What Makes a Great Manager?

The first step to becoming a really great manager is simply common sense: but common sense is not very common. This article suggests some common-sense ideas on the subject of great management.

The major prombel when someone starts to manage is that he/she does not actually think about management issues nbecause he or she doesn not recognize them. Put simply, things normally go wrong not because he is stupid but only because he has never thought about them. Management is sbout pausing to ask the right questions so that someone’s common sense can provide the answers.

When someone gains managerial responsibility, his first option is the easy option: he should do what is expected of him. He is new at the job, so people will understand. He can learn (slowly) by his mistakes and probably he will try to devote as much time as possible to the rest work (which is what he was good at anyway). Those exra little “management” problems are just common sense, so he should try to deal with them when they come up.

His seccond option is far moreexciting: he can become a Super Manager. When he becomes a manager, he gains control over his own work; not all of it, but some of it. He can change things. He can do things differently. He actually has the authority to make a huge impact upon the way in which his staff works. He can shape his own work environment.

In a large company, his option may be limited by the existing corporate culture – and therefore he should act like a crab: face directly into the main thrust of corporate policy, and makes changes sideways. He doesn’t want to fight the system, but rather to work better within it. In a small company, his options are possible much wider (since custom is often less rigid) and the impact that he and his team have upon the company’s success is proportionately much greater. Thus once he starts working well, this will be quickly recognized and nothing gains faster approval than success. But wherever he works, he should not be put off by the surprise colleagues will show when he first gets serious about managing well.

A manager of a small team has three major roles to play:
 A manager is a planner. A manager has to take a long-term view; indeed, the higher he rises, the further he will have to look. While a team member will be working towards known and established goals, the manager must look further ahead so that these goals are selected wisely.
 A manager is a provider. A manager has access to information and materials, nwhich the team needs. Often he/she has the authority of influence to acquire things which no one else in the team could. This role for the manager is important simply because no one else can do the job.
 A manager is a protector. The team needs security from the vagaries of less enlightened managers. In any company, there are short-term excitements that can deflect the work force from the important issues. The manager should be there to guard against these and to protect the team.

COMPREHENSION EXERCISES
1. Should a manager recognize the management issues to manage the company?
2. What are the two options to be responsible manager?
3. Should a manager look further ahead than his staff?
4. Why does the writer suggest us to act like a crab?
5. What is a manager responsible for as a protector?
6. What are the roles of a manager?
7. Does a manager control his environment totally?
8. What do you call somebody who has to provide something to fulfil the team needs?