Last week, I wrote an article outlining the three types of bad managers we have all had to interact with in our working life, and a comment from one of my readers (love comments!) got me thinking about what makes a good manager. It’s easy enough to bash the failed supervisors we’ve had over the years, but it seems more difficult to pinpoint what makes a great manager. (Especially because they are so rare.)
So I set myself to thinking about what it is that makes a great manager, and the answer is actually pretty simple — a great manager takes the time to manage. She creates time in her schedule for regular, formal check-ins that allow direct reports to share their work in progress, along with successes and stumbling blocks. It’s not difficult, and it’s not revolutionary (I don’t think I could write a bestseller on the topic) but it is effective. And that’s what good management is about — being effective.
If you are looking for a core strategy for how to build regular, formal check-ins with your team, here’s a basic outline:
Start Daily
I think that any time you have a new team member, you need to start with frequent contact. I always start with daily work-in-progress meetings with any new direct report on my team, whether they are an intern, a salesperson, a new member of the management team, or an independent contractor I’ve hired to do short-term work. The only way I’m going to get to know someone, and also find out what gaps they might have, is by talking to them daily. And just dropping by their desk won’t do. I need to have a structured, 15–20 minute conversation with them, following the same agenda daily, to effectively integrate them into my team, and my management flow.
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Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash
