Successful employee managers prioritize, invest in people and distribute relentlessly
“I’m a working manager – not that all managers don’t work, but I have a huge pile of my work, besides having to lead my team. I constantly feel guilty that I’m not doing enough for them, but if I let my work go, our results will suffer. What about me to do?”
This question came from one of our “Ask a Friend” segments in a recent leadership development program.
What is a working manager?
A worker manager is someone who has significant personal responsibilities in addition to leading their team. They have work assigned to them that they cannot delegate.
Sometimes it’s because of the technical nature of the work or a unique skill set they bring. And sometimes, it’s just a matter of workload. There isn’t enough budget for a manager, so the business hires one team member as a guide, while they also do the work. Not ideal, but it is a reality in many organizations.
If this sounds familiar, this article is for you.
8 practical ways to be a better employee manager
- Set clear expectations for your team
- Constantly prioritize
- Invest in your team
- Delegate effectively
- Communicate reliably
- Practice quick accountability
- lead the
- take care of you
1. Set clear expectations for your team
As a team leader, it is always important to establish a clear understanding of what success looks like. All the more so when you can’t meet everyone’s assumptions. Make sure your team knows what everyone can reasonably expect from each other. What do you expect from them, what can they expect from you, and that’s it. As a working manager, sometimes you will need to close your open door, in order to focus and complete a task.
Talk to your team about what they need (and what you need), and work together to determine the best way to approach your individual and collaborative work.
2. Constantly prioritize
As a working manager, it’s challenging to balance your responsibilities with those of your team. To manage this flood, pay attention to MIT (the most important thing) and relentlessly prioritize what matters most. You can’t do everything – and you probably can’t even do all the important tasks. In the end, you only have time to do what’s most important. So free yourself from feeling like you have to do everything and focus your energy on making a real difference.
Decide which tasks are most important and focus on those first so you can make your day a success in the first two hours. This will help you stay on track and ensure you meet your goals while supporting your team. As the day goes by and the next crisis comes, re-prioritize. You only have time for what is most important. Make sure you know what it is.
3. Invest in your team
The more efficient and skilled your team is, the more you will achieve together. You’ll have more time to do the work where you’re really the only one who can do it. So, as you choose your priorities for the week, consistently look for ways to invest in your team. There are two ways to do this: micro-engagements and formal development.
When time is tight, you don’t want to waste time encouraging someone who needs to stretch or coaching someone who just needs more confidence. Use the confidence-ability matrix to identify what your team members need most from you (coaching, encouragement, challenge, or training). Then, in your one-on-one or day-to-day interactions, be prepared to support them with a focused conversation that gives them what they need.
The second way to invest is in more formal development. What does this person need to get where they want to go? Or become what they can be? You can spend 15 minutes each week thinking about your team and connecting them with one growth opportunity each month. These small and formal investments yield huge returns in their growth and development. Where can you teach them a new skill? Help them build relationships across the organization so they can be more resourceful? Bring them a task that helps them stretch or practice leadership?
4. Delegate effectively
You can probably delegate a lot more than you think. This will not only help you manage your workload, but also empower your team and help them develop new skills. Delegating effectively requires some preparation that can feel like a luxury for a working manager. But it is not a luxury; This is an essential investment. For many activities, you will need to spend time thinking about what will achieve a successful outcome. Give your team member the success criteria so they know what they are aiming for and can measure their work against them. For more information, check out how to delegate so nothing falls through the cracks
5. Communicate reliably
Miscommunication will crush your soul. You don’t have time to waste on correcting misunderstandings and solving communication problems. You can make effective communication a characteristic of your team in two ways. First, establish a reliable communication cadence. Second, teach everyone to check for understanding. A reliable communication cadence helps your team know exactly when to expect new information. They will also know when they can most effectively raise concerns, ask questions and share their answers. Get clear on what information they will exchange in chat threads, in emails, and what to save for meetings – and when these meetings will take place.
Then, teach them to check for understanding (and practice it yourself). Clear and mutually understandable communication will save significant time for you and your team. And they will spend less time in fruitless meetings.
6. Practice quick accountability
One common mistake many hiring managers make is that they Avoid performance feedback calls. You may worry that you don’t have time. You can’t afford to lose the person. But what actually happens is that the mistakes are prolonged. Top players are frustrated. And now you spend a lot more time cleaning up messes, fixing problems, and doing last-minute work that someone else should have done.
Short and scheduled performance calls will solidify your time, improve the morale of your team and help everyone be at their best. You can use our INSPIRE method to have these conversations in a way that builds trust and gets results.
7. Lead Up
Your manager is not trying to crush your spirit.
But they may not know the reality of what is happening to you and your team. One of the most important conversations you can have is “leading.” In these conversations, practice “saying yes to say no.” Reiterate your commitment to what is most important and describe the decisions you face.
For example, “We’re all interested in getting this product launched on time and on spec. We’ve also been asked to help support some bug fixes in previous versions. With the existing team, we can’t do both. I see a few options here. I can bring in some contractors to help, we can slide the launch date, we can ask someone else to support the previous version, or we just can’t worry about supporting previous versions. What are your thoughts?”
In your one-on-one conversations with your manager, you can also clarify what success looks like for your leadership. What does your team need to achieve? How does your manager view your leadership versus job responsibilities? If you both have very different points of view, you can talk about what’s going on and where to adjust.
8. Take care of you
Finally, it is important to take time for self-care. Sometimes, sleep is the MIT or time with family, friends or a good book. Or a gym or a walking track. As a working manager, it’s easy to get caught up in the demands of your job and neglect your well-being. But nothing gets easier when you’re run down, exhausted and stressed. Investing time and energy in yourself will help you do everything else with more love, perspective and creativity.
your turn
Being a team leader who is also an employee manager can be challenging. But with the right mindset, communication and tools, it is possible to balance your personal work with the responsibilities of team leadership. we will be happy to hear from you: How do you manage the challenges of leading your team and getting the job done?
