4 Things Every Manager Needs to Hear Right Now

Managing people is difficult. Between learning personalities, pushing deadlines and hitting company goals, leaders feel pressure to ensure none of the hypothetical balls drop. Meanwhile, there are the technical responsibilities of the job: administering performance appraisals, aligning team goals with company needs and completing the pile of non-managerial work. In short, being a leader is difficult and these 4 things are what managers need to hear immediately.

#1 Someone Believed in You

In those particularly rough days where everything seems to be going wrong, any employee deserves a moment to take a deep breath and have someone remind them that they are capable. Being brought on to a team means someone is putting a numerical value to your work, but it goes past that, especially for people with the title of manager. Not only are you worthy of a job, someone identified you as capable of leading their workforce.

Need more convincing? Managers set the tone of the team and when one with the right skills is hired, organizations experience 48% greater profitability, 22% productivity and 19% less turnover. Bring in another leader for feedback and advice, realize someone saw your potential and you have skills to deal with leading the company’s greatest assets: employees.

#2 You Don’t Have to Know the Answer

Here is a freeing fact: 96% of job seekers are looking for a company that embraces transparency. In business, bad things happen and it is a leader’s job to not only be responsible for the issue, but be proactive in finding and executing a solution. That creates a great deal of pressure and even the greatest problem-solvers eventually feel lost and need support. Instead of believing it’s a moment of weakness, see it as a chance to build up your team.

Whether it’s a problem within your department, a mistake made by leadership or just an unforeseen emergency, when something less than stellar occurs, don’t lose your cool. Instead, realize it’s acceptable to be honest about not having an immediate solution. Bring in employees who might have expertise or additional ideas and work on an answer together. People feel empowered when leaders take notice of individual strengths and these are the times you want your employees most engaged.

#3 You Make Mistakes

When one survey asked 37,000 managers what the most difficult part of managing people was, 24% stated not having enough time to attend to people and non-management tasks. That was the majority. If you feel like there isn’t enough hours in your day to properly manage your people and complete tasks, you’re part of the majority. When we juggle responsibilities and projects, generally something suffers. No matter how much we wish, there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that may need to get done .

As a busy professional, you can, will and are expected to make mistakes. Even your employees won’t hold it against you if you properly address the issue, apologize and work on the solution. Luckily, we live in a world full of technological tools perfect for answering to such an occasion. Instead of jeopardizing engagement and quality, consider a time-saving tool like a performance review solution with 360-degree feedback so growth and goals are collaborative.

#4 You Can Walk Away

As a human, you will be faced with situations that simply challenge all your patience. Part of being a leader is knowing personal limits and adjusting accordingly to ensure your team’s productivity and performance aren’t compromised. When things get out of control at work, employees are effected. 27% of Americans admitted to suffering abusive conduct at work with another 21% having witnessed it. After the situation, 66% of workers admitted to a decline in their performance.

Walking away when you reach your wits end gives you and the other party the chance to cool down and avoid any escalated incidents. Explain the need for a break, provide a timeline on when you would like to revisti the conversation, make the breather brief and come back with actionable ideas to address the situation. Be sure to arrange a mediator if the issue involves you in any way.

Even the best, most skilled and talented leaders need technology on their side (see #3). Whether it’s managing time, managing feedback or tracking progress, Trakstar’s employee appraisal system has the technology you need to be the leader your team needs. Our solution is easy to implement and presents data integral to making the best performance plan for each individual employee. Take a demo today!