Episode 191 | How To Be A Better Manager | Dominic McLoughlin
Stepping up as a manager or leader is a significant milestone in your career. Dominic McLoughlin is here to help with some practical advice.
This episode with Dominic McLoughlin is right in the sweet spot for the Team Guru Podcast.
It’s all about stepping up as a leader and manager.
Taking the step into a management – or leadership role – is a significant step in your career. It requires a whole bunch of brand new skills, new things to focus on, relationships to be formed.
Managing someone is a big deal – if affects their life, their happiness, their general well-being – you want to do it well.
So you’ll love my guest in this episode.
Dominic McLoughlin has just written a book called, Be a Better Manager in 5 Minutes a Day.
He is full of wonderful, clear, practical advice for those of us who are stepping up into a management role – and for experienced managers who just want to be better at.
Dominic is a serious guy – he has a PHD on building trust within organisations, he’s a lecturer at UNSW and has done a bunch of research into what really makes an effective manager.
Lessons Learned
Dominic has done extensive research in which he asked people about their experience with their best manager and worst manager through their career.
The top few qualities people described in their ‘best manager’ experiences were:
- They honoured their commitments (honesty)
- Followed their words with actions (action)
- Were able to overcome difficulties (perseverance)
- Basing decisions on the right thing to do rather than making money (integrity)
- Putting the needs of their team above their own needs (team mentality)
Top 5 tips for developing as a manger:
- Mindset – new managers think they have to be perfect. Can’t make mistakes. In reality it’s healthier to make mistakes and admit them. Down to earth, humble etc. This relates to trust – the most important ingredient in the relationship between a manger, their team and the individuals within that team
- Motivation – balance between needs of team, individuals and organisations. Good managers dive in and help when the team needs assistance. They also have a genuine interest in the growth of team members
- Behaviour – understand the team makes assessments about you from behaviours they observe – doing the right thing (not the thing that’s the easiest, the quickest or the one that makes the most profit). Integrity, sincerity = trust
- The way in which things are applied:communication, decision-making and delegation. Provide as much info as possible to your team. Be approachable. Involve people in decision making. Be clear about exceptions. Allow team members to decide how they do work
- Keep trust in view – be transparent. Repay trust – trust them back. Give strong consideration to career progression and credit for work that is done
The Future of Leadership
Dominic thinks the concept of leadership is being challenged by our busyness. There are so many more demands being added to the responsibilities of managers – compliance, regulatory and risk tasks, people management, industry knowledge etc. The challenge of leadership into the future is how we can cut through all of those additional responsibilities and do the role of a leader that is more important – ensure that our team (and the individuals within it) are in a good place and doing well.
Managing team remotely is an obvious yet powerful challenge for leaders now and into the future. The principles of leading are the same for a remote or distributed team, but some things are more challenging – developing and maintaining trust when I’m not seeing the work that’s being done directly, to have incidental conversations that used to be so easy. Those features of the modern work dynamic are a challenge to the way people within organisations interact, share knowledge and build relationships.
Connect with Dominic:
Dr Dominic McLoughlin is a highly qualified People Management Specialist as both as an educator and a consultant. Dominic has 20 years’ experience in Leadership and People Management helping thousands of managers to be better at managing their people. He has also taught hundreds of university courses on people management and undertook his PhD at UNSW focussing on building trust within organisations. Dominic is a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders, the Australian Human Resources Institute and the Higher Education Academy.
Connect with David:
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