Great managers are not just good coaches. They are also great leaders. Great managers are great leaders because they have a vision of where they’re taking the company. They have a vision of where they’re taking the team. They have a vision of how to get there, and this means they have developed a clear view of where everyone in the company should be heading and how he can help them get there.

Great managers are also great leaders because they can inspire others to follow. This means they have a compelling vision, and they are also skilled at communicating it.

1. Define your key messages.

It’s one thing to have a vision for an organization—it’s quite another to be able to communicate it in a way that inspires employees to take action. The most powerful messages are those that are the simplest and most accessible. They focus on a few key ideas and are communicated through a consistent set of stories, slogans, and metaphors.

Key takeaway: Knowing what you want to say and how you want to say it helps you craft a message that will resonate with your target audience.

2. Find the right channel.

There are all sorts of ways to communicate effectively with employees, from one-on-one meetings to large group updates. The key is to find the channel that works best for each individual. If you’re not sure what that is, try asking the person and listening carefully to the answer.

Key takeaway: The right channel will depend on your target audience; find a medium that reaches them. Key takeaway: When in doubt, ask someone in your target audience or do some research.

3. Keep it simple.

Great managers are masters of the “three Bs”—brief, balanced, and basic. They help people gain clarity about what’s most important, and they teach by example. They don’t waste time on elaborate processes and procedures, and they keep meetings short, focused, and to the point. They speak in a straightforward manner, and they focus on the basics—the nuts and bolts of the business.

Key takeaway: Avoid jargon; appeal to your audience’s emotions.

4. Keep it brief.

The most important thing to remember when conducting any type of meeting with a direct report—is to keep it short and to the point. It’s important to have a full and frank discussion about each person’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s just that such discussions need to be in the context of a formal, periodic meeting. Just as you wouldn’t try to have a detailed discussion about every aspect of a person’s performance on a day-to-day basis.

Key takeaway: Make sure your key messages are short, clear and impactful. Key takeaway: Keep your message short enough to fit into a single tweet.

5. Create urgency.

The great manager needs to instill a sense of urgency in the group to get the job done. This can be accomplished by sharing the company’s vision, goals, and objectives and then asking employees to help figure out ways to achieve them. Being a part of the process will add a sense of ownership and pride to the job and will motivate employees to work hard to achieve the common goals.

Key takeaway: When you create a sense of urgency, you get your audience to act—right now. Key takeaway: Urgency is a powerful tool, but it should be used carefully to avoid overwhelming the audience.

6. Be a coach

The great manager is a coach. Instead of telling his or her employees what to do and how to do it, this kind of manager tries to help people develop their own skills and abilities, while learning how to work as a team. The great manager is not a mindless cheerleader, however. This person knows when to push and when to praise, when to confront and when to cajole. The great manager also knows when to step back and let an employee fail. It’s only through this kind of trial and error that people learn.

Key takeaway: help people develop their own skills and abilities

7. Follow up.

One of the most important skills of a great manager is the ability to follow up. The great manager doesn’t wait for a problem to surface; he or she actively seeks out opportunities to clarify expectations, provide feedback, give recognition, and so on.

Key takeaway: When you deliver your key messages, follow up to show you care and to answer questions or concerns.

8. Test, measure and analyze.

When a great manager notices a particular talent, skill, or desire in an employee, he or she sets up a way to measure that attribute over time. Sometimes this means setting up a project or task and defining the goal clearly. Other times it might mean establishing a regular opportunity to demonstrate a particular strength. Whatever the approach, the manager then systematically measures the employee’s performance. And the manager doesn’t stop there. The great manager analyzes the data and uses it to adjust the employee’s work environment to further increase his or her effectiveness.

Key takeaway: To make sure your key messages are effective, test them out on your target audience and measure the results. Key takeaway: Test your key messages with multiple audiences to make sure they resonate with your target audience.

9. Create a plan.

The great manager isn’t satisfied with identifying strengths and weaknesses. The next step is to develop a plan for building on each employee’s strengths and mitigating weaknesses. If you’re managing a department of 25 people, you won’t have the time to develop plans for everyone. But for managers of small, tight-knit teams, this is the right approach.

Key takeaway: A plan will help you stay organized and make sure you’re ready for everything.

10. Be consistent.

It’s important to be consistent in the messages you deliver. Say the same things to every member of your team, and mean them. Be aware of the medium through which you’re delivering your message and the message’s tone. Are you sending an email memo to all staff members, a text message to a direct report, or a letter to someone you admire? Each one of these communications tools has a different tone, and a different audience expects a certain type of tone from you.

Key takeaway: Consistency in your key messages will help your audience identify your brand with your key messages, and make sure they’re getting the right message. Key takeaway: Be consistent across all the channels you use.

11. Manage your time.

The problem with the way most people approach time management is that they don’t realize that many of the things they think are important aren’t really important. For example, it’s easy to get distracted by phone calls, e-mails, and other interruptions. One of the most important parts of managing your time is deciding which interruptions are important enough to stop what you’re doing and which can wait.

Here’s a very simple, four-step way to manage your time. It has two parts: what to do, and what not to do.

First, what to do:

1. Make a list of everything you want to accomplish.

2. Circle the top-priority items.

3. Put a deadline next to the circled items.

4. Work on one item at a time until it’s done

Second, what not to do:

1. Don’t let unimportant things distract you from important things.

2. Don’t work on several things at once.

Key takeaway: To manage your time well, you need to be able to prioritize, plan and schedule your tasks. Key takeaway: To get the most out of your time, you need to organize your tasks. Key takeaway: To make sure you’re getting the most out of your time, schedule your tasks. Key takeaway: To know what you have to do and when you have to do it, make a to-do list. Key takeaway: To make sure your to-do list is effective, prioritize your tasks. Key takeaway: To prioritize your tasks, ask yourself what’s most important and what’s urgent. Key takeaway: To make sure your urgent tasks get done right away, schedule time in your calendar for them. Key takeaway: To make sure your tasks don’t fall through the cracks, prioritize your to-do list. Key takeaway: To make sure your task list stays current, schedule time with your team to go over the list. Key takeaway: To make sure everyone is on the same page, have a team meeting to discuss your goals and plans. Key takeaway: To be confident in the tasks you’ve scheduled, schedule time to review your goals and to-do list.

12. Stay updated.

No matter how skilled a manager is, he or she needs to stay current on the latest management practices and ideas. There’s an overwhelming amount of information about leadership, management, and organization psychology, and it’s difficult—if not impossible—to keep up with the experts and trends. The good news is that there are many excellent sources of information for the manager who wants to stay current. We recommend the following:

Podcasts: There are some excellent podcasts on leadership and management, and they make for a quick and easy way to keep up with the latest trends. Some of our favorites are The Knowledge Project, Lead Generation Café, and The Daily Drucker.

Books: One of our current favorite is The Culture Engine. If you’re just starting out on your leadership journey, We highly recommend the following books:

The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Key takeaway: To stay updated, you need to be able to stay on top of current events and news. Key takeaway: To get the most out of your time, you need to be able to stay on top of current events and news. Key takeaway: To stay up to date, you need to be able to find news you care about. Key takeaway: To find news you care about, check your favorite news sources. Key takeaway: To make sure you’re getting the most out of your time, check your favorite news sources. Key takeaway: To get the most out of your time, check multiple news sources. Key takeaway: To make sure your time is well spent, only check sources you trust. Key takeaway: To make sure you’re getting the most out of your time, check news sources you trust.

GamdAi Media
Contact us at: [email protected]

  Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán.