7 Habits of Masterful Managers Who Coach Their Teams to Success Being good at your job is important. Making other people better at their jobs is most important of all.
By Sherrie Campbell Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Managers are the quarterbacks and coaches of their teams. Managers with great reputations for producing the most successful teams are those who have cultivated the habits of success and leadership designed to keep their teams cohesive, motivated and driven. There is nothing more powerful than a leader who has faith in their team. Like children, the last thing any of us want to lose is the faith our parents have in us, and this dynamic plays itself out from team members to their manager. To follow are the seven habits that masterful managers utilize to guarantee team success.
1. Collaborative.
Managers who collaborate rather than command create team cohesion and positive morale. Collaborating doesn't put anyone down. Commanding managers are arrogant, emotionally violent and secure results through the production of fear and game-playing. These types of managers may see results, but their team members and customers will show high turnover, producing only short-term successes.
The most lucrative and stable path to getting results is through collaboration. There is something deeply bonding when working together to secure common goals. Team members learn to model the collaborative vibe of their manager and apply it amongst each other and also with customers. Great managers know that collaborating in any endeavor, inside or outside of the company, produces the most worthwhile results.
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2. Relationship oriented.
Great managers, manage people not numbers. Although numbers are important, the purest method to get employees to work hard is for them to work for and receive approval. Approval is the greatest form of payment. Numbers are non-emotional. They have no lasting impact on self-worth because there are always going to be higher numbers to meet.
Under a relationship-oriented manager, where approval and encouragement are woven into the fabric of the relationship, team members become unafraid to reach for higher quotas. They come to believe they can meet them, and to keep the faith of their manager, are more motivated to do so. The more relationship-oriented a manager is, the more team members are willing to perform because they are receiving the guidance and encouragement the need instead of fear and punishment.
3. Give credit.
Great managers give credit wherever and whenever credit is due. They do not have the selfishness or arrogance to need to take credit for the success of their team to feed their own ego. In fact, managers who are collaborative prefer that team members receive the credit for their results. When the team gets the credit, it cultivates a deeper drive within them to work hard to earn that type of credit again and again. This makes work a pleasant and fun place to be.
People who enjoy work and the dynamics they share with upper management, are those who feel good about sacrifice and working hard because there is purpose and reward driving them internally. When teams are given credit it allows them to experience the fruits of their labor, providing them with a deep sense of passion and satisfaction for what they are doing.
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4. Equal treatment.
Cohesion on any team is the x-factor for success. For this reason, great managers treat each individual team members according to their unique gifts. Wise managers avoid playing favorites; only preferring to work closely with those members who get their numbers. Equal time and equal treatment are vital to the development of team cohesion, as it rids teams of destructive emotions such as jealousy, which can be hugely destructive.
When managers play favorites, the team is fragmented by the divide and conquer approach set by the manager, creating animosity between members. Animosity inevitably leads to people trying to cheat and or undermine others on their own team. While managers will naturally work better with some members more easily than others, differential treatment goes directly against any formula of success. Equal treatment doesn't take away individuality. Each team member is coached individually based on the strengths and weaknesses the manager identifies. Equal time given to all members creates positive morale between team members and their manager.
5. Open.
Effective managers are humble, not know-it-all's. Rank doesn't always reflect knowledge, especially in a world that is on the fast track of change with the continual advances in technology. Those who manage well, listen and learn from their team members and take in what they bring to table before advising or directing them. Great managers are open to learning and also open to receiving feedback from their team on what more they may need from them or others in management.
Know-it-all managers see themselves as perfect and above their team, instilling a great divide between themselves and their connection with team members. No one wants to approach a know-it-all with a problem, out of the desire to avoid confrontation or condemnation. Hence, more mistakes are made in the know-it-all environment because communication is low, not always forthright and stress is high. Managers who are willing to listen and learn succeed and get results because the issues in need of discussion are comfortably on the table for analyzation.
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6. Sensing.
Successful and well-liked managers are like a "players coach." They are sensing people who pay attention to both immediate data from their five senses and data from their own direct experience. They develop understanding from conscious thought, rather than trusting their subconscious and are happy to dig into the fine detail of the situations they are in with their team. In other words, they focus on what is immediate, practical and real, and manage in a reality-based framework supportive of their team, rather than trying to change what is not under their control.
Sensing managers are grounded in logic and manage in practical and realistic ways. They like to pursue things with a well-devised plan, having the details worked out in advance. These types of managers are phenomenal because they serve to ground the more emotionally labile moments experienced by team members in uncertain situations. Team members can come to their manager to calm down and gain perspective, giving them the ability to be rational and think things through intelligently.
7. Intuitive.
Masterful managers are able to be sensing and intuitive in tandem. They are able to process data rationally while also following their gut feelings when risk is necessary, or when their gut feeling is so intense that it is the only correct decision to make. Although they often trust and rely upon patterns and practical data, they are also great at predicting or intuiting patterns of behavior and market trends, allowing them to get out of the detail and into a higher level view.
Being intuitive takes managers out of the practicality of the now into a more future-focused mindset. A future-focused mindset is the driving force of innovation amongst a manager and their team. An intuiting manager encourages team members to dream and imagine, provoking all members out of their comfort zones into acquiring new skills and towards the development of news ideas.
Related Book: No B.S. Ruthless Management of People & Profits, 2nd Edition by Dan S Kennedy
Masterful managers show a high degree of sensitivity to team members, and encourage them to operate with a high degree of respect and sensitivity to each other. When equal-treatment is the management style all members have equal voice where each has the chance to speak and express their ideas. Equal treatment leads to a collaborative environment where everyone feels important. Mangers who create teams with the foundation of these elements are successful in the short and long term. Great managers believe in their purpose, their individual team members and all that it takes for everyone to feel satisfied, happy, motivated and successful. The morale created by these elite mangers guarantees personal and professional success and esteem.
