8 Habits Of The World’s Best Managers

Managers have a huge impact on business outcomes — they influence at least 70 per cent of your employees’ engagement. The majority of employees state that the quality of their manager is more important that their salary!

Teams with talented managers can realise a 48 per cent increase in profitability, a 22 per cent increase in productivity and a 30 per cent increase in employee engagement scores (Gallup, 2018).

Here are the eight habits of the world’s best managers according to Gallup:

1.      Always communicate the reason WHY – most employees are at least a little unsure about how their work fits into the “big picture”, so when a change is required many employees lack motivation, as they don’t understand the WHY. Communicate the WHY and engage your employees on the journey.

2.      Be open to new ideas from your team – change requires innovation. New managers often feel like they ought to be the ones with all the answers but true leaders are open to new ideas and encourage thinking outside the box.

3.      Admit and accept mistakes – continual improvement can only be achieved through honest conversation; the best managers lead with accountability.

4.      Communicate well and connect frequently – check in regularly with your individual team members and use coaching conversations to motivate your team when they are flat.

5.      Discover what motivates people besides money – do they enjoy meeting new people? Mastering new skills? Working in the background? To motivate your team members, figure out how to reframe projects in a way that is uniquely compelling for them.

6.      Explain why your team matters and celebrate excellence – how many employees show up to work for years and never feel like they matter? The best managers give recognition, feedback and celebrate the wins – even the small ones!

7.      Work Life Balance – realise that you must care about your team’s lives outside of work, as life impacts work performance in a huge way. The best managers know, at an appropriate level, what’s going on in an employee’s life.

8.      Always be on the lookout for new stars to promote – identify and develop new leaders. Bad managers focus on the past and what can’t be changed. Average managers focus on the present – the issue at hand. But the best managers focus on the future – what does future success look like?

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