Comments on: Being a Great Manager

By: halwebguy

halwebguy — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:14:09 +0000

@branford agreed. But, this is where it helps to be an expert on your subject manager. You can help guide the team down the right path, while keeping them empowered as well. Certainly, showing them hard evidence of why one path may be better than another is effective. Telling them “do it this way because I said so” is not.

By: halwebguy

halwebguy — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:09:49 +0000

Clearly defining goals and boundaries, certainly. Offering suggestions, certainly. I wouldn’t call this leading by consensus; but it’s important to try to get consensus. If you want your team to work hard, care, and to have a vested interest, give them some rope. The truth is many employees stop caring and forget how to think if you’re going to overrule them anyway. And besides, if I can’t trust my team, why should they trust me?

By: @branford

@branford — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:48:19 +0000

great post.
i think #1 really depends on the personalities on the team. but if you are hiring brilliant people, i think what you are saying makes a lot of sense. “get out of the way” and let them be brilliant. also, there has to be a lot of trust.
it takes a lot of time, or the right chemistry, to build up a team that can flourish in this style.

By: esd714

esd714 — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:43:42 +0000

Good stuff here–although I would take some issue with number one. As a manager I agree that getting suggestions from the team and letting the team find their way through a problem is key to success. But I am not sure leading by consensus is healthy. I think a leader should set the tone and boundaries–and then jump in as needed.