Management Characteristics needed for Excelling as a Great Manager

To excel as a manager requires a number of characteristics that are applied in the workplace to distinguish what Google calls a ‘Great Manager' from that of a ‘normal' manager. Research has identified a number of core characteristics that make the most significant contribution towards this outcome and they are what most people would probably consider are an important requirement, but maybe they would not have included them all within the top 10 as identified by the research. The top 10 characteristics of a ‘Great Manager' are:
1. Being a good coach, emphasizing constructive feedback.
2. Empowering their team and does not attempt to micro-manage yet encouraging them to push their boundaries and comfort zone.
3. Creating an inclusive team environment, which includes showing concern for their success and well-being, and being open and approachable to all.
4. Focusing on being productive and results driven, actively helping teams to achieve by ensuring availability of adequate resources and removal of barriers.
5. Having the ability to communicate effectively, including being a good listener and sharer of information.
6. Actively support the development of careers of others, encouraging continued performance achievements.
7. Involving the team to provide a clear vision and supporting strategy for how this might be achieved.
8. Possessing key technical skills and knowledge to enable them to advise the team in an informed way, where required, including getting involved with actually doing some of the work requirements.
9. Taking a collaborative approach across the organisation, sharing information and ideas (see characteristic 5), as well as helping out as part of the entire organisational team, in contrast to maybe a departmental team.
10. Possessing objective and decisive, and often prompt, decision-making skills.

However, what is arguably of more interest from a ground's managers perspective are the three pitfalls that were identified in the same research which can significantly impact on a manager's effectiveness. These are:
1. Being promoted or placed in a role without adequate training, especially concerning ‘people and leadership' skills.
2. Having an inconsistent, often reactive, approach to developing and encouraging staff. This can link to inadequate training as well as a lack of understanding of the importance career development, coaching and motivation plays in creating a great team.
3. Spending little time on what are often considered the ‘soft' but key activities of managing and communicating. Getting the most from individuals and a team typically requires a heavy investment in these activities, yet they are the behaviours which often become neglected to the detriment of team performance.

These three pitfalls could be very strongly related to by many grounds' managers (as well as ground operatives) and reinforce the importance of having a proper induction and training requirement for new roles and promotions, engaging with continuing professional development and an understanding of how best to motivate staff, and ensuring time management allows for being able to discharge the role of a manager in an appropriate and effective way.

(Source: 1. Bryant, A, ‘Google's Quest to Build a Better Boss', New York Times, March 13, 2011, http://ocw.smithw.org/mgt360/nytimes-google-management.pdf
2. Google Manager Behaviors, re:Work (Google) https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/managers-identify-what-makes-a-great-manager/steps/learn-about-googles-manager-research/,
3. Google Research Unveils the Top 10 Traits of Managers, (Jan 13, 2020), Thrive Marketing, https://medium.com/thrive-marketing/google-research-unveils-the-top-10-traits-of-managers-79ffec1504e0, accessed 28th January 2022)