The heart of every organisation is its people, and having a strong leadership team is critical to enable organisations to achieve and sustain high performance levels. The best managers are those who organise, communicate, delegate, coach and nurture their team members, inspiring them to do their best work and motivate them towards their own goals and those of the business. 

Yet not all leaders and managers are born great, some have very good ‘soft skills’ but they may need coaching in other areas such as delegation, and almost all leaders need coaching to help build their resilience. 

Here are some of the ways you can develop and empower your managers to reach their objectives faster, make better decisions and improve relationships in their team. 

Empower managers to make decisions

When your managers are empowered to make decisions, they’re likely to be more creative and take ownership of their work and that of their team. Good decision-making requires careful consideration of the facts, weighing different options, and understanding the consequences of their choices.

Where possible, Senior Managers should collaborate and draw on different knowledge and experience within their teams to make the right decisions.

Encourage a growth mindset

Leaders and managers should be given a safe space to try things that don’t always succeed (within reason), but with a culture where failure is an opportunity for growth, allowing them to improve and come back stronger next time. 

Nurture a continuous improvement culture

Continuous improvement is a constant, ongoing effort to improve something. This can be a product, a service, one’s skill set, or a team’s way of working.

Listen to feedback from managers so they feel their ideas are valuable and encourage them to make inexpensive and easy to implement improvements in the work they do. All outcomes and processes should be measured, and their success and learnings shared with others for future and continuous improvement. 

Build communication skills

When managers are strong communicators, they are better able to manage and direct their teams. Managers should be trained to be direct yet empathetic in their communication and seek feedback from their team on their style and delivery. 

Prioritise managerial wellbeing

Encourage managers to talk about their mental and physical health and wellbeing in safe spaces such as Senior Team meetings or 1-to-1s, and offer them access to professional resources so they always have somewhere to turn to get help and support they might need.  This will enable them to be better wellbeing champions for their team and they can easily spot the signs when an employee seems distracted or distant. 

Clear purpose and vision

Are your managers clear on what you want to achieve? Do they know what’s expected of them and how to communicate your company’s vision to their teams? Business leaders should communicate their vision to managers consistently and regularly, giving them the tools to cascade these to team members so that everyone in the organisation is aligned to the organisation’s vision and culture. 

Collaboration through technology

Managers should understand which communication tools work best for their team to allow for ‘anytime, anywhere messaging’ particularly for a hybrid workforce. Teams chats or calls are great for collaboration and information sharing, but the importance of regular in-person team meetings should not be overlooked.  

We help organisations invest in their leaders, providing them with the right training and development and giving them the skills they need to better manage their teams. Find out more >> https://www.e18hteen50.co.uk/leadership-capability/