Whether you’re an executive, manager or entrepreneur, management duty is inevitable in your career. An effective manager pays attention to many aspects of management, leadership and learning within an organisation. Being an effective manager is about more than just motivating employees to give their best. You have to make employees feel rewarded, recognised, and thanked for their work.
The key to management success is being someone that people will want to follow. Every positive action you take in your career will help establish you as a leader. Use these seven tips for effective management to help you along.
1. Be consistent
This first tip applies to most of the list. Before your management approach can be effective, it must be consistent. You have to stick with your values and not stray away from them. This means you’ll have to reward the same behaviours every time they appear, discourage the same behaviours when they appear, and treat your team members equally at all times.
2. Build a team
If you want your employees to collaborate effectively with each other, build a team. Give them a unified focus and purpose to inspire them to work together. People feel as if they have become more - more effective, creative, and productive - in the presence of a team builder.
3. Communicate effectively
Once you build a team, how you communicate with your team members can impact your eventual success. Make sure to be clear, accurate and thorough when you communicate. Communicate effectively in person, print, through texts, and emails. Avoid a defensive response and most importantly, make sure your team is on the same page.
4. Create a positive environment
Create an environment in which people experience positive morale and recognition, and your team members are motivated to work hard. Understand that the manager has a great role in the employee’s well-being and mood at work. When someone does something exceptional, reward him/her in front of the group. But be consistent so you won’t be seen as playing favourites.
5. Encourage all opinions and ideas
The more people you have actively participating in discussions, the better. Never chastise a team member for voicing an opinion respectfully, even if it goes against your own. If someone doesn’t agree with your management style or doesn’t like the direction of the company, don’t silence them. Listen and ask questions. Having an open dialogue makes it easier to proactively identify problems and work together towards solving them.
6. Remain as transparent as possible
Being transparent shows your integrity as a leader, and builds trust with your team members. If you withhold information or lie about something, you could very easily jeopardise your relationships and the respect you’ve earned as a leader.
7. Be an example and empower others
As a manager and leader, you should set an example in terms of your behaviour. Always strive to be your own ideal of the perfect worker, especially in front of the team. Lead by example and set the pace through your expectations and behaviour. Provide recognition when others do the same. Help people grow and develop their skills and capabilities. Let them know that you care about them and their career.
As you’ll notice, these tips leave plenty of room for you to apply your own personal “brand” of leadership and management. They stand as fundamental truths, considerations and principles for an effective management role. Stay true to them and you’ll create an enriching work environment for your team.
We hope you enjoyed our list of 7 tips for effective management. If you’re interested in furthering your career in management, we offer a Master’s Degree in General Management for international students. While if you are interested in being even more international, we also offer dual degree programmes, where you study part of your time in New York, London, Bordeaux or even Australia and receive two degrees.
At PFH we make sure you make the most out of your study abroad experience!