With the arrival of many multinational companies and the opening up of international business in the country, new styles of managing businesses are being introduced, at a rapid pace. One of the greatest areas of change to the traditional styles of business in Myanmar and Cambodia, affects the multiple levels of management required to compete in a global market. The shortage of management level candidates and especially good leaders has been identified as a major issue for companies in the region. But what makes a good manager and how can you improve your leadership skills to develop your career further?
It has been proven that the following topics are important when assessing a person’s capability as a strong manager. Why don’t you rate yourself out of 10, to see in which areas you need to improve? Leading by example doesn’t mean you are doing everything that your staff are doing, just more of it. Leading by example is about strictly following the principles and rules you set in place. Don’t insist that your staff arrive to work early, if you never do.
Honesty and Self-Awareness
Being conscious of your own faults and not wanting to portray an image of being perfect is a great way to get staff to accept you. No one likes someone who thinks they are perfect. Do you admit your mistakes to your staff and tell them the elements you know that you need to improve?
Communication
The biggest complaint about management from staff is how they communicate or don’t communicate with staff. It is very hard to please everyone but staff, who are made aware of what is going on in the company or in the team, will generally be happier. Things to remember when communicating with your team are transparency, focus, fairness, motivation, clarity and accessibility.
Ability to delegate
Delegation of responsibilities is a key part of any manager’s role. However, many misunderstand what delegation really is. The commanding of someone to do a task is not delegation. Delegation is the assigning of a key task to someone else. This will be a task you as a manager are fully capable of doing. However, having faith in your team, you ask them to take the responsibility associated with the completion of the task while holding them accountable. Do you struggle to let go of responsibilities?
Promoter of teamwork
No matter your position in the organisation, if you are managing people, you are part of the team. You are not above the team, you are one of the links in the team. Stand with your team and drive them to achieve goals as a group. No one wins by themselves. Acknowledge the members of the team for their individual contributions and how they helped the team achieve the goals, set by you or the business.
Motivation
Being a motivator is very important when managing a team. However, being a motivation is also key. People, who respect you, will want to be like you. They will see you as their motivator, so while the encouragement of staff is extremely important, being someone to whom your staff aspire to be like means half the battle is won.