What makes a good manager?

Lady_strange

To me, the best managers will not ask you to do something they are not prepared to do themselves. I don't have respect for managers who just tell people what to do, and don't do it themselves, when the work needs doing quickly.

Maryland_Cookie

Thank you all so much for your input, these are the kind of things I try to do/be on a daily basis. I'm not saying I achieve it, but I'm trying my best to be the best manager I can be. Thanks again.

RobertoMoir

Maryland_Cookie wrote: »

Thank you all so much for your input, these are the kind of things I try to do/be on a daily basis. I'm not saying I achieve it, but I'm trying my best to be the best manager I can be. Thanks again.

Letting your staff see that whatever happens, you are trying your best, is also helpful...

saintjammyswine

Never be afraid that one of your team will develop to be better than you at something. You should be proud, not worried if someone you have managed or mentored goes on to higher things. If you had a part in it, it will never be forgotten.

getmore4less

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Somebody who can do the job if needed and not somebody who got it because of previous management experience

That is a very narrow view.

It does not work for lots of industries especialy where specialist skills and a mutidisiplinary teams are involved.

There is no way a single person could have all the skills necessary to do the jobs.

Managing is a specialism that needs skillsets that are different to other specialisms.

ILW

The Gypsies in Leighton Buzzard seemd to have a pretty efficient management style with their workers. Convinced them to work 12 hour days for no wages.

scheming_gypsy

getmore4less wrote: »

That is a very narrow view.

It does not work for lots of industries especialy where specialist skills and a mutidisiplinary teams are involved.

There is no way a single person could have all the skills necessary to do the jobs.

Managing is a specialism that needs skillsets that are different to other specialisms.

spoken like a true manager.

A manager needs to know the job that they're managing otherwise they can't manage it properly. If you're managing an IT department then you need to know about IT and not just management, if you're a HR manager then again you need to know how HR works.
If you go sticking people into roles without knowing the job itself then they're not productive. They don't know what can and can't be done, they don't know if the staff are taking the piss and they definately don't know if what is being asked of the staff is possible.

RobertoMoir

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

spoken like a true manager.

A manager needs to know the job that they're managing otherwise they can't manage it properly. If you're managing an IT department then you need to know about IT and not just management, if you're a HR manager then again you need to know how HR works.
.

Yes I certainly agree that you need to know something about the area you are managing, but my IT director knows enough about IT in general to manage me effectively, but without knowing enough about my precise skills to sit in my chair if I break a leg and go off sick for 3 months or something daft.

scheming_gypsy

RobertoMoir wrote: »

Yes I certainly agree that you need to know something about the area you are managing, but my IT director knows enough about IT in general to manage me effectively, but without knowing enough about my precise skills to sit in my chair if I break a leg and go off sick for 3 months or something daft.

and that's the point I'm making, if he was an HR Director and applied for an IT Director's job he would be able to manage the staff effectively.
A few years ago we had an absolute ball bag who was a project manager but managed to get the Senior IT Managers job yet he knew absolutely nothing. He had no idea of what he was supposed to be managing; so when we needed new hardware (a SAN or NAS etc) he didn't know what they were. As he didn't know what they were he didn't have the ability to put a business case forward to the directors. And as he knew nothing about IT he couldn't manage anybody; we'd do the right thing and he'd complain because it wasn't what he thought was right

RobertoMoir

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

and that's the point I'm making

To be fair to me, that might be the point you were trying to make but in the one I actually replied to you said that to manage a job you had to be able to do it.

, if he was an HR Director and applied for an IT Director's job he would be able to manage the staff effectively.
A few years ago we had an absolute ball bag who was a project manager but managed to get the Senior IT Managers job yet he knew absolutely nothing. He had no idea of what he was supposed to be managing; so when we needed new hardware (a SAN or NAS etc) he didn't know what they were. As he didn't know what they were he didn't have the ability to put a business case forward to the directors. And as he knew nothing about IT he couldn't manage anybody; we'd do the right thing and he'd complain because it wasn't what he thought was right

Though I do agree with this. There's a balance between specific area knowledge and generic management knowledge needed to manage an area and it sounds like the manager in your example above had the wrong balance. Equally, an absolute IT genius with no management talent or training and poor skills at things like empathy and so-on would make an equally poor manager due to their lack of management skills, despite being able to do the jobs of their team members.