To become the best manager in your business, one needs to change their habits for the better. It is highly advisable for managers to be more transparent, likeable, and authentic in their influence to inspire loyalty from several committed professionals.
Here are 6 tricks of magnanimity to become the best manager across all reporting levels, who can improve morale through shared decision-making, and even initiate communication across multiple channels.
- Host Periodic “lunch and learns.”
As managers, it is essential to truly connect with employees. And you need to some gestures that are visible that you value their contribution. You can host a monthly or quarterly “lunch and learn” for sharing knowledge and to get them to talk about something that can improve their work life.
Managers can even pick some of the employees based on their birthdays or average performers at random to have lunch with them. The luncheons could include discussion on the financials, new opportunities related to work, training options, new client updates, and the like.
- Have some regular rounds daily
Rounding should be a part of the senior leadership and should not be assigned to others. Managers would know if there is a particular opportunity to connect with the employees or even identify and eliminate obstacles related to a particular project.
Managers should tend to their employees that stress how they are keen to know more about the people as well as the departments every day. Leaders with the rounds can always think of an impromptu meeting for better engagement and a nice talk on any issue with any of the employees. The practice of rounding by senior managers needs to be disciplined and random too. Check for more info here.
- A well-defined open-door policy
An open-door policy encourages employees to approach their managers with questions and new ideas. The policy helps promote transparency and a quicker communication path that leads to results. But leaders also need to listen to employees for the success of this gesture. If leaders or managers are rarely available to interact with employees or their team, then this policy is of no use, harming the manager’s reputation as uncaring.
Team members rely on their leaders but they need to get down to problem-solving by themselves. They are not expected to use the policy to depend on managers for every trivial problem they face, or else it would lead to entitled workers.
- Set boundaries
Do not let employees interpret your availability as a license to vent at work. Managers need to be accessible for meaningful and informal discussions but they need to have clear parameters in place so that their expectations for the open door are professional.
Coach employees to be ready to answer some questions before they walk in – their specific problem, how the problem affects them or the rest of the company, and any possible solutions to the problem itself. Being open sets the tone that the employees feel “in the journey together,” but never let them take advantage of the same.
- Compliment Strategically
Compliments work well as an indication of managerial acknowledgement but one should compliment strategically. It is good to compliment on work ethic and commitment or even reserve good words for intelligence, creativity and insights. Telling a gorgeous girl that she is beautiful will not work since it does not add any insight to the achievements at all.
- Know your employees better with an open forum
Meetings can become a part of the organization, and managers will understand their employees better. You can discover employees’ goals as a manager, and get to know them better about how they feel about working within the organization. One can have an open forum for all of them based on when they come in. You can opt for an intimate setting to accommodate the informal event of airing their grievances instead of the corporate conference room.
