So you want to be an excellent manager?

Are the usual things holding you back?

What are the usual things? They relate to these personal questions: do I have what it takes? Can I lead? Is my strongest suit strong enough?

The answer to all three is yes, but we often stumble over these questions. That’s ok. It means you are self-aware. If you don’t stumble over them, you may not have the humility to survive as a manager, let alone take the steps to make you one in the first place. Here’s five simple things you should do if you want to be a great manager.

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Working with others

Appraise what’s going right, not wrong

Performance appraisal does not have a great record. Studies show it can curb performance rather than enhance it. Control groups free of such practices regularly outperform those subjected to it. There can be fear around it for the employee. The person charged with carrying it out is often untrained and finds it little more than a time-consuming irritation.

So, should you do it? 

If you feel any of the above, and have no training it, the answer is probably no. Handled badly, it can work against relationships rather than enhance them. There is an unfortunate tendency to focus only on history and what is going wrong.

The opposite view is this

Take a positive approach to the issue. Drop the word appraisal and take a mirror image of classic techniques. Reverse the ingrained emotions you have around the process and focus on personal development rather than performance appraisal. Look at how to go forward.

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Treat colleagues like customers

Try this just for today

I once worked in a restaurant where the owner was totally focussed on customer service. The diner’s experience had to be perfect.

Unfortunately, he was obsessive. If a waitress returned to the kitchen to refill a salt shaker, she would not be acknowledged for being on the case. Instead, she would be castigated for not having sorted it out before the diner arrived.

People hated working there. No one felt they were on the same team. Staff turnover was massive. The food was good but the business was a disaster.

Customer service has become a mantra, but if you want a balanced and successful business, extend the idea of service beyond your customers.

What about colleague service?

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Start your own think tank

Working with others

Once a month I have dinner with four friends. We are an odd mix, and there is a 20-year span between the oldest and the youngest in the group. We have one thing in common: we are all interested in business and ideas.

Mostly we just shoot the breeze. But we always finish with one simple process. It has four steps and it doesn’t take long:

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Buying a franchise? Ask the real questions

The real questions revolve around one issue: how much money can you make?

Yes, it is nice to be your own boss; and yes, it is good to work with an established brand; and yes, there are a bunch of other things that are good about franchising.

What is not good about franchises is when they don’t make any money. Or not enough.

So, when you’ve made the decision that you really want to do this, start drilling down on the serious matter of generating profits.

Creating value is a simple function of profit margin X volume. Look at each individually.

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