Learn How To Be A Good Manager From Your Manager

In all these years I have never come across a single person who has said that I have got a great boss. Well, it is like a law of nature where every single subordinate has some or the other complain about their boss or manager. Believe it or not but it is just like a typical Daughter-in-Law and Mother-in-Law kind relationship where the MIL feels that the DIL has got much better and cooler MIL in compare to the MIL she got and the DIL feels that no matter what she does, it is never enough for the MIL. She never appreciates me, never trust me with full responsibility and always criticize me for silly things. It is a sweet & sour relationship where both need each other but at the same time feels more hardworking & important than the other.  Similarly, every subordinate feels that he or she is doing a lot but the boss is always complaining while the boss feels that the subordinates have no idea how much effort he or she has put in to reach this position and their current job role is much more complex and demanding than the team roles. 

Well, there is no right and wrong as it is all perception. How a man perceives another. For some, it is half full and for some, it is half empty. There are always exceptions when some subordinates feel they have got a brilliant manager, just like few DIL feel that they are lucky to get such MIL but whether you like your boss or not there is one thing which is certain and that is you always learn from your boss. There are always some qualities & skills which you appreciate about him/her. Be it his attitude to deal with the work pressure or skills to deal with clients or ways to make teamwork according to his will. But something is there which you learn and you never forget even when you become a Team leader and come across the same kind of situations like your boss but now you are on the different side of the table and can see things from a totally new perspective.   

Since I started my career  I too got different reporting managers and each one of them taught me something valuable which I can never forget and will cherish always. So here are the 4 key things which I learned from my 4 different bosses:

1. Lead by Example: When I was studying MBA, I was taught this metaphor to make me understand the difference between a leader and a manager but I never really understood its meaning until I saw my manager doing it. So being an MBA marketing, I started my career in a hardcore sales profile where no.s talk on your behalf. It doesn't really matter what you are doing till the time you are achieving your targets and the more good you are performing the more pressure is building up on you. 

So my boss was a brilliant salesperson. She was very fierce while chasing her no.s and while other managers on her position used to sit in the office and track how much sales their team is doing, she, on the other hand, used to be on the field making new clients & doing sales on her own, along with the team. And since she had to achieve team target not individual target so she used to keep those sales with her and used to give that client & sale to such team member who performed extremely well that week, as a reward or when she sees the team member is putting all his effort but his fate is not in his favor and he is about to miss his targets with few no. then she used to credit that sale in his account as a motivational treat but if she could sense that the team member is not putting total efforts then she would never transfer the sale even when it could help the member to achieve their target. 

She was fair in her own ways and no matter how much our team used to feel irritated and pressurized with always increasing sales pressure, every team member used to respect her about her hard work. No one could question her back when she used to tell us that she is putting equal or more efforts for the team targets. We could never say this even behind her back that she is just sitting in the office and putting pressure on us. She has no idea what is going on in the market because she too was doing the same thing and we knew that she was the most hardworking manager on the floor. 

She also taught me how to value your client and build a strong relationship with them. Don't always knock on their door when you need money but also visit them for client servicing, suggestions, checking if they are satisfied with the product or not so that they pay you not only when they want to but also when you really need it.

So, it is fair to ask the team to get the work done but it is better to show them how to get it done. The latter get much more respect than the other.

2. Be An Umbrella: It may sound confusing to you but these were the exact same words of my boss when he told me that a good manager needs to be like an umbrella. Although he used the word umbrella, I would say a filter, sieve or gauze would be better words to explain his point. 

What he taught me is that a role of a manager is crucial. He is the connecting dot between his boss & his subordinates. And not only his subordinates get pressure but he too gets pressure from his boss and his boss from his boss. It's like a chain. So one should not just transfer the pressure as it is, as he gets from his boss instead act like an umbrella (filter) for his team where he should only pass that much amount of pressure which his team can bear or handle. 

As the team members are young and much more inexperienced than you are so if you will transfer the pressure as it is they will not be able to handle it and will panic and it will eventually adversely affect team's performance. But if you act smartly and only pass a bearable amount of pressure to your team and keep the rest on yourself and tell them that you are there for them then it motivates the team enough to work in a positive & forward direction. That's how you manage the team where you do not burden them unnecessarily instead share the burden together.  

3. Motivate the Team to take Charge: So during the initial stage of my career when I was just 1-1.5 years experienced, I used to visit my boss for every single thing on how to do this or how to do that etc. But what I was not realizing is that it was becoming my habit & in long-term, it was not good for me. I was not ready to take ownership of my own tasks because that was my comfort zone. I did not have to worry about the outcomes because ultimately my boss is accountable for everything. I was just a support artist working in the background, so good or bad I didn't have to face the circumstances.

But before I become like this permanently, my boss stopped it. She encouraged me to not only come up with problems instead with suggestions & ideas for improvement & betterment. She asked me to search and try to do the task on my own and if I will still not be able to do it then she is right there but first tries it on your own. So I started coming up with new plans, ideas & strategies and we started discussing it in detail. One step at a time & before moving to the next step the status of the first task. She used to guide me all the time but building the path was my task. Her encouragement helped me become confident about my roles & responsibilities.

Most of the managers fear on relying on their team and which create a gap between the two and also the team member feel unheard and unimportant. A good manager needs to motivate the team to come up with their own ideas, suggestions, and areas of improvements for discussion and with a proper plan in place, one needs to act as a moderator and let the team or subordinate implement it. If they do it perfectly then give them the credit & encourage them for the future and in case they do some mistakes then let them learn from their mistakes and improve. 

My boss taught me to be open for discussions & ideas with the team and encourage them to take ownership of their tasks so that after a while they can become expert of that and you don't need to monitor them all the time. She also taught me that once your reportee becomes an expert, give him/her a chance to teach the same to new member; give him the opportunity to become a leader because no one wants to be a follower forever but they too want to lead one day and it's the responsibility of a good manager or boss to prepare them for it.  

4. Have Faith & Don't shy to Learn: Ok, I learned this lesson from my first & foremost boss. Even before starting a full-time job, I got a chance to work under an extremely managed, organized & supportive boss. She falls into that category of bosses whom every single team member love & respect. Since she was so elder to me so respect for her was automatic. You'll agree that many times we feel that we are much smarter than our boss because of the age factor too. If the boss is quite young or just a few years elder to us we feel that we both are same and it is just the matter of time & luck that he is the TL and we are not but when we are directly reporting to someone very senior & elder then the attitude towards that person is totally different.

So even though she was very senior to me and in the initial stage the respect was automatic but with her ways, attitude and ideas, she earned a special place for herself in my life and not only in mine but in many more other team members of hers who still approach her for guidance even when we are working with different organizations. 

  

So what made her our favorite and role model is that she used to treat every employee with utter respect & dignity.  Everyone likes to be treated with respect and dignity, be it old or young. She never loses her temper or cools with her employees or outburst on them for mistakes instead she used to discuss the situation calmly and come up with a solution. In her words, What's done is done now let's figure out the solution for it. And since she used to take the situation in a very mature and calm manner so the team also used to sit with her to complete the task. Apart from her attitude towards her team & tasks, and her seniority, knowledge & experience was way beyond her team, she was always open to learning. She used to admit very calmly if she doesn't know something or not very well adverse to something and was ready to learn and improve her skills.

We all know that we are not perfect but our pride stops us from admitting this in front of our team as we feel that we may not be perfect but we are better than our team as they are reporting to us, we are not reporting to them but if we can keep our pride aside and become open to learning even from our team in certain instances then we can definitely improve our-self and create a way better bond with our team. 

Every manager has his/her ways to make the team do what they desire to achieve the ultimate goal and target. Few things we like, few we don't, but it is important to learn so that when you reach on their position you have a fair idea about what things your subordinates are going to like and what they won't. And even though we can't make all the team members love us because as a manager our ultimate job is to get the work done by hook or crook but it's important to understand and empathizes your team and try to set a good example & role model for them.

What points you admire about your boss, do share in the comments section below. Would love to hear it. To stay tuned with my ideas, follow my blog at connectwithmanushi.blogspot.com or follow me on twitter @manushimishra

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