The Good Manager

A good manager working in Operations is hard working.  Most times he/she makes the job look pretty seamless.  A good manager can be found with the following characteristics:

Supports the team

This is number one.  A manager has a loyalty to the team.  No matter what happens, unless a subordinate does something that warrants termination a manager stands behind the team.  In my experience, if a manager cannot stand up for the team, he/she will not protect the team. If the team is lacking or short coming of its responsibility, it is reflective of training, which is ultimately, the Manager’s responsibility.

Training

A training budget, regardless of how small is necessary in building a skilled employee, resulting in a strong and cohesive team.  The more skilled employees are, the more they can produce and provide high end quality work to the company.

A Team Player

Every manager should be willing to work with the team in time of a project with a tight deadline.  This also means working overtime if necessary.  Once the team is in a place where they can manage the project and complete it on time, then the manager can go home.

Open Door Policy

This is a standard.  A manager either can meet at any given moment or quickly responds by scheduling a meeting for the employee, as soon as the schedule allows.  It is always best to address the concern of an employee immediately.

Effective Conflict Management

Being objective and analytical to the issue at hand, helps to resolve conflict.  A progressive manager will seek input— first, from the employees involved, on what the solution to the problem should be.  Anytime there is a problem in the mind of an employee, it is mostly always because he/she has a solution in mind.  Allowing employee expression of the solution will result in more of a win-win solution to the problem.  Once the situation is resolved, with the use of both sides, there will be more collaborative cooperation, because the solution was that of the employee.

A Good Listener

Listening to employees express their concerns and sometimes their personal issues is important.  Everyone needs someone to talk to from time to time.  A good manager will encounter this more regular, as trust is established between the manager and the employee.

Team Input

An open communication with the team can start by allowing them to give input during meetings.  They can provide input on what they need training on, how be to complete a group project and what they need to do their jobs effectively.  Always ask what is working and what is not working.  Concurrence from the team as a whole, will ensure everyone working toward the established goal.   Always give credit to the employee whose idea the team agreed on.

Career Path

It is crucial to clearly communicate any available career developments an employee can undertake.  In smaller companies where there may not be much of a varietal career changing opportunities or promotions, the employee should be made aware up front, when applying for the job. Managing expectations is critical.

Be Approachable

Professional courtesy and concern for the staff is always in order.

Be Fair

Acceptance is the beginning of fairness.   Accepting every employee and the various personalities they bring.  In reality, there is always the spoiled or insecure employee that may always feel like an outcast.  This is due to the level of confidence of that employee.  Be as transparent in all employee meetings as you possibly can.

Be Consistent

Avoid moodiness or bringing your problems to the office.  When you are in the office, take on the role of being a pleasant and approachable manager.  Work out your problems at home or before coming into the office. Or be very effective in wearing the hat, and that hat only in whatever role you are in.

Motivate

In order to motivate your team you must be motivated.  Use a game or thought provoking action in your meetings.  Motivation comes in many ways.  Mostly your daily motivation is your outlook on life.  If you are not positive on a daily basis you will lack this trait.  Motivating your team can be as easy as encouraging someone who is having a bad day.  It can be as small as recognizing someone for doing something good.  Give a motivational thought for the day or thank the team for their hard work during team meetings.  This goes a long way.

The Unwritten Rules

The most you have in corporate America is an employee handbook.  The handbook is full of policies and behavioral rules to keep the company free of potential law suits and unruly and out of control behavior.

What the handbook does not explain is office politics.  The politics are different for every office, organization and company but some things do not change.

Give respect and honor where it is due.  Do not disrespect those of power— ever.  Those of power are those who we refer to as the movers and shakers of the organization.  If you are called to perform a task for an executive of power do it now, do it fast and do it right.

The Administrative Professionals who support the Executives of power goes one of two ways:

• The admin does their job with knowledge.  They are respected simply by supporting the office with which the title is labeled.
• The admin is not quite as competent.  They got the job by their looks or who they know.  Usually these administrative professionals are pushy, arrogant yet easily intimidated by those who know and those who do.

Do not keep it real in the office.  There is such a thing as when “real has gone wrong.”  You do not need to speak your mind about everything.  Learn what battles to fight.

Some employees are entitled.  They know it.  They deport themselves as if they are.  They flaunt it.  Don’t fight it.  Just deal with it.

In the method of what you would call madness, there is a way to navigate.  But your mind has to be in place to accept reality and abide by the rules.

The squeaky wheel mostly always gets the oil.  Sometimes, (not often) it does come back and works against them.  

Gossip always abides among the people who are at the bottom of the company’s organization chart.  Think about it.  Gossip rarely comes from the top down.

Employees do discuss salary and compensation.  Again, do not discuss compensation.

A company is only as strong as leadership allows the Human Resource department to be.

No one will put their job on the line for you.  Do your job!

If you do not generate revenue try your best to be cost effective and add value.

Never usurp authority. 

Document! Document! Document!  Your manager does.  If they do not they should be documenting. 

In the real world, perception is 99% reality.  In corporate america, there is no other reality.  Perception is everything.

Your image establishes your presence and creates the perception of whom or what you are.  Dress the part!

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Strategy of Success

You are diligent about the details, the tracker of every follow up and the closer of the follow through.  You carry the load as if it were your own.  The office you support, you take and manage it.  You are not the revenue generator but you are the reason, as to why the office you support can generate revenue without having to worry about excellent administrative support.  You often know things first hand before the announcement is made, as you hold the trump card of discretion and utmost confidentiality.

You have the ability to feel the temperament of your manager whether he/she says anything or not.  Being attuned gives you cues as when to approach and when to give them space for the day.  The business of your manager is yours to manage, without needing a directive on every task you do.  You are Alpha and Omega of every detail, from beginning to end.  You are the Administrative Professional.   Your work is the reason your manager can rest on the plane traveling from destination to destination while handling the business of the company successfully because you provide the red carpet on which they walk.

Administrative Professional (The Aspiration)

You are the backbone of the organization and the group you support.  You are the travel arranger, the calendar manager, gatekeeper, the filter for every call, the processor and push for expense reimbursement, the relationship behind the relationship; the force behind the force, the follow up and the final follow through.  You are relied on and you never fail to come through.

You are the records department, the personal assistant, and the catch-all when no one else can get it done.  The diplomatic enforcer behind the subtle no.  You are the partner, the corporate wife, the friend of the wife, and the supporter of the children and you are the caregiver.

All administrative things happen because of you, and at times you are expected to be the miracle worker.  You sometimes can make the no a yes for your managers.

In conclusion you are the CEO of your desk, the process for how you work, and the finale of accuracy for every task you do. 

You make it happen.

Excellent Customer Service is Dying

With the economy, cut backs, and low budgets across many company’s board, the first disservice that happens to a company is the hiring of mediocre, barely skilled employees with poor people skills.  Hiring employees for less is not always best.

The old adage is true, “You get what you pay for”.

It is sensible and cost productive to have a few employees who are skillful,  trained, reasonably paid, works as a team, with a strong working style and working ethics, rather than having underpaid employees, who collectively and insidiously provide minimal value to the company.

Many employees across various companies are limited in knowledge of the infrastructure of the company, what encompasses their job and how to do it effectively, robustly, and not just barely.  Often times employees are resembling Androids doing as directed and unable to think around a situation or create true client satisfaction.  I’ve seen customers told no, simply because an employee can not think of something creative to do, and they are not embedded with the philosophy to remember the famous adage, “Customers come first and customers are always right”.

Employees with bad dispositions, a “no” attitude, and limited knowledge in their jobs are more rampant in the work force than the employee a customer encounters who goes above and beyond to provide a reasonable answer or resolution.

With the economy and the competition to generate more revenue to stay and be successful, it is more important for companies to retain the best in order to keep their clients happy, and to keep them coming back, rather than bad word of mouth, due to an untrained employee who has very little competencies, a stay in the box mentality and mediocre value systems.