5 Tips to Becoming a Great Manager of High Performing Teams

I believe only about 50% of managers today are any good. Of these, only about 20% are truly great. There are many benefits to being a great manager.

• Talented people want to work for you.
• You can build a high-performing team who loves to learn and thrive together.
• You receive high job satisfaction from helping others develop in their career.
• You also get to learn from your team and achieve amazing results together.

Do you want to achieve all these things and become a great manager? If so, here are five tips to help you.

Tip 1: Know your work. You cannot become a great manager if you’re not good at the work you own. You must be the example for your team. This doesn’t mean you need to know more than all of your team. What it means, however, is that you need to continue to hone your craft and lead from the front. A few examples:

• Draft the vision for where the team should go.
• Identify and manage the blind spots your team may not see.
• Address escalated issues.
• Delegate ownership and not tasks.

By continuing to work on your own skills, you can better solve the larger problems your team face and lead your team to high performance.

Tip #2: Invest in coaching each of your team members individually. Everyone has unique strengths and development areas. Get to know each of your team members and…

• what motivates them.
• what they want to learn.
• where they want their careers to go.
• what they’re good at and where they still need to develop (you can get this feedback from the key people they work with).

Your goal as a great manager is to guide them to their own greatness. Each is likely to have a different starting point. It’s your job to use your 1-on-1s to teach each of them new skills as well as find opportunities to provide real-time feedback. Feedback should include both what they are doing well and where they can improve. In addition, it’s important to take time to provide formal feedback perhaps twice a year.

Tip #3: Ask for input on the work and on your management style. As a great manager, you don’t have to have all the answers. On the contrary, it’s always empowering to your team to ask for their input. If there’s a tough problem facing the team, ask your team for help with your draft solution. You’ll be surprised at the level of creativity and you can uncover blind spots you as a leader may not see.

Additionally, ask for feedback from your team on your management style. Your team members will value the chance to give you feedback. It will also open up a deeper communication channel between you and each of your direct reports.

I have found out some valuable tips from my team on where I excel and where I can improve. For example, I discovered that my communication style with one team member made him feel less heard. By listening to his side, I realized how to adjust my style and also better detect when he and I are not on the same page.

Tip#4: Ask more questions than provide answers. The Wall Street journal wrote a great article on this – The Secret to Asking Better Questions. It’s better as a leader to ask questions than to give answers to the team. I agree wholeheartedly and need to practice doing this better. It’s always tempting as the leader to give the final answer on questions your team asks you since you have more experience. Refrain! You don’t need to always provide answers. By asking better questions, your team can come up with more creative perspectives than you.

Tip 5: Instill fun at work. A team that plays together will stay together. Fun will foster camaraderie and a stronger team culture. Make sure you encourage and participate in regular team building and fun with your team. You don’t have to lead this yourself. You can ask for different team members to help lead different activities. Most people would love to help. With my team, we have regular happy hours and quarterly team-building events like miniature golf, bubble soccer, and VR games. These gatherings allow everyone to let off some steam and build fond memories. Everyone wants to have fun at work. It promotes the team to bond with each other as well as gives your team a chance to get to know you as a person in addition to being the team lead.

Becoming a great manager is a journey that takes practice. It starts with the intent to build a great team. You must have faith in your team. It also requires work and humbleness on your part. However, the work is worth it as the most rewarding thing you can do is help others succeed in their career. When you help others excel, they will naturally help you excel!