How to be more effective as a manager in the new year
Posted: Wed Jan 29, 2025 6:29 am
In the articles of "Useful Reading" we analyze a lot about what qualities define a good manager and entrepreneur. We decided to collect the main tips in one material if you want to become a manager or have just recently become one.
Before we forget, if you haven't tried Megaplan's new teamwork features, be sure to do so. Using Workspaces , you can be sure that your business will grow and achieve its goals. Monitor key performance indicators of different departments on one screen. No more wasting time compiling reports manually. But let's get back to our topic.
In general, the skills of specialists in different fields are usually divided into two large blocks - soft, or flexible skills, and hard, or hard skills. We acquire hard skills at school and university, and we develop soft skills throughout our lives, for example, when we learn to communicate and cultivate leadership qualities or empathy.
For a line specialist, hardware is more important: if you are an turkey whatsapp list engineer, then the ability to design and understand equipment is paramount, just as the ability to write code is critical for a programmer.
It's different with managers. Remember the meme where managers show their work schedule, where calls or meetings follow one after another. And this is really true: if a line specialist spends most of the working day performing assignments or tasks, then the manager monitors this, directs the team and supervises processes. This is why soft skills are much more important for a manager.
By the way, you can not only read this article, but also listen to it on the Megaplan podcast. We launched the podcast “Sounds Like a Plan” to talk about how entrepreneurs and managers can be more efficient, manage a team and business, and grow revenue and metrics. Listen to this podcast episode on Yandex Music and Apple Podcasts . Don’t forget to like and subscribe!
Let's say more. Your ability to be an effective manager depends on how well your soft skills are developed. But the problem is that soft skills are harder to acquire than hard skills. For example, you can learn a new programming language in six months to a year, but many people never manage to learn how to approach different people or loosen control. If you find it difficult to communicate with a team and build relationships with clients and partners, prioritize tasks and projects, and solve business problems, but you want to become a manager or are already in this position, then it is important to focus on developing soft skills, otherwise it will be very difficult to manage.
Consider this episode a guide to improving soft skills for anyone who wants to lead people.
Don't try to control everything, learn to delegate instead.
When they get into a leadership position, many continue to do tasks themselves out of habit, instead of delegating them to subordinates, or they delegate but continue to control everything. As a result, everyone is in trouble: employees constantly feel under surveillance, and the newly appointed leader cannot relax and concentrate on strategic tasks. This situation has two negative consequences:
Employees do not develop because they become simply the manager's hands. They lose initiative, which means the manager begins to drag everything on himself.
The manager himself does not grow, because he gets stuck at the level of operational tasks.
The manager is afraid that the employees will not cope with the tasks and is afraid to do something new. However, the main difference in his work is that the employees have a lot of operational and small tasks - draw a banner, agree on publication, send a contract. And the manager's tasks are a kind of challenges, where you need to constantly think, coming up with ways to solve problems. A new manager, due to lack of experience, may not be psychologically ready for this - not because he does not know how, but because he is afraid of not coping.
Before we forget, if you haven't tried Megaplan's new teamwork features, be sure to do so. Using Workspaces , you can be sure that your business will grow and achieve its goals. Monitor key performance indicators of different departments on one screen. No more wasting time compiling reports manually. But let's get back to our topic.
In general, the skills of specialists in different fields are usually divided into two large blocks - soft, or flexible skills, and hard, or hard skills. We acquire hard skills at school and university, and we develop soft skills throughout our lives, for example, when we learn to communicate and cultivate leadership qualities or empathy.
For a line specialist, hardware is more important: if you are an turkey whatsapp list engineer, then the ability to design and understand equipment is paramount, just as the ability to write code is critical for a programmer.
It's different with managers. Remember the meme where managers show their work schedule, where calls or meetings follow one after another. And this is really true: if a line specialist spends most of the working day performing assignments or tasks, then the manager monitors this, directs the team and supervises processes. This is why soft skills are much more important for a manager.
By the way, you can not only read this article, but also listen to it on the Megaplan podcast. We launched the podcast “Sounds Like a Plan” to talk about how entrepreneurs and managers can be more efficient, manage a team and business, and grow revenue and metrics. Listen to this podcast episode on Yandex Music and Apple Podcasts . Don’t forget to like and subscribe!
Let's say more. Your ability to be an effective manager depends on how well your soft skills are developed. But the problem is that soft skills are harder to acquire than hard skills. For example, you can learn a new programming language in six months to a year, but many people never manage to learn how to approach different people or loosen control. If you find it difficult to communicate with a team and build relationships with clients and partners, prioritize tasks and projects, and solve business problems, but you want to become a manager or are already in this position, then it is important to focus on developing soft skills, otherwise it will be very difficult to manage.
Consider this episode a guide to improving soft skills for anyone who wants to lead people.
Don't try to control everything, learn to delegate instead.
When they get into a leadership position, many continue to do tasks themselves out of habit, instead of delegating them to subordinates, or they delegate but continue to control everything. As a result, everyone is in trouble: employees constantly feel under surveillance, and the newly appointed leader cannot relax and concentrate on strategic tasks. This situation has two negative consequences:
Employees do not develop because they become simply the manager's hands. They lose initiative, which means the manager begins to drag everything on himself.
The manager himself does not grow, because he gets stuck at the level of operational tasks.
The manager is afraid that the employees will not cope with the tasks and is afraid to do something new. However, the main difference in his work is that the employees have a lot of operational and small tasks - draw a banner, agree on publication, send a contract. And the manager's tasks are a kind of challenges, where you need to constantly think, coming up with ways to solve problems. A new manager, due to lack of experience, may not be psychologically ready for this - not because he does not know how, but because he is afraid of not coping.