If you’ve never had a manager that was good at bringing you down, you are lucky. Never want to be that horrible boss yourself who puts a dent in people? Here’s your crash course on being a good manager.
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We’ve all had some experience dealing with a manager who made us dread interacting with them, haven’t we? Or at least, we know someone firsthand who has faced such an unfortunate experience. These experiences highlight how critical a manager’s behavior is in shaping someone’s professional life.
The quality of one’s immediate boss is often a decisive factor in job satisfaction, employee retention, and individual productivity. This means that as a boss or manager, you wield significant influence over someone’s workplace experience and psychological well-being. That’s a heavy responsibility, but it also offers an opportunity to create positive change.
You don’t have to be a CEO to make an impact. Even if you have just one junior team member reporting to you, your behavior directly affects their professional and emotional well-being. So, no matter where you are in the hierarchy, and especially if you’re a first-time senior executive, never underestimate your impact.
Being a leader is hard work—it’s a constant balancing act of tough decisions, emotional intelligence, and workplace dynamics. You can’t always preserve everyone’s feelings, but through the toughest of calls, there are basic human behaviors that every manager can adopt to make their leadership more effective and humane.
The Cornerstone of Good Leadership: Respect
How we treat people impacts their emotional well-being and shapes how they view the workplace. One of the foundational pieces of treating people right is basic respect. It’s incredibly important to demonstrate respect to your team members. While this might seem obvious, many leaders fail to consistently practice it.
Respect has transformative benefits. When people feel respected, they also feel relevant and valued within the system. This sense of relevance often translates into better engagement and higher-quality work. As a boss, you’ll find that the respect you give is often returned in kind.
Even if you question someone’s competence or see their contribution as minor in the grand scheme, basic courtesies should never be compromised. Respect, in many ways, is even more critical than recognition or appreciation.
Respect manifests in what we say, how we say it, and the non-verbal cues we use. Here are a few ways to put this into practice:
- Attentive Listening: This is a powerful way to show respect. Turn to face the speaker, make eye contact, and provide non-verbal signals that indicate you’re engaged. Don’t fidget or seem impatient. Active listening is a skill that can be learned and is worth investing in as a manager.
- Mindful Body Language: Body language can easily betray what you’re really thinking or feeling. Disrespectful gestures like sighing, darting eyes, or fidgeting can demoralize someone who is speaking. On the other hand, positive body language like an open posture and steady eye contact can build trust and convey respect.
- Respect for Time: Respecting someone’s time and boundaries is a crucial aspect of being a good manager. Avoid the assumption that your team members should always be available, even outside work hours. In industries where work often spills over into personal time, this might feel unavoidable, but it’s important to draw fair boundaries. A good rule of thumb is to treat your team’s time as you would treat that of your most no-nonsense colleague.
Small Changes, Big Impact
Leadership doesn’t always require grand gestures. Often, it’s the small things—kind words, a listening ear, and respecting boundaries—that set great leaders apart. The respect you show to those who work with you has a ripple effect on their confidence, productivity, and overall workplace experience. And, as a bonus, you’ll find that fostering a culture of respect makes your own role as a manager much easier.
If your goal is to get ahead in your career while helping others thrive, remember: respect is not just a nicety. It’s a necessity. By contributing to a culture of civility and care, you’re also setting the foundation for a happier, more vibrant workplace.
And that wraps up this guide on how to be a good manager. Remember, being a great leader starts with being a good human. Take care of yourself and your team, and the results will follow. Stay tuned for more insights under Wholeeight’s “Getting Ahead” section!