A good manager must be organized. This is often the case. It is the definition of the organization which can vary, answer those who confuse the people of the team in mode “I do not have the memory of the first names” after having given a soap to one of them for the restitution of a work of which she had no idea. Sorry seems to be the hardest word. A good manager must know how to hold his meetings. Difficult to achieve this when half of the employees are teleworking and it has been more than two months since the entire team has been in the office. Every manager has weaknesses that prevent them from achieving their goals. Shortcomings sometimes so flagrant that they torpedo the team. At the beginning of January, it’s time to note, without lying to yourself, your strengths and the disadvantages inherent in your function or your personality, in order to draw up your secret roadmap for a good year 2023.
with his troops
First commandment: organization. This is one of the most formidable difficulties of the managerial function. Those who claim to have the key must, however, keep on their spreadsheet two daily moments without any appointment, so that anything that happens unexpectedly can be absorbed by his agenda without automatically trickling down to his deputy. Those who have weaknesses such as ignoring the correct spelling of surnames, or confusing the dates of leave go further: you have to note everything in the diary, from the employee’s medical appointment during his working hours, to by the RTT, without forgetting overtime in the event of a rush. Managing is knowing, at the end of each month, if the person is in “debit or credit” hours. In addition, this personalization indicates whether the work is fairly distributed and whether the slowness is not due to an overload of work or a lack of technique that training would fix, rather than an alleged desire to “do it”. the least possible”.
Second point: integrate meetings one-on-one and in groups in the shared calendar. Do not sink into reunion but create a ritual with an agenda, discussion on both sides and objective formalized in writing. These micro meetings can take five minutes, but if each party has prepared them properly, the time saved will be exponential. Those who are proficient in meeting should also be able to schedule an impromptu meeting with their N++.
With his hierarchy… and with himself
To give back to his hierarchy what he asks for, it is therefore essential to follow in real time the progress of the work of the troops, even if they are scattered between the office and their home. Follow-up is therefore the third obligation of the manager who, like a chef in the kitchen, has his various pots on the fire. Reporting is a solution: it still has to be not too time-consuming for those who have to do it during their working hours and those who read it within the same time frame. Better is regular emails with the progress of the project and imagine a retroplanning, with a color code and an alert in case of questions or problems. One of the main qualities of a manager is to respond to them, without sharing his stress, by analyzing all possible solutions. The famous free time slots of the daily agenda allow you to find a moment to concentrate on what is handicapping without having to postpone a very important appointment which arrives at the same time.
The fourth point to work on is decision making which translates into the speaking and the written report, in front of his troops or in front of his hierarchy. Communication and dialogue are essential elements, but they are not enough. You have to be able to say things by prioritizing them, by deciphering them for the public you have in front of you. To manage is to defend a position by showing the strengths and weaknesses of the problem, after having heard the arguments of his team or the injunctions of his hierarchy.
Last or first act: thinking about yourself, to his personal progress, to the place of this work in his life, to what he brings and what he takes away. Note the pluses and minuses and compare if this exercise has been done previously. Positioning oneself on one’s present and one’s future, with one’s own objectives, makes it possible to find meaning in one’s professional life and in one’s life in general, with a view to shaping 2023 with optimism.