7 Traits You Must Have to Be a Good Manager

Excellent management is a prime mover of business success.

Other business resources will dwindle to waste if not well managed. Good managers make sure that the success of the company comes by motivating employees to work productively and communicating with them in a way that builds a strong team that constantly works together to achieve the company’s vision. 

According to Gallup, “the most important decisions companies make is simply whom to name a manager. Yet, analytics suggest they usually get it wrong. Companies fail to choose the candidate with the right talent for the job 82% of the time.”

And when companies miss this critical step, they suffer from identifying the right manager to work on projects and build the right strategies. 

In this post, I will show you the seven traits you must have to be a good manager.

Why Is It Important to Have a Good Manager?

Having a good manager who’s able to communicate clearly with the team is crucial for every company. Good managers can delegate tasks, manage conflict, and steer healthy relationships between teammates.

They are attentive listeners who understand the team’s needs and concerns and can help out.

Also, good managers are excellent decision-makers. During projects when solving issues and interacting with vendors is critical, they can lead the team with confidence. 

Setting a good example is another important reason for having a good manager. It will help you to point your employees in the right professional direction, provide skills and knowledge guidance, and help them become top performers.

7 Traits You Must Have to Be a Good Manager

1. Empathy

Employees want the manager who will walk up to them during work, hand them a cup of coffee, and say to them, “Well done.”

As a manager, if you fail to put yourself in your team’s shoes and experience the hurdles they go through, you’ll likely not understand how they feel about the job.

You should understand the importance of empathy so that you can listen to your employees when they complain, walk through the situation with them, and proffer accurate solutions. 

When you treat your employees with empathy, there is a great chance that you’ll improve the organization’s financial performance.

2. Confidence

No employee will trust or support a manager who looks naive on the job, particularly when it involves decision-making. 

As a manager, you should always be confident when interacting with your team. That way, you become more likely to inspire them to believe in your mission.

While growing a business, you might suffer some setbacks, or new technology will evolve to destabilize your work process and strategy. When addressing any situation, you should be confident so that your team can rely on you to regain balance. 

3. Honesty

As Harvey S. Firestone said, “Fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.” What this means is that you can’t succeed in your business unless you’re honest. 

And aside from the honesty required to interact with clients, you also need it when dealing with your team members and vendors.

Employees find it very difficult to have confidence in a manager who doesn’t show a certain level of honesty. In and outside of interacting with them, they notice how certain your talk is, and judge your words based on that.

As a manager, you want to be open and transparent to inspire your team to uphold the best policy. 

4. Communication skills

Miscommunication can easily create chaos in a business setup. This goes beyond what you say, but how you say it and how it is written. Gestures can be confusing. Written messages are too.

For instance, a bad manager could send an email that means different things to each member of the team because the message is not explicit enough. 

As a manager, your communication should be thought of in a way that solemnly boosts productivity and togetherness so that employees receive it with calm, and understand it just the way you intended. 

One way to avoid miscommunication in your company is by honing your writing skill.

5. Decisiveness

Many times managers are in a tough situation where they need to make a fast and low-risk decision. The ability to think critically while analyzing all connecting points and options to act upon is rare.

It is important for you as a manager to have the trait that helps you decide swiftly without being afraid. And when you do, the aftermath turns out great. 

An indecisive manager will likely slow down or halt the company’s work pace, and run the company at a loss of resources and finances if he’s at the helm of financial decisions.

6. Responsibility

Ever worked with a manager who constantly shifts the blame on their employees when anything goes wrong? And worse, they never applaud their team when they deliver excellent tasks.

Good managers protect their team members and shower accolades on them when they do right. They understand the effect of motivation and know that they’re the ones in charge of the team’s performance, be it its successes or failures. 

That way, they monitor their employees’ professional activities and guide them to do a better job and become top-quality workers. 

7. Creativity

Creativity is important to solving problems. Managers who think outside the box can create impactful ideas that could become profitable products. They know how to gather insights from clients and turn them into viable solutions.

As a manager, coming up with new product ideas and better processes to serve your clients will give you a professional edge and gladden your employees. They will be thrilled that their team creates solutions.

This means that when you lead projects, there is every likelihood that your employees will record immense feats.

Conclusion

In every work environment, the excellence of a good leader shines on other employees and the company at large. 

This is because a good leader who listens and communicates effectively, thinks creatively, and leads with empathy will guide his team to mirror his traits and birth better productivity, impactful ideas, and business success.

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