Management is the engine of any business/organization. Every business depends a lot on their management system to keep moving. While resources are needed to achieve goals, they in themselves cannot achieve the goals. They need to be well put to use so that they can achieve the most. And so, managers do the most important work in any organization and business. Therefore, how can one be an effective manager in an organization?
Every business has a manager. It doesn’t really matter what he/she is called. Some owners are at the same time the managers of their businesses while others hire a manager. Whichever the case, know that the business lies on the shoulders of whoever plays the role of day-to-day leadership. Nevertheless, it is not just about having a manager that makes a business succeed. It is about having a manager who performs his/her duties effectively.
Effectiveness has to do with getting desired results. To be an effective manager is to master the responsibilities of a manager to your finger-tips. The responsibilities will require knowledge, time and experience to master, but as you keep on improving, you will soon find it easy to do all these things.
Here below are some things you need to do as a manager in order to be effective:
1. Know & Communicate Your Objective
As the manager of your organization, your preoccupation is to make sure your organization is meeting her set goals and objectives. And so you need to have a sound knowledge of your organization’s goals and objectives, and communicate them thoroughly to your staff always. Write them where they will see them always and sing them always. Above all, ensure that everyone is working towards meeting the set objectives.
2. Breakdown Your Objectives To Tasks
Your objectives are broad theoretical statements which cannot be carried out. However, they can be broken down to short-term objectives and daily tasks which should be carried out. Thus, in order for your staff to work towards achieving the set objectives, you need to break them down into little tasks and actions which should be carried out daily.
3. Mobilize & Manage Resources
Every organization needs resources in order to attain their goals. These resources include men, money, machines, materials, information and ideas. Since these resources are always limited compared to what you have to achieve, one of your biggest responsibilities is to know how to mobilize and manage the limited resources at your disposal. Thus, you need to design strategies to mobilize resources and manage them well.
4. Develop People
One of the most important resources you have at your disposal are the people working for the organization. The human resources are important because they are the ones to manage the other resources for good results. While you focus on meeting the objectives of the organization, you also will need to think about each person’s developmental needs. When you train and develop those working with you, you will get the best out of them.
5. Build Teams
As a manager, the best way you will be able to make the most out of the limited human resources you have is to build them into teams that will work together to achieve the same goal. As much as possible, you should promote team spirit in your organization.
6. Build The Right Environment
The team you build as a manager will need the right environment to work well. Some work place environments are hostile and insecure, filled with strife and competition. Such environments can never enhance performance. As a manager, you have to create an enabling environment for your team to work in and produce results. This environment is both the physical and psychological environment. You have to be skilful in solving workplace conflicts.
7. Delegate Tasks
One of the most effective ways to utilize and at the same time develop the people you work with is to delegate responsibilities to them. You cannot do all alone. You need to build confidence in the people you work with. This is built when you trust them enough to give them things to do and expect them to be responsible and accountable to you.
8. Motivate Your People
As soon as you have a team in place, the next responsibility you have is to motivate them to accomplish the tasks you have set for them. Motivation is anything that will spur desired action and yield desired results. There are many ways to motivate your staff. See more ways to motivate employees.
9. Be a Good Example
Those working under you can never be more motivated to do the work than you. Therefore, you must be an example in everything you expect of them. You must be a model of integrity, commitment, focus and hard work, for you to demand same from the people. You must also demonstrate passion for the work you do. Your workers can detect it when you don’t love your work or organization.
10. Be Innovative
Businesses grow through innovation. Innovation is the test of a manager’s thinking ability. Managers who don’t think, never do anything new and so hardly grow a business. As a manager, you need to constantly put your brain to work and come up with better ways of doing the things you are doing as an organization. In so doing, the business will be able to flourish and succeed.
11. Communicate Well
Communication is a two-way process. You communicate well when the people you lead, give a feed-back or response that shows you have been understood. As a manager, you have to communicate a lot, to your people. They need to always know where the organization is going, what you expect of them, who has to do what, and when things need to get done.
The worst mistake you will make is to assume that they understand you when you don’t speak. Speak to them always. Also, you won’t only be communicating with the employees but also with the clients/customers and perhaps the partners and shareholders.
12. Monitor Progress & Measure Output
When your teams set out to work on the tasks you have set, you will have to keep monitoring their progress and always measure the results they get against the desired results. Thus, one of your duties as a manager is monitoring and evaluation.
13. Ensure Deadlines Are Met
It is not just important to carry out tasks. Objectives are always time bound and so should the tasks be. This means that, if your team is carrying out tasks and succeeding, but not meeting up with deadlines, they are not meeting the objectives of the organization. As a manger, ensure that for every task, you set a deadline and the deadlines are always me.
14. Build A Reputation
Many managers struggle to build a reputation. But when they do, they try to build it for themselves rather than for the organization. That is where they fail. As a manager, one important task you should be working on daily is to build a wonderful reputation for the organization you work for. You may not remain there forever but the good reputation you build for the organization will live forever.
15. Make Right Decisions
All the above-mentioned responsibilities of a manager are wrapped up in this one. In fact, a manager’s strength is so revealed by his ability to make the right decisions. Some decisions will need to be made without much thinking and others will give you enough time to think. As a manager, the more right decisions you make daily, the stronger you are revealed to be.
The above responsibilities measure a manager’s effectiveness. When as a manager you are able to carry them out well, you will be getting the desired results and this will mean that you are effective. Thus, if you are not getting the desired results as a manager, ask yourself; which of these things mentioned, am I neglecting?
An easy way to know if you are an effective manager is to look at how many persons in your team believe in you and look up to you for direction, as you go ahead to achieve the set goals of your business.
If you know some more ways a manager could be effective, please mention in the comment box below: Also see ‘Ten Bad Traits Of Managers’
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