Learning To Be A Manager Can Be Difficult, So Let’s Start Talking About It.

How do I be a good manager?

Learning to manage people can be difficult. It’s something that a lot of people experience, but few actually talk about.

Maybe it’s because we don’t want to admit we need help if we’ve been newly promoted, or maybe it’s just that we think we’ll pick it up over time. But no matter the reason, developing the skills to effectively manage someone can be a tricky situation to navigate.

Can anyone be a good manager?

A lot of the time, there seems to be an expectation that people can naturally manage employees. In reality, only 13% of people promoted to management already have the skills to be effective leaders.

This doesn’t mean that the other 87% won’t make fantastic managers, but rather that certain aspects of the role (such as delegation, conflict resolution, etc) need to be worked on.

We spoke to some people in management and supervisor positions about this, here’s what they had to say:

“For me, delegation has always been the most difficult part, especially if you’ve ‘come up through the ranks’ as it were, because it’s hard to go from working alongside someone to managing them”

Another manager felt:

“it can be tricky to establish the right tone with your team when you were friendly or quite informal with them before your promotion, which sometimes makes managers be too stern to counteract this”

How do manage your former co-workers?

Making the transition from co-worker to manager is something that crops up most often during our training sessions. The progression of the working relationship can be uncomfortable for some and, as these managers have mentioned, can lead to striking the wrong tone with your team.

The best way to ease this transition can often be to brush up on your management skills. Every person on your team will respond best to different methods of management. Therefore it is important to know what those are and how to effectively deploy them can help you start on the right foot.

Continuous professional development is as important when you reach a managerial level as it is for a trainee or intern. It’s what makes the difference between a good manager and a truly great manager.

So, whether you’ve been in a leadership role for a month, or a year, or even a decade, you should always be looking for ways to improve your techniques to maximize team engagement.

To this same aim, if you’re a business owner, talk to your managers. Find out what they would like to work on and encourage them to do so.

Developing your managers will have positive benefits for the entirety of your business, including higher workforce morale, lower employee turnover and increased productivity.