The Golden Rules of Effective Management

The Golden Rules of Effective Management

Effective management does not only involve driving your employees to perform better, it also involves treating them with respect and ensuring they are happy. In reality, there is no such thing as the ‘right’ management style as it all depends on different people’s perspective.

However, there are some golden rules that help improve managerial performance and efficiency. Read the following blog to get an understanding of how to deliver the most effective management.

What is effective management?

Before understanding the concept of effective management, it is important to know what makes an effective manager. Effective managers are those who achieve set targets before the deadline and make use of resources in the best possible manner.

Effective management refers to the extent to which managers achieve their targets with the assistance of organisational resources. Effective managers are responsible for performing certain key functions, such as:

• Setting targets and deadlines for their employees;
• Making financial forecasts;
• Organising work in an efficient manner;
• Coordinating and making use of organisational resources sensibly;
• Controlling organisational activities and helping improve the efficiency of employees.

Effective managers help their employees in successfully achieving their goals which also helps the organisation achieve its overall targets. An effective managerial approach helps in:

• Achieving the objectives and vision set by the organisation;
• Encouraging employees to be creative;
• Improving accountability of the employees with regards to their roles and responsibilities;
• Providing opportunities for employees to learn and develop new skills.

An effective manager should possess certain skills, such as:

• Time management skills;
• Leadership skills;
• Conflict management skills:
  • Emotional intelligence;
  • Creative problem solving;
  • Mediating;
  • Negotiating.
• People management skills:
  • Patience;
  • Trust;
  • Good judgement;
  • Listening skills;
  • Empathy.
  • Self-management skills:
    • Initiative;
    • Organisation;
    • Accountability.

How to improve your management skills

Here are some tips that will help improve your managerial skills:

• Define your vision and share it with the employees: In order for your employees to perform with high productivity, it is important that you share the organisation’s vision with them. The vision should be concise and vivid.  

• Recognise the areas of weakness: In order to be successful, you must recognise the areas of weakness in your organisation. This can be done through various professional assessments. Focusing and improving these areas will help the organisation in achieving its goals.

• Talk to your employees: As a manager, you have a team of employees under your command and it is important to talk to them if you wish to improve your management skills. This can be done in certain ways:
  • Inform them that you are focusing on improving your management skills;
  • Tell your team to take an anonymous survey, asking them various questions about your management style;
  • Conduct one-on-one meetings with the management trainees in your team and ask them how you could improve your management skills.
• Communicate with your team: Communication is often considered to be one of the most important skills that a manager can possess. If you are unable to communicate properly with your team, it might be difficult for them to understand what the organisation’s vision is and what is expected of them.

• Take leadership courses: Taking up leadership courses can also help you in improving your managerial skills; these courses could be online or offline. Leadership training courses can help you with critical thinking, quick decision-making and learning how to bring about change effectively.

Types of management techniques

There are various types of management techniques, such as:

• Honesty: According to Entrepreneur magazine, honest communication is a key management technique. Maintaining an honest and professional relationship with your team leads to an increase in their confidence and respect for you.

• Motivation: Managers should employ this technique on a regular basis and strive to understand what motivates their employees. Paid holidays, greater income and recognition are some common motivating factors. As per a contemporary employee study conducted by Badgeville and Make Their Day, 70% of employees are motivated by praise as compared to monetary rewards.

• Inform your team about the organisation’s goals: Sharing the goals of the organisation will help them to understand the value of the work they do. Host monthly or bi-monthly feedback sessions to discuss their performance status.

• Provide training and development opportunities: Encourage your employees to learn and develop new skills in their areas of interest will help the organisation and will instil loyalty throughout the company.

Golden rules of effective management

Here are some the golden rules of effective management:

• Be consistent: Before your managerial style can be considered effective, it should first be consistent. This means you cannot discourage and penalise certain behaviour and reward another person for the same behaviour when they occur. You should also treat all members of your team equally, as this shows that you are unbiased.

• Communicate clearly: When communicating with your team, ensure your speech is accurate, clear, thorough and concise. This is the best way to avoid miscommunication and to keep your team on the same page.

• Recognise and reward hard work: Recognition of good work is one of the key motivating factors. When members of your team perform well, you should recognise their efforts as this will please them and show the entire team that hard work is rewarded.

• Be transparent: Being a transparent leader shows your integrity and builds trust within your team. Lying or withholding information could affect your relationship with the group and the respect they have for you.

• Encourage team members to come up with ideas: Involve the team members in brainstorming sessions as they may come up with amazing ideas.

• Set a good example for your team: Being a manager does not mean you can slack off from doing any work. On the contrary, you have to do your work with a great level of seriousness as others are looking up to you. If you do not take your work seriously, neither will they.

• Create a positive environment: Having a positive environment at work encourages employees to perform better which contributes to the overall success of the organisation. If employees are happy at work, their performances are likely to improve on a regular basis.

• Help your employees enjoy work: Removing the dress code or installing a TT table at work is not the only way of making the workspace enjoyable for your employees. You could even take them for surprise lunches and dinners. When employees are enjoying work, they tend to perform better.

• Be organised: Being organised in your work tends to be the difference between completing a task before a given deadline and missing the deadline altogether. It also helps in improving the flow of communication between you and your team, leading to greater productivity and reduction in stress levels.

If you wish to become a manager or you want to learn more about business management, London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) offers several courses — Online Global MBA, Grenoble MBA, Postgraduate Certificate in Management, Short Courses in Management and Management Development Programmes. To know more about the business management programmes offered by LSBF, click here.

This text was written by Varun Mehta and edited by Amelia Hayward-Cole.