How To be A Good Manager

How to be a good manager
by Gladeana McMahon

It's tough at the top. Once you get there, how can you meet the challenge of being a good manager?

In the last ten years, the number of people entering managerial roles has increased significantly. Managers in a variety of industries are taking on increasing responsibility while still ensuring the bottom line is met. The role is expanding but is often made more difficult through the lack of management training received. According to Mike Trewavas, a recently retired management consultant, 'Most managers are promoted because they are good at their job and it is probable that for every one manager with an MBA, Diploma or HND in Management Studies there are ten who've had no formal training'. Managers inevitably face many issues and problems. Professor Tom Cannon, Chief Executive of RespectLondon, a leading management consultancy, argues that organisations seek to recruit talented individuals without realising that talent can be difficult to manage. Managers have to work with a range of people: the talented, the team players, those who handle stress well and those who don't.
What do you need?Women probably make better managers due to their biological make-up, according to Professor Stephen Palmer, Director of the Centre for Stress Management. Research has demonstrated that women problem-solve using both parts of their brain whereas men use only one side to do the same task. Using both sides of the brain enables a woman to deal with more than one task at a time. Palmer believes, 'Women handle stress better than men, probably because they are natural communicators and much of successful management is based on communication'. New theories about management surface frequently and 'management gurus' come and go. Peter Drucker, popular in the 1970s, believes that 80% of the manager's role is about supervising people at all levels in the organisation and only 20% about the technical side of the job.
Sometimes, managers get things wrong. Numerous figures are quoted by the CBI and Institute of Directors regarding the cost of legal claims made by employees for cases of constructive dismissal and stress. Marion Bell, a corporate barrister, suggests, 'There would be less litigation if managers were more skilled at dealing with difficult, upset or stressed employees'. It's a skill that can be learned.