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Is this the profile of a 'complete' manager?



What's The Profile of a Complete Manager?

What's the profile of a 'complete' manager - one who daily achieves Predictable Success for herself, her team, and the organization she works for?

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Get everyone on the same page - click here to email them a copy of this article For many years now, I've been coaching hundreds of managers in just about every environment imaginable - large and small organizations, for-profit and not-for profit, over three continents and over 20 countries, and I've noticed that in all that time, certain characteristics of successful managers recur over and over again.

During the last year, I've been consolidating this pattern recognition of successful managers and comparing it with organizational Predictable Success® principles to develop the profile of the 'Complete Manager'.

Setting apart the technical skills required to fulfill the manager's core function (sales, legal, IT, accounting, etc.), I've found 14 characteristics, broadly fitting into three categories (although there is some overlap - many of the 14 characteristics have an impact on more than one category).

Here's an overview of the three categories and 14 characteristics. In future Predictable Success® Letters I'll expand on each individually:

Category 1. Productivity



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The first of the three categories of the 'Complete Manager' is Productivity.

Here, the manager is focussed on ensuring that both she and her team deliver the actual outputs required from them. There are four specific characteristics that the Complete Manager demonstrates in doing so:
Time Management

The ability to manage their time - not just in the abstract, but hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and over the course of a whole year.

Priority Management

It's possible to have great time management skills, but to be using them on the wrong things! The Complete Manager also has a heightened awareness of what their real priorities are, and stay focussed on not just 'doing things right', but also 'doing the right thing'.

Crisis Management

So many otherwise excellent managers simply allow themselves to be too easily derailed by crises and problems. The Complete Manager absorbs crises, adapts appropriately, and gets the train back on the rails effectively and quickly.

Delegation

Even the most effective manager will achieve less than optimum results if they rtry to do everything themselves. The Complete Manager refuses to micro-manage, and delegates appropriately to those on her team.

Category 2. Developing Others
The second of the three categories of the 'Complete Manager' is Developing Others.

Not only is Productivity (Category 1) enhanced by developing others, but the medium and long term strength of the organization as a whole is dramatically increased by doing so.

Performance Assessment

The Complete Manager regularly, consistently and fairly gives feedback on each team members performance.

1-1's

Outside of the performance assessment process, the Complete Manager also regularly provides each team member with a risk-free, judgment-free environment to have a one-on-one session with her, where the team member can air and discuss issues without fear of retribution.

Mentoring & Coaching

Although the manager herself may not do the actual mentoring or coaching, the Complete Manager ensures that each team member is given access to formal and informal mentoring and coaching as necessary - particularly to enhance performance issues arising out of the performance assessment process.

Empowerment

The Complete Manager ensures that her team members have the authority and responsibility necessary to not only do their own jobs, but to use creativity and take ownership of problems and issues as they arise.

Hiring

Rather than seeing it as an inconvenience, or the responsibility of 'HR', the Complete Manager embraces high-quality hiring as an integral part of her job and ensures that it is given the time and attention it needs to ensure the quality of every hire is as high as possible.

Category 3. Teamwork
The third of the three categories in which the Complete Manager excels, is in Teamwork.

This characteristic - of working not just in a silo, delivering their own outputs in a vacuum, but working with peers across the entire organization to deliver the overall organizational goals also - is perhaps the most frequently underdeveloped category in organizations that are not in Predictable Success®:

Conflict Management

Complete Managers do not avoid conflict - not do they needlessly create it, or worse, avoid it. Instead, they manage conflict positively, always seeking the best for the organization as a whole.

Difficult Conversations

In dealing with their own teams, peers and 'managing up' to their bosses, the Complete Manager knows how to conduct a difficult conversation - how to be 'ruthlessly constructive' and tell bad news when necessary, without fear or favor.

Communication Skills

With the volume of information involved in management, it's not surprising that the Complete Manager has exceptionally strong communication skills - written, verbal, listening and presentational.

Working Cross-functionally

The Complete Manager first breaks her own silo by involving others outside of her team in cross-functional consultations, then helps others break down their silos by making herself and her team available to help in understanding and improving how the organization 'passes the baton' across the whole enterprise.

Accountability

Last, but the linchpin that holds so much of the other characteristics together, the Complete Manager hold herself and her team accountable to every commitment and milestone, and establishes a reporting mechanism that will keep her and her team honest in delivering on what they say they will. Notably, the Complete Manager is visibly accountable not just on those projects and tasks and projects she deems important and/or exciting, but all tasks and projects she has committed to.

As I stated earlier, this is just an introductory overview of the characteristics of the Complete Manager - in future Predictable Success® Letters I'll describe each in a little more detail.


Pre-Register Today!

In the meantime consider pre-registering for my upcoming Complete Manager Program - a distance learning program based on the 14 characteristics that I'll be launching later this year.

There's no obligation whatsoever in pre-registering, and the Program is open to members and non-members alike (although members will receive a discount on the Program registration fee (which I haven't set yet):
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