How to Be a Good Manager

Managing is extremely difficult. Looking back, being an individual contributor has certain benefits. As a contributor, you are responsible only for your own actions, you are almost not involved in politics, and the work scope is focused and specific. Sometimes I do miss those days, but the complexity of management makes it enough fun and rewarding. You never get bored as you need to support your team, help strong ones to grow even further and assist those who struggle with getting back on track.

A couple of days ago a mentee asked what it means to be a good manager. I had many truly good managers (in fact, I am working with one of the best managers I have met right now). One relaxing evening, I lit my favorite cigar, made some good tea, and came up with a list of things that make a manager a really good one. The very first draft had fourteen essential qualities, but most of the qualities fall into one of two categories – manager should trust and support, manager should challenge and give enough freedom.

Trust and support

Good manager establishes a level of trust that is enough to openly discuss any work-related problems, dreams, and questions. Sometimes mutual trust can even spread over personal topics if you are lucky enough. The trust is needed for a proper feedback loop, which touches all areas of work and life. The earlier you see the signs of a problem, the sooner you can act. The same goes for opportunities! Silence, distrust, and sugar-coating can work in the short-term, but this is a recipe for disaster in the long run.

Good managers support their teams. People have problems and this is normal. Manager should be there in a moment of doubt or weakness. Managers should watch out for disturbances from the outside and buildup of unresolved issues inside of a team. When people do not act and do not want to improve things themselves, managers should be smart enough to let them go. There is nothing wrong in stopping somebody from spending time of their life on nonsense (nonsense for them).

Challenge and freedom

Good manager challenges and helps to come up with ambitious goals. It is not a secret that monotonous work can get annoying, even if it pays well. This comes from the gratification system of the human brain – there is no fun, no rise in self-respect and self-evaluation without proper challenge. Good managers understand this and help their teams in finding and pursuing new ways of getting better. The best situation is when managers can align the desires of their teams with goals of the company.

Good manager gives freedom. I usually do not care how people achieve the goal, I only care that the goal is worthy and it has value to the company and the person. In creative jobs, especially in software engineering, people create wonderful things and come up with great ideas in multiple ways, but the decision on how to reach the goal should always come from the inside. Management and technical leaders are always there, but try to give enough space anyway.

A minute of psychology

Attentive readers might notice that aforementioned qualities are dualistic, thus, to some degree, opposite. It is easy to imagine how the “trust and support” may become a pitiful micromanagement, and “challenge and give freedom” can lead to ugly burnout of a team stuck in goals that have nothing to do with reality.

Both qualities are opposite and complementary at the same time. One of the most popular analogies would be Kaufman’s sailboat of people’s needs. The picture below shows that there are two parts of the sailboat of needs – the boat that keeps a person afloat (security) and the sail that lets you move further (growth).

The same goes for the good manager – enough support and encouragement to stay afloat, appropriate amount of drive and challenges to keep the team moving forward and achieve both personal and company goals.

How to become a good manager

Start from yourself, and this is not another cheesy advice. Seriously, evaluate your life, think, determine ways to support and trust yourself. Come up with ways you can grow and what you really want to achieve. After you apply this to yourself, it gets much easier to apply it to people you care about.

Be a captain of any important sailboat, be responsible for the hull and the sail to get maximum from life. Ahoy!