuable do’s and don’ts on how to be a good project manager. Below we have pointed out to the wisdom we have gathered from personal management experiences so that newly promoted managers should have a guide to start instead of learning it the hard way.
1. Turn negatives into positives
The foremost skill a manager must have is accepting the downsides of the managerial role. Now, every manager already knows that they can’t point out blame to team while reporting to higher authorities, however, a manager must have the patience to take negative feedback from within the team without being defensive. Being at a higher position, managers should treat themselves as stakeholders of the company instead of sticking it to the juniors or other managers because as you moves up the scales, you should be solely focused on the bigger picture and learn from the feedback.
2. Fit people in the Right Role
Being a good manager takes more than a high qualification! You must read people, know their skills and put them exactly to the role they can efficiently fulfill. The people’s side to management is indeed the toughest and that requires having a good communication with your team and knowing what role will suit them the best. Hiring someone just on the basis of their tech competence doesn’t get you the best software development manager, if the company is not equally evaluating the soft skills of the applicant.
3. Reflect upon yourself
As a manager, you have to be a self critic. That’s is the only way to get better at your job and succeed. How and why should you do it? Well, when you analyse your strengths and weakness, you get a pretty good idea where you lack and you can improve your weak points. This self knowledge comes in very handy in risk situations where your anger might be triggered from pressure from the higher authorities. Remember, anger is the reflection of fear and to execute a project smoothly, you have to deal with your tender and keep at stakeholders on-board.
4. Acknowledge and Reinforce
This is the key to being a good manager! You must know how to deal with your team members and create learning opportunities for them. Team productivity can boost to a 100% when the employees are appreciated and encougared whereas bashing one even for a serious blunder lowers down the team morale. As they say, people don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad managers; you must know how to deal with the mistakes of your team and turn it into a learning opportunity instead of bashing them away.
5. know when and when not to play by the rules
Following processes is the utmost discipline required to successfully execute a project. But, you have to know when to use your theoretical knowledge and understanding and when to play by your own rules. Real life situations involve people with different mindsets, backgrounds and demographics and you can’t deal with them the same way. Being a good manager then means making your own set of rules and having a thorough understanding of the people around you.
As they say ‘Management is 10% work and 90% people’ you should really work on the people side and hone your interpersonal skills. We suggest a manager should be friendly, empathetic and a source of motivation for the team.
When you become everything you want your team to be, you lead without competition!