To be a good manager, you need the passion to pursue the Art of Management. Have you got what it takes to be a (good to great) manager?

If you are a manager, you have a much wider scope and responsibilities than you can imagine. Management is an art that requires constant learning and practice to get it perfect. There are no hard rules on how you should behave. Different environment and situation calls for different set of management style. You may be doing well in a chaotic environment but using the same management style in a matured IT environment may lead to high turnover and low quality output from your team.

Here are some experiences I would like to share with you. There are definitely more work to be done than those listed here if you aspire to be a good manager and leader.

1. Be an innovative leader. Having a “Manager” title does not automatically endow you with leadership quality. You can be a leader even if you do not manage a team. You know you are a leader if you take on the challenges (where others shun) to bring your peers (and even your boss) from current to desired state. Read books and articles on leadership and good management skill. Sponsor your own training to enrich yourself with soft skills (specifically skill that can make you a better leader). Most importantly, You must apply what you have learn but be creative in your management approach because textbook style management does not work! Creative management begins with knowing the skill sets of your team, how fast they can adapt to change, what are the goals and purpose of your team in the organization. As a leader, you constantly monitor the performance of your team and tweak your approach to deliver maximize the potential of your team. Take the lead to identify and close the gaps in the organization. A leader does not wait for something to happen. S/he anticipates problems, identify opportunities and accept challenges without being told to do so.
2. Be reliable. If your actions are not aligned with what you advocate, you will soon lose the respect of your team and colleagues. If you want them to deliver their work on time, make sure you do the same on what you have committed. Do not get into the habit of postponing meetings. You staff has their own set of activities and they may have to re-arrange their time just to fit your schedule (if at all possible). I have come across managers who are habitually late for meetings and have the tendency to cancel their own meetings few hours before the actual meeting starts. These actions send the wrong message to your staff  that the meetings you host are not important and they can also make excuses not to attend your future meetings.  You must realize that if you lack the energy to follow through all your meetings (especially those setup by yourself) and reading reports submitted by your staff, there will be adverse impact on your team’s morale and quality of deliverables. As a manager, you need to put effort to read reports submitted to you (that you asked for in the first place anyway) and feedback accordingly. If your staffs realize that you did not read their reports, they will not give you quality reports or worse, not submitting reports at all until you ask for it.  A structured report is an extremely valuable tool for you to manage your team effortlessly (by not micro-managing them).
3. Energize yourself. Without a strong mind, you will not be able to manage your team effectively. I encourage you to start a strict exercise regime to strengthen your body and mind. You will be more alert and always ready for actions and the energy aura will affect your team in a positive way. A leader must be strong, make decisions on the fly and accept challenges without a second thought.
4. Delegate. Delegate and trust your staff to deliver. Never delegate (or for that matter, outsource) responsibilities or tasks if you do not know what you want to achieve. Never micro manage your team – once the plan has been finalized, do not interfere in your team’s execution of their work packages. Steer the direction of a project by analyzing  key performance metrics and with regular checkpoint meetings. I recommend creating a register of issues, risks and key activities, then assign an owner to each line item. Monitor the progress of each item with weekly review meetings and dashboard reporting to ensure the team is on track.
5. Be precise, focused and communicate effective. As a manager, you must share your vision with the team and help them visualize the goal. Use road maps and key milestones to give your team a better understanding of what needs to be done to achieve the goal. If your team does not grasp what you want to achieve, you will not get the desired result. If your strategy or plan is still work in progress, do not communicate to your staff as though it is the final version. You can imagine the confusion and frustration when you communicate a different strategy every week.
6. Building a sustainable team. Every individual is unique and has a different point of views because of their diverse background. A smart manager would want to have diversity in his team so that s/he can tap on the broader range of experience to aid him/her in achieving goals.
7. Build a continuous improvement culture. We are constantly challenged in our career. The processes and skill sets built up last year will not be relevant as new business and regulatory requirements are introduced. The only way your team can be effective is to have a continuous improvement mindset. For starter, you need to allow people to make mistakes because this is the best way for them to learn and be fearless when challenging the unknown. If you penalize on mistakes, then your team will not take the chance to “rock the boat” which leads to lost of innovation. No  high impact improvement  can be made if you cannot innovate and think outside the box.
8. Stop procrastinating and start getting things done. A long list of “To-Dos” will sap your energy immediately. If you can do it right this instant, then just do it. I like the way Allen advocates on how to “Getting Things Done (GTD)”. He has an excellent system for keeping things under control and regaining productivity with 4 easy to follow steps (extracted directly from http://www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.php).

• Capturing anything and everything that has your attention
• Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps
• Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on how and when you need to access them
• Keeping current and “on your game” with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)