Mind Tools for Managers

Introduction

It can be hard to be a good boss.

Many of us are promoted into our first management position because we've been highly effective individual performers. But when we start to manage others, we find that the new skills we need to succeed are completely different from the ones we needed beforehand.

If we're lucky, we get a few days of management training before we start. But for many, it's straight into the deep end. There are new areas of work to get up to speed in and deadlines to meet. There are poorly performing team members who need help, and there are people to hire. With all these new calls on our time, from above and below, it's hard to know where to start.

And it isn't just when we're first promoted that we need to learn new skills. With each promotion, the work becomes more complex, the criteria for success become more subtle, and our time is increasingly spent on people-related issues. Our ability to develop and learn as an individual becomes central to our further success.

Helping People Be Better Bosses

Unfortunately, although some people learn these new management skills, many do not. For example, in the US in 2016, Gallup found that only 32% of employees were fully engaged in their work – a key measure of manager performance. And in a study by tinypulse.com, only 49% of employees were “fully satisfied” with their supervisor.

These are disconcerting statistics. No manager goes to work in the morning saying, “I'm going to make my team members' lives hell ...