Create Your Style of Management
Managing a group of people is a complex undertaking that involves a variety of considerations, specific to individual circumstances. What works for 1 manager (or team of employees) may not work for another. To be a successful manager, you must develop a management style that works for you. In order to do that, you must take inventory of your current situation and identify management traits that will most likely optimize functionality and productivity in your workplace. Here are steps for how to create your style of management.
Steps
- Familiarize yourself with different management styles.
- Authoritarian managers assume a dictator-type role in the workplace. In this leadership style, you make all of the decisions and treat your employees as subordinates.
- A democratic management style is based on a balance of power; as the manager, you have the most power, but your employees may affect the decision-making process and are generally entrusted with the freedom to work autonomously.
- Laissez Faire, or hands-off, management places the majority of project completion responsibilities and control in the hands of the employees.
- A coach is a manager whose primary focus is on the development of employee strengths. In this regard, this type of management style is about guiding employees through personal development and inspiring them to do their best.
- Empathetic management is a style that centers on the feelings and needs of the employees; employees come first and business operations stem from there.
- Assess your personality.
- From what you learn about your management style choices, you will be able to decide what you are most comfortable with implementing. For example, your comfort level will dictate the amount of authority you feel is appropriate for you to hold over your employees, the methods you deem appropriate for task delegation and the level of control you feel you should entrust your employees with.
- Your assessment should also include an inventory of your strengths and weaknesses, as well as ways you can improve yourself in order to become a better match for the style of management you think is most appropriate for your situation.
- Consider your team of employees. Each employee on your team is unique and should be treated as an individual. Therefore, your personal management style will have to compensate for individual differences. Your approach should be based on team members' motivation and skill.
- If you have low motivation/high skill employees, you will need to find out what motivates them if your team is to benefit from their skill level. This will require that your management style is more democratic than authoritarian.
- High motivation/low skill employees can be very valuable assets if you can provide for them the information and support they need to grow. This employee set may require that you assume the role of mentor and coach.
- High motivation/high skill employees need to be challenged, but also respected in their autonomy. As a manager, you can delegate more responsibilities to employees in this group.
- In the situation of low motivation/low skill employees, your style of management should incorporate strong direction and leadership traits, as well as a willingness to enforce consequences for subpar performance.
- Develop a management style based on your individual circumstances.
- While it is helpful to understand the different management styles previously mentioned, it is unlikely that you will be able to manage effectively while adhering to one style alone. It is a good idea to draw concepts from each style that you feel will be useful to your situation.
- Each style of management can work well in certain situations but lead to disorganization and/or loss of productivity in other situations. For example, the authoritarian style may sound like an ineffective way to manage people but it is sometimes necessary (in high-pressure, time-sensitive environments like the military, for example); the laissez-faire—“hands off”— style may be great for small, tightly-knit work teams but run amok when implemented across large corporations.
- Be sure that the management style you create embodies all of the elements of successful management: assertiveness, direction, positivity, clearly defined policies and procedures, accountability, the implementation of modern tools and technology, communication, accessibility, strong ethical standards, suitable compensation and acceptance of employee differences.
Tips
- Your employees may be a good source of inspiration when it comes to choosing a management style. Try asking for input at company meetings, or putting a suggestion box in the office so that employees can submit their ideas anonymously.
- In order to develop a solid management style, implement changes according to your initial assessment (as per the directives above) and then make adjustments as you see what works and what doesn't. Think of it as a process, and be open to change.
Warnings
- Regardless of the style of management you choose, you should never resort to disrespecting your employees in any way. In addition to being unethical, studies show that employees are least productive in environments where they feel harassed, bullied or bossed around.
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