🙃 Building a professional relationship with team members not only motivates them to do a better job in their careers, it keeps them .
Fostering a culture of will benefit not only the kudu but also the company.
Let’s face it : the madness of work and life make it easy to be forgetful of the most basic rules of management 🤷🏻♀️
Here we’ve put together a checklist of daily reminders based on manager tips and advice on how to be the best manager all be.
👉🏽 Everyone’s management style is different. I encourage you to create your User manuals 🙆🏻♀️ to share better with your team how you work
Also, good ideas or an interesting reminder here if you're a first time manager.
- (even more when you're not in the same city/country)👋 "how are you today ?" (and really listen) can go a long way. Small talk can spark interesting conversations, show that you are there and you .
- This is so simple. Acknowledging the presence of someone is HUGE in kicking off the day on a positive note. You’ll get a feel for how everyone is feeling.
- Actively listen with the intent to process the conversation. 🗣 Don’t think about what you’re going to say next. Don’t try to dominate a conversation. Just listen. Take a moment to process. It shows you value what others are saying. You’ll be amazed what you can learn. If needed: tips here.
- Whether it’s being punctual or being creative, lead by example. Practice what you preach. Be assertive. Confidently make decisions. Also : get your hands dirty, .
- Be enthusiastic. A smile says you are approachable. Happy people are contagious🤣. They are fun to be around. No one likes working with a negative colleague.
- 1-1 meeting with each of your reports. If possible, at the end of the week. Let it be about whatever they want to. Prepare your 1:1 all week long (take notes!)
- Prepare your 1:1 also based on the (to come)
- those who do a great work 🏅 Figure out of recognition people are most comfortable with and whenever someone does something great, praise them. It doesn’t have to be something fundamental all the time, just an example of someone exceeding expectations.
- Understand and your team feels 🚧 Ask them what’s blocking them and provide your support to enable their work.
- teambuilding with your team 🍣 Make sure your team has opportunities to bond beyond work. You can propose the organization to one or+ members of the team.
- Ask, propose and organize or conference visits for your team 📖 There are lots of opportunities to gain outside knowledge and perspective. Find time and opportunities to pursue them. You can start with as simple as watching talks together during lunch once a week. Email your Talents pertinent industry information on conferences, trade shows, books, webinars and articles. Be open to learning the latest innovation, new ideas and trends. Providing educational training opportunities is beneficial to the associate & the company.
- A big part of being humble is respecting others. Humble people are honest, trustworthy and do not lead by ego or hidden agendas. Just a kindly reminder 😊
- : one day you'll have to take a special decision for only 1 person of your team (bonus, day off, new manager) explain it to the team clearly.
- Be a : respect and live the values : if a wrong behavior is consted in your team, take your responsabilities and act to correct it. The manager is also here to enforce the MadKudu tolerance. The people team is also here to help in those cases. Don't be the frog, jump now!
- Discuss any important 📢 It might be a strategic change in direction, a key teammate leaving or anything else, but make sure all is clear about any of those (ex : after someone left the company, after a CEO speach, after a big new was announced, after we raised funds).
- Albert Einstein said it best; "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
- Regularly management style is effective for your reports and get suggestions for change 🙌 Discuss it with the People Partner and the other managers @ MadKudu (or look for external support, inspiration or best practices!)
- Motivation is key in understanding your employees. People are motived by a mix of rewards whether it’s monetary, feedback, recognition or time. Learn what makes your employees perform best. Are they comfortable in being recognized in front of their peers for a job well done? what drives them toward success.
- The majority of our lives are spent at work. It’s not easy juggling a full-time job with family life for example. Life happens. Kids get sick. Moments like birthdays and sporting events happen. Having an understanding manager helps reduce the guilt and stress that come from being a working parent (a 🐶parent?).
- 💭 Write blog posts, speak at conferences, actively share stories about exciting things you all do. Managers has to show by example here and the Marketing team can help you on that!
- Ask more questions about what’s going on so that you understand what’s happening. Communication is key.
- Source the processes 💡Ask your teammates/ other Managers/ people with the same job in another company from time to time what you can change in how things are run.
- Make sure that everyone is on track to deliver on their goals and 🛤 Check in whether your teammates are close to delivering on the objectives that they set.
- Delegate and trust the expertise of your staff. Based off of what they were hired for, it’s more than likely that they are fully capable of completing the job requirements. Don’t waste your time looking over their shoulders at every given moment. People learn through experiences.
- Skip the drama. Don’t be emotional. No one wants a leader that “freaks out” in the middle of a crisis. Maintaining a calm 🧘🏻♀️cool and collected demeanor even at the most stressful moments demonstrates your ability to stay in control under pressure (ex: your team didn't reached the deals number at the end of the month, you're understaffed for the objectives you have for this month, ...).
- 🙋 Growing a team is critical and you are responsible for that. You should be able to recruit 1/3 of your team by your network/ contacts/ personal hunt and events.
- 🙌 Create an atmosphere where opinion is welcome and everyone feels comfortable sharing them
- those questions (from the book Powerful )
- How open have you been with your team about the current prospects of your business and the most difficult problems the company and your team are dealing with? Do people at all levels know the challenges the company is facing in the next six months?
- Are people free to disagree with a point made by someone in authority during a team meeting? Have they seen it done openly, in front of the whole team?
- Are there team members who rarely, if ever, speak up with ideas and concerns? Have you called on them or spoken with them about contributing?
- When was the last time you talked openly with your team about a mistake you made in addressing a business issue?
- Is there someone on your team who is underperforming but with whom you haven't seriously discussed the problem? What impact do you think that person's performance issues have on the rest of the team?
- When you do discuss performance issues with people, do you generally feel that they have understood the specific problems with how they're doing their work?
- How valuable do you think it would be for your team to receive feedback from people in other areas of the company? Is there any way you can facilitate such cross-functional sharing?
- Read a feedback / team / culture book 📗 (can be an old one as reminder)
- ⭐️ Have a plan for each of your players. Where do they see themselves in 2 years? Discuss it during the quarterly reviews but not only.
- 🤝 It’s hard for a manager to be responsible for everything. So, make it easy for your teammates to share regular peer feedback. Also, this can be a good way to find your new squad lead, or a future kudu manager.
- 💪 It should be an opportunity to inspire and hold your team to a higher standard, not an exercise of putting pressure on them. Be clear about what great performance means and help them to lay out a clear plan for achieving it.
- Find out . Expectations go both ways and it’s critical for you to understand how they want you to support them. Manager’s role first and foremost is to serve their team to make them more successful.