What does it mean to be a good manager? Well, that depends on who you’re asking! Ask a hundred different leaders and you’ll likely get a hundred different responses! But if someone were to ask me, here’s how I define successful management at New Day…
- Hire the right people.
Hiring the right people begins with a crystal clear understanding of what we’re looking for in future Team Leads and staff. If you need a refresher on that click here. When you don’t have a clear picture of what you’re looking for, you’ll never recognize the right people as the right people when they come along. But when you know exactly what you’re looking for, when the right person comes along, they’ll stick out like a sore thumb (in a good way).
When you recognize someone on your team as the right kind of person, you’ve got to shoulder tap. Don’t wait for them to come to you. You go after them! Tap them on the shoulder, tell them the important role you have for them to play on your team, and ask them to step up.
You will only be as good as your team, and your department will only go as far as the talent on your team allows it to go, so you have to make building a great team your highest priority.
- Clearly communicate what’s expected of them
When you bring someone onto your team you have to be crystal clear on what you’re expecting from them. This means you have to write it down! It’s impossible for two people to be on the same page if the page doesn’t exist!
And don’t make the mistake of sharing your expectations once and then thinking they’ve got it. No! You have to share over and over and over. When they’re new share often. Once they’re seasoned, you can back off a bit, but you can’t stop. Even long-time staff need to hear the expectations repeated on a regular basis. Repetition is the only way anyone learns anything, so don’t miss this.
- When they meet expectations be quick to praise. When they don’t be quick to correct/coach.
At New Day we’re very clear on what we expect. When expectations are met we’re quick to praise because what you celebrate you duplicate and because what gets rewarded gets repeated. Conversely, when expectations aren’t met, while we don’t drop the hammer, we are quick to bring correction and coaching because if we don’t we reinforce wrong behaviors. If they do it wrong and you let it go, you have told them (with your actions, which always speak louder than words) that that is acceptable behavior. And you simply cannot let that happen. So when (not if, when) they do something wrong, use it as a teachable moment. Go talk with them about it and if needed, go update your written expectations.
A balance must be struck between criticism and praise. I recommend a ratio of at least 2:1, where you praise 2x as much as you correct.
- Hold them accountable for building a great team.
You know the value and necessity of hiring the right people. But your job isn’t done until they know it too. So teach them what to look for so they can begin spotting the right kind of people and promoting them within their team.
Tell them over and over that this has to be their highest priority (building an amazing team) because you can’t win in a team sport with only one player.
- Hold them accountable for evaluating their key metrics and responding appropriately.
As part of you sharing clear expectations (see point 2), you’ll have communicated their hedgehog concept as well as the key metrics that will give you insight into how they’re doing at it. These are the metrics you’ll review monthly with them. But simply reviewing the metrics is never the goal. The data speaks and it’s our job to listen to what the data is saying and respond appropriately. This is what you need to help your staff do. Help them understand what the data is calling for and then hold them accountable for doing it.
- Hold them accountable for staying within their approved budget.
You won’t be surprised to hear that we don’t have unlimited funds, so a big part of your job as supervisor is making sure your staff are staying within their approved budgets. You should also confirm annually (when budgets for the upcoming year are submitted) that the proposed allocation of funds reflects the right priorities for the department. You always want to make sure that the department’s top priorities for the upcoming year are reflected in the budget.