How To Be An Effective Manager Right Now

In 4 Easy Steps

There are a bunch of great articles out there about being an effective leader. There are a multitude of things someone can do to behave like an effective leader and most of these lists contain nebulous, vague goals to achieve them. We wanted to write a short, quick, and immediately actionable list to help you straight away.

Nothing

Don’t micromanage. let your team do their work without you hovering over their shoulder. If they screw up then it’s up to you to fix it when they’re done and then teach them the correct way. But to interrupt their workflow with the idea of making work more efficient is the definition of redundant.

Ask for Help

Be a human being around other human beings. By being the team leader you have an inherent power dynamic and balance at play. You will have to work toward equalisation because the role inherently puts you above your team. Ask them for help if you are stuck, ask them to help each other if someone else is stuck. Check out this great article on how to ask for help without making it weird.

Make ’em Laugh

Send out a group email containing something you found funny today. It doesn’t matter if they don’t find it funny, or someone thinks it’s lame. It’s about showing that you 

1. have a sense of humour and
2. are not afraid of judgement 

This behaviour implies high levels of self confidence. Due to the inherent risk of rejection that laughter and jokes have interwoven into their structure, you are taking a risk. This is leadership behaviour 101: risk taking, confidence, affability. 

Organise a Group Day

Get everyone together. Think of a day throughout this year that you’d like to get everyone together and have a social engagement. It can be as simple as going out for lunch, a little teambuilding, or a full on creative retreat. But pick a day in this calendar year that you want to bring everyone together to talk, interact, and engage without the stress of a looming deadline or client proposal. Check out our  team building activities if you’d like to outsource the work organising one.

TL;DR

To be an effective manager simply micromanage less, don’t be afraid to ask for help, make yourself laugh and do something fun with the team. It’s simple stuff and if you’re reading this nodding your head then it means you know it all already. So get back to work!