Most people start their careers, and after a year or two, they dream of being a boss. They want to be a Manager. They want to lead and mentor a team. And everyone believes they will be good at managing a team. And at the beginning of your career, you may even think it looks easy. After all, you communicate great with your friends and colleagues, how hard can leading people be?
This blog post won’t cover all the aspects that make a great (or bad) Manager, but it will cover one very important one. Be responsive.
Time Management Can Be a Key Driver in Being Responsive
See, here’s the thing. Usually, when you become a Manager, you have more responsibilities which means you have to manage your time better. If you don’t do a good job of managing your time, you will either: A. Always have to play catch up at night or on the weekends or B. Always leave your team looking for answers because you’re not being responsive to their questions and/or needs.
If you take on the responsibility of being a Manager – remember, this is a big step in your career – you’re being given employees whom leadership expects you to mentor, coach, mold, help, and maybe most importantly, they expect you to get them to get shit done. Meaning if you are a Manager, you cannot be a bottleneck. You cannot keep your team waiting for answers – unanswered emails, texts, or calls, and a lack of timely decision-making will surely not move the needle, and then you may lose respect amongst your team. You also need to make time for them. Even if you’re wrapped up in meetings all day, that’s no excuse. Take them for a coffee. Have breakfast with them. Stay late to talk with them. Make time for them.
And this does not go only for new Managers. This is even more crucial for senior Managers and senior leaders, as you have even more responsibility, pressure, and probably more issues to tackle.
