8 Habits
- Be a good coach
- Provide specific, constructive feedback, balancing negative and positive
- Have regular one-on-ones, presenting solutions to problems tailored to the employee’s strengths
- Empower your team and don’t micro-manage
- Balance giving freedom to your employees while still being available for advice
- Make “stretch” assignments to help them tackle big problems
- Express interest in employees’ success and well-being
- Get to know your employees as people, with lives outside of work\
- Make new folks feel welcome, help ease the transition
- Be productive and results-oriented
- Focus on what you want the team to achieve and how employees can help achieve it
- Help the team prioritize work, and make decisions to remove roadblocks
- Be a good communicator and listen to your team
- Communication is two-way: Both listen and share\
- Hold all-hands meetings and be specific about the team’s goals\
- Encourage open dialogue and listen to the questions and concerns of your employees
- Help your employees with career development
- Have a clear vision and strategy for the team
- Even amid turmoil, keep the team focused on goals and strategy
- Involve the team in setting and evolving the team’s vision, goals, and progress
- Have key technical skills, so you can help advise the team
- Roll up sleeves and work side-by-side with team, when needed
- Understand the specific challenges of the work
3 Pitfalls
- Have trouble making transition to team leader
- Fantastic individual performers are often promoted to manager without the necessary skills to lead
- People hired from outside often don’t understand the specific ways of the company
- Lack a consistent approach to performance management and career development
- Doesn’t help employees understand what company wants
- Doesn’t coach employees on how they can develop and stretch
- Not proactive: Waits for the employees to come to them
- Spend too little time on managing and communicating
Resources
Related Back to top ↑
Other Peopleware Pages
- August 26, 2019: Business Strategy
- July 16, 2019: Organisational Culture
- June 10, 2019: Organisational Design
- January 06, 2019: Performance Management
- January 06, 2019: Decision Making
- October 11, 2018: Psychological Safety
- October 10, 2018: Radical Candor