The 10 Beliefs of Great Managers
I have started a brand new online coaching program for Managing with Aloha called the MWA Jumpstart, and today I wanted to share the critical first step of MWAJ with you. The program starts with some self-reflection on what you believe in if you have chosen to be in management.
What do the truly great managers of our world believe in?
1. Managers believe that people are innately good. Without this core belief and faith in people, great management is not possible.
2. Managers believe they do not work on their people, they work with them; they enable and empower them.
3. Managers believe that “empowerment” comes from within, and has more to do with self-motivation and innate talent than with the acceptance of authority. They get their cues from the person, not from the task or process.
4. Managers believe that all people have strengths which can be made stronger, and that their weaknesses can be compensated for to become irrelevant.
5. When it comes to training, the great managers do not believe they train people, they believe they train skills and offer additional knowledge.
6. Managers believe they coach and mentor people, and they love doing so — not “like,” love.
7. Managers believe that the people they manage are more than capable of creating a better future. They hold great faith and trust in the four-fold human capacities of physical ability, intellect, emotion, and spirit.
8. Managers believe in the power of positive, affirmative thinking, and they have a low tolerance for negativity. They are confident and eternal optimists.
9. Managers believe it is their job to remove barriers and obstacles so people can attain the level of greatness they are destined for. They believe that “can’t” is a temporary state of affairs, and that everything is only impossible until the first person does it.
10. Managers believe that their legacy will be in the other people they have helped to achieve worthwhile and meaningful goals. They believe that success is measured in people who thrive and prosper.
That’s why managers matter, and why management is vitally important.
Related articles:
Introducing the MWA Jumpstart
Aloha and a Manager’s Intent
Rosa Say, author of Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawaii’s Universal Values to the Art of Business and the Talking Story blog. Rosa is founder and head coach of Say Leadership Coaching, a company dedicated to bringing nobility to the working arts of management and leadership.
Rosa’s Previous Thursday Column was: Be Admired and Respected.
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Comments
David Zinger says on January 20th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
Rosa,
I appreciated your manage-able list of 10 beliefs for great managers.
You provide some of the “matter” of management and show why managers matter.
I like the word love in connection with management. As Steven Jobs said in a Commencement Speech at Stanford University about his experiences after being fired from Apple, the company he created:
“I am convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. you’ve got to find what you love…The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
When managers matter the people they manage know they matter too.
Bamio Lavicendo says on January 21st, 2006 at 7:44 pm
11. “Great” managers never leave any opportunity to (preferably indirectly, although very thinly veiled) to congratulate themselves on being great. Especially when giving absolutely no justification for it.
12. “Great” managers rarely have more than 1 single point to make (yours would be “a great manager is an almost-completely-absent one, let people do it themselves”)
13 “Great” managers stretch their points out very far and wide. Once I submitted to my manager (who also considers himself “great” and I haven’t seen anyone argue with him about that yet) and it came back as a 10 point action plan, even though it really was my suggestion written out (my name was curiously absent from the action plan of course, and I later, at lunch, discovered his secretary had gotten the task to write it out to 10 points, so he had not only plagiarised, but he had a ghost writer plagiarize), obviously his name was undeniably present in large print just below the points.
14. “great” managers are managers that don’t take risks for almost every definition of great. If they want to rise in a corporation they need to prevent large screwups, they can perhaps handle 1, but that’s it. Even managers going the completely safe route can’t seem to help screwing up sometimes, sometimes for factors beyond their control. A “great” manager (or basically anyone above the level of teamleader that has worked at my company for over 2 years) is one that hasn’t even tried a new brand of sandwich in at least 10 years, unless absolutely forced to do so.
15. “great” managers only raise your pay (significantly) if you threaten them from above. As long as they can ignore people below them safely, they will (which is a point related to 14)
Gary says on February 2nd, 2006 at 7:32 am
Rosa, I think you really hit is on the head. Wherever I have managed, I have found your insights to be true. Not only was it a great atmosphere to work in, but the customer satisfaction level was very high as they really enjoyed being part of that atmosphere.
The numbers that so many focus on were fantastic. Take care of your people and they will take care of your business!
jillmary says on August 10th, 2006 at 4:29 am
Well , having been a manager of people for twenty years, I think that Rosa’ theory is a little simple. I prefer the one minute manager approach which is set expectations, discuss how to get there and leave them alone to just do it. Most people like to succeed and take responsibility.
Peder says on October 30th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
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balldev@hotmail.com says on September 17th, 2008 at 5:00 am
thank