5 Golden Rules For A Successful Manager

The reality of a full-time professional career is that we will spend more time with work than with our own family and/or friends. So, whether you are already in the workplace or about to enter the professional life, you want to make sure that management will be rather positive than negative. Because diverse studies show that the first reason why people leave a company is a bad direct line management. Money, office environment, company culture, and other aspects come after.

Within my 13 years of work experiences in both big corporations and start-ups, I have faced diverse management styles. And like anywhere, some were good, some were bad. However, I have always told myself I would learn from the bad managers to make sure I would never repeat those mistakes myself. I probably am more obsessed with a good management style than most people I have met. I even remember telling few colleagues in 2012 that I would like to be recognized in years’ time as much as a strong professional achiever as a great manager. So, while some people think you cannot be both, believe that you can be both a professional achiever and a great manager.

Furthermore, I have studied closely some outstanding leaders in the way they managed their organizations. Also, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by some great professionals who coached, mentored, and guided me to success. Moreover, by leading several teams within diverse markets and companies, I had learned from them while improving my own leadership style. Hence, I think the best way to study management is through both work and life experiences. Not from schools at all, even though I had few management lessons back then in my Business School in France.

That is the reason why, following all those years of experiences, I have decided to include the management topic at the heart of our model at Papis4Business. Some of the services we provide to our clients are One-to-one mentoring, Team Empowerment, Leadership Development, Crisis Management, etc. But instead of explaining further what our company could do for you, I will share below 5 golden rules for a successful manager.

• Get to know your team on a one-to-one basis.
• Be genuine.
• Care about your team.
• Be empathic.
• Nurture happiness within your team.

If you do not sincerely love people and care about your team, you should never call yourself a leader, let alone a manager.

• Share vision, goals, a strategy, and a plan: where do they go and how do they get there?

“A team without a direction is like a boat without a captain.”

• Give more context: explain why they are doing a project, what is the budget, timeline, etc.
• Be honest and transparent.
• Be willing to share. Do not keep all information for yourself. Yes, some might remain confidential, but there are still plenty of information you could share to keep your team informed, engaged, motivated, and inspired.
• Give trust.

Communication is everything in management. And there is a reason why all these great leaders have excellent communication skills in common: Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, Jack Ma, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Jacinda Ardern, Oprah Winfrey, etc.

• Recruit and build a high skilful workforce.
• Nurture a winning obsession. You can still win within a team with a solidarity and a teamwork culture.
• Give constructive and facts-based feedback frequently.
• Continually challenge for better than good. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Like in any sports team, you need the best people around you if you want to win. Hence, never settle for lesser quality in your recruitment. And within your current organization, make sure you keep training your people, so they learn and grow.

• Keep learning, and developing yourself: books, training, webinars, seminars, conferences, market and competition update, business news reading, etc.
• Be coachable, and keen to learn from your own team. Do not think you know it all. The best leaders are the ones who do not have an ego, who are humble and who understand that to succeed they are willing to be coachable and to learn from any person in their own structure
• Encourage your team to constantly learn.

Do not think that learning should stop after the school. In fact, “you must learn until your last day on earth”, as one of my mentors told me in 2009.

• Reward your team genuinely, and constantly thank them: a handwritten thank you note, a well-done e-mail, incentives, employer of the month award, etc.
• Be always there for their celebrations: birthdays, weddings, etc.
• Organize team buildings or virtual catch-ups.
• Develop a 3F policy for your management style: Friendly, Firm, Fair.
• "Take bullets for your team". Always be there for your team, and stand-up and speak-up to defend them when needed.

People are at the heart of our company. Hence, we pride ourselves at Papis4Business in coaching, mentoring, motivating, and developing happy teams and happy leaders.

It is obvious that there could be way more rules to succeed as a manager. Every person is different so is every company. Hence you should choose the management style that suits you best. With that being said, this is a summary of some of the rules which have helped me a lot when managing talented and successful teams from diverse markets, culture, age, and companies. Indeed, I have either experienced or applied myself those rules during all my career so far. So, hopefully these professional tips could be useful to anyone aiming to improve her/his leadership style.

Should you wish to learn more, and see how we can help you lead, develop, and inspire your people, get in touch: info@papis4business.com