A Successful Manager Should Possess these Eight Important Things.

Let’s get straight to the point. We can have a Matcha Latte, later.

 

Here’s our advice on how to be a successful manager within a toxic workplace culture.

 

The Advocator

Be a true advocator for your team. You hired them, believe in them when you interviewed them, and you should carry that after you hire them. Toxicity from others can taint or persuade you to do things against your values and ethical position as a manager towards your team. 

Your team counts on you. Support them if they are fantastic employees. 

 

The Listener

It would behoove you to be a great listener as a manager without being overdramatic or sensitive. Try to read the underlying feelings your employee or team has when dealing with struggles, conflict, or issues they may encounter with other team members or cross-functional teams. 

Listening can afford you far strides that can help you shape your team’s needs and concerns when dealing with the larger functional groups. Because conflict can arise amongst team members on the same team, listening is imperative without forming constructive opinions too prematurely.

 

The Impartial Partner

Ok, this is a leverage opportunity taken from The listener when dealing with conflict, be it with race, cultural misunderstandings, politics, or formed biases. Seek to stay neutral and clean. What I mean by clean is to avoid outside influences who do not seek to put aside their implicit biases or racism.

 In dealing with conflict, you must remain impartial to both parties to gain rapport and respect. Once they understand you are hearing them and are here for both of them equally, that can open up the door of reconciliation and resolution amongst the team. 

 

The Boundary Setter

Love them or not, they are honest and should be set within the workplace to ensure no one or any other team steps over their duties. Don’t let another manager or senior manager overstep their role; try to play yours. This can cause division between you and your team and ultimately cause the demise of destruction when such other manager does not act, think or share the same perspective as you. 

People in positions frequently believe they are acting in a corrective manner but can’t control their biases and political immatureness. They seek to cause destruction or create a forum of toxicity and possibly cultural conflict. 

Let me clarify; culture does not always have something to do with ethnicity. Culture is a way of doing things, the values and competence that a company is funneling down to a team’s personal bottom line and competencies. 

 

The Example Setter

Example setting should be a goal in your own 360 reviews. Your team looks to you to direct and delegate correctly. Outside of performance, your team should know that my manager is a person of quality, integrity, and preciseness. You are being watched just as much as you are watching.

We can think of this as a child watching their parents and ultimately taking on the same manners or immolating their perspectives. 

You need to show and be that example that you make mistakes just like them, and if they make a mistake, they won’t be punished for it. Often times, managers and senior leadership carry egos that project out as an aggressive and demeaning approach. They may feel that being constructive can quickly be interrupted as a sign of unfair treatment, mental abuse, or intimidation.

 Be careful if you recognize this behavior within your leadership and want to protect your team. Show up differently and handle situations with the utmost professionalism possible. 

 

The Transparency Leader

Ok, fashion and interior lovers, yes, people in the workplace also love the style, but you will understand this trend. We have seen the world be taken by storm with everything lucid or acrylic.

Why was this trend so popular and still something we see in stores today? It’s because, more than none, people love the idea of transparency. To be able to see through something without surprises about what’s behind it. What we see is what we get. 

This example may be far-fetched, but use this idea of transparency as a leader within the workplace. Your team should not feel alienated from essential issues or things transpiring within the workplace. Your team is as important of an valuable entity within the workplace as you are. They should clearly understand your expectations and your perspective when providing constructive criticism so they won’t mistake it as harassment or workplace abuse.

Moreover, do not gather meetings and drop hints regarding something BIG happening and support that breadcrumb by stating you can’t share with them — Alluding to significant issues that may affect them and their abilities to remain high-performing employees. That’s just rude and tasteless.

So be clear, be honest, and remain neutrally transparent. 

 

The Innovator

This is a fun one, Innovation is something all of us talk about, but only a few of us implement or even know how to implement. Innovation is a powerful and attractive word. Learn to be an innovator by setting pre-conditional expectations of how your team will move. 

Team building is a tool that can complement Innovation because you are proactively breaking down any hindrances that can come up in the future, dealing with issues that cause great strife and problems that should not be there in the first place.

Your team should understand respect, camaraderie, and support amongst each other. 

Doing this will undoubtedly present a high-performing team with the same goals in nurturing and painting the organization’s bottom line. 

 

The Comprehender

This is going to be a short one. Are you ready for it?

Understand and comprehend the repercussions of discriminating and inflicting any biases, prejudices, and threatening insecurities on your employees. EEOC is accurate, and once they are involved, you and the organization will see the raft of any employee’s fight against your unfair treatment.

Seek to understand these laws and regulations and understand that playing unfair in an unethical or any manner is a dangerous territory to play in.

 

(Maybe that was such a short statement) 

 

-The Impartial Lab (Author: M.TIL)