What sets truly great managers apart? Although there are a lot of listicle-style articles about the generic qualities of good managers and leaders, little has been said about what truly catapults a manager from good to great. Research from the Harvard Business Review, including a Gallup survey of 80,000 managers and in-depth studies of top performers, points to one quality that has emerged as the hallmark of great managers: they discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it.
Mediocre managers conduct their teams like a novice leading a school band, treating all instruments the same way. Great managers, however, operate more like skilled orchestral conductors. In a school band, players might all follow the same sheet music, playing in unison. But in an orchestra, each instrument has a unique part to play, and the conductor must understand the nuances of every section to create a harmonious performance.
Expert conductors recognize that a violin can't produce the same sound as a trumpet, nor should it try to. They know intimately how each instrument contributes to the overall composition and how to bring out the best in each player. Similarly, great managers understand and appreciate the distinct abilities and quirks of their team members, skillfully integrating these individual talents into a cohesive and high-performing unit.
This approach contrasts sharply with the methods of great leaders. While leaders seek to unify people around common goals and shared values, managers must harness individual talents for peak performance. Successful managers thrive when they can identify and leverage the differences among their team members, encouraging each person to excel in their unique way.
Harvard Business Review wrote a great article on this that tells the story of Michelle Miller, a Walgreens store manager - that exemplifies this approach. Her store in Redondo Beach, California, employs people with sharply different skills and potentially disruptive differences in personality. A critical part of her job is to put people into roles and shifts that will allow them to shine—and to avoid putting clashing personalities together.
Consider Jeffrey, a "goth rocker" whom Michelle almost didn't hire because he couldn't quite look her in the eye during his interview. She noticed that when given vague assignments, Jeffrey struggled, but he excelled at specific, analytical tasks. Instead of trying to mold Jeffrey into a conventional employee, Michelle reorganized store responsibilities to capitalize on his unique strengths, assigning him to handle all resets and revisions across the store.
This creative choreography isn't a last resort or an attempt to make the best of a bad hire. It's a powerful tool that saves time, makes each person more accountable, builds a stronger sense of team through interdependency, and introduces a healthy degree of disruption into the organization.
To be a good manager, you need to understand three crucial aspects of each team member:
To discover a team member's strengths, try this approach: "Reflect on your most fulfilling work day in recent memory. What were you doing, and why did it resonate with you?" It's important to note that a strength isn't necessarily a skill someone has mastered. It could be an activity they find deeply satisfying, something they're eager to engage in repeatedly and improve upon over time. A great way of asking these questions is during dedicated 1-on-1’s with your team, using software like Candor to set agendas for each meeting.
To identify areas of struggle, flip the script: "Think about a recent work day that left you feeling drained or frustrated. What tasks were you handling, and why did they affect you negatively?" Remember, a weakness isn't just something a person does poorly. More significantly, it's an activity that saps their enthusiasm and energy.
By exploring these questions, you'll gain valuable insights into each team member's natural inclinations and potential pain points. This understanding allows you to align tasks and responsibilities with individual strengths, fostering a more engaged and productive team environment.
While it's important to be aware of both strengths and weaknesses, great managers focus on strengths. Research by Albert Bandura has shown that self-assurance, not self-awareness, is the strongest predictor of a person's ability to set high goals, persist in the face of obstacles, bounce back from reversals, and ultimately achieve their goals.
Great managers reinforce employees' self-assurance by telling them they succeeded because of their specific strengths, even if there's some exaggeration in the statement. This strengthens the employee's self-assurance and makes them more optimistic and resilient in the face of future challenges.
When addressing weaknesses, there are four main approaches:
A person's strengths aren't always on display. They require precise triggering to activate. The most powerful trigger is recognition, not money. Each employee plays to a slightly different audience, and great managers match the employee to the audience they value most.
Some employees value recognition from peers, others from their manager, and still others from customers or professional bodies. Tailoring recognition to each individual's preferences can significantly boost motivation and performance. This is where tools like Candor can play a crucial role, offering a platform for managers to provide tailored recognition through shoutouts and feedback, especially in remote team environments.
There are three predominant learning styles:
Great managers adapt their teaching methods to match each employee's learning style, maximizing the effectiveness of training and development efforts.
It’s important to understand that what makes a ‘good’ manager is also company-specific, or more importantly, culture-specific. For example, Google's Project Oxygen in 2008 identified the top 11 behaviors of the company’s highest-performing managers.
Finding and nurturing great managers is challenging but crucial. When hiring, assess candidates objectively using standard interview questions and a calibrated assessment process. Set a high bar for quality and keep looking until you find someone who adds unique value.
Once hired, support managers' development through ongoing training, manager effectiveness surveys, and peer learning opportunities. Encourage managers to share experiences and best practices with each other.
Effective management has far-reaching effects on organizational success. It leads to increased productivity, better decision-making, and improved workplace culture. Research shows that engaged employees are significantly more productive, and managers account for a large portion of the variance in team engagement.
By focusing on individual strengths, tailoring management approaches, and continuously developing managerial skills, organizations can create environments where employees thrive and contribute their best work. This approach aligns with Candor's belief that finding a job you love is about joining a team that feels like home. By focusing on team culture, companies can create workplaces where people love to work and want to stay and help grow.
In conclusion, great management is about release, not transformation. It's about constantly tweaking the environment so that the unique contribution, needs, and style of each employee can be given free rein. The success of a manager depends almost entirely on their ability to do this. By understanding and applying these principles, managers can unlock the full potential of their teams and drive their organizations toward greater heights of success.
In today's increasingly remote work environment, tools like Candor play a vital role in helping managers create good work vibes for remote teams. Through features such as shoutouts, feedback, and polls, Candor enables managers to maintain strong connections with their team members, foster a positive work culture, and implement many of the great management practices discussed in this article, even when teams are geographically dispersed. If you’re interested in learning more, try Candor for free!
Candor makes it easy to connect and have fun with your teammates, even while you’re remote. Use Candor to do feedback, shoutouts, check-ins, and more, all in one place.
Feel free to share questions or feedback with our team. We will be in touch within 1 business day.
