Law in the Marketplace: What makes a good manager? - Concord Monitor
Here’s a question that every New Hampshire business manager should ask and answer as sincerely and astutely as possible: “What makes a manager a good manager?”
I’m no expert about management science, but I’ve read a lot about it, and, in my decades of practicing tax and business law, I’ve worked closely with hundreds of business managers in New Hampshire and other states. Many of these managers have been excellent. A few have been awful. On the basis of my study and experience, I suggest that good managers generally have these main characteristics.
1.Business knowledge. Good managers have a deep knowledge of their business, including knowledge about their competitors and about coming changes in their business environments. And they constantly update this knowledge.
2.Goal setting. Good managers are good at setting appropriate short- and long-term goals for their companies and their employees.
3.Accounting and tax knowledge. Although only a few of the good managers I’ve dealt over the years have been experts in finance or accounting, all of them have had a solid basic knowledge of these fields and of how they apply to their companies.
4.Expertise in hiring and using their employees. When they hire employees, good managers have a clear idea of what they want from them and how to evaluate them. Obviously, they want them to have the right business expertise. But once, when I asked the head of a large private school with whom I was working what quality he looked for above all in hiring teachers, he answered “a sense of humor.” I’m certain this answer applies in many businesses.
5.Task management. Good managers are clear in informing their employees about the tasks they want them to perform, and they are skilled at determining whether they perform these tasks adequately.
6.Appreciation of their employees. Good managers make their employees feel appreciated—above all by compensating them fairly, but also with personal thanks.
7.Training. Good managers recognize when they and their employees need training, and they provide this training to their employees and themselves.
8.Diligence. Good managers work as hard as they expect their employees to work.
9.Teamwork. Good managers encourage and foster teamwork between themselves and their employees.
10.Dispute resolution. Good managers ensure fair and efficient resolution of conflicts among their employees and among themselves and their employees.
11.Honesty. Good managers are honest with their employees.
12.Self-knowledge. Good managers are honest with themselves. They know their weaknesses as managers, and they deal with them earnestly through the help of their employees, their spouses or others.
13.Listening. Good managers are good listeners. Good managers seek out the views of their employees and they act on them.
14.Empathy. Good managers have empathy for their employees, especially when their employees are facing difficult situations in their employment or their lives.
What’s the chief characteristic of bad managers? That’s an easy one: They don’t know they’re bad.
John Cunningham is a lawyer licensed to practice law in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He is of counsel to the law firm of McLane Middleton, P.A. Contact him at 856-7172 or [email protected]. His website is llc199a.com. For access to all of his Law in the Marketplace columns, visit concordmonitor.com.
source: https://www.concordmonitor.com/Law-in-the-Marketplace-45003608
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