After the previous posts on male v female managers etc and with me getting back to work today to a load of emails from the boss (he's known as Mr CF – control freak) it has got me thinking as to what makes a good manager?

I am a manager but not a comfortable one – no matter what I do it doesn't keep people happy.

What is your definition?

Getting the job done, whist keeping most people happy most of the time.

If your monkeys see you doing things to make their life easier they will in turn make your life easier. It's as simple as that.

Keep all the politics off my back.
Let me get on with my job.
Provide high level leadership and direction but keep out of the nitty gritty.
Listen to me (and do something about it) when I say I'm overloaded.
Keep personal feelings out of reviews/assessments (I had one boss who didn't like me but was always very fair when it came to reviews – credit to him)

I'll repay any boss who does this for me by always working above and beyond what is necessary, I'll never bother them with fine detail, I'll deal with what they tell me are my priorities in the appropriate order and I'll be loyal to that individual rather than what other people in the company might be telling me.

Would say samuri's about got it but would add they also have to make sure you have the tools to do the job, whether that's money, people, expertise etc etc.

Being adaptive to a variety of peoples needs and making sure that they do what you want in the way that best suits them.

Job done.

i think i am a good manager………
we have to man the branch every saturday for 3 hours, which we do not get any extra for, they say it is in our salary.
so i let the blokes take 3 hours off in the week to make up for it.
it seems to bode weel with them.
we also take it in turn at finishing early as most of our work is done in the mornings, so one week we finish 2 days early and the other week we finish 3 days early.
i never get any problems with the lad's.

Treat people like grown ups but hold them to their word.

That's how I do it and it works fine.

I had one manager who constantly exploited the skills of one particularly bright member of the team and ignored the rest of the team. Then complained because we weren't as good as this one member of the team, even though we were carrying a significant portion of the workload. Said manager also took a lot of time off work/worked from home without apparent need to, but would hound members of the team to work later in the office to finish things off.

Whilst its good to have smart people pushing the quality forward all the time, I believe part of the remit of a good manager is to value the work effort that each member of his/her team contributes, encourage progress individually for the greater good of the team, identify where effort is falling short through appropriate appraisal and above all, lead by example.

When asked "what makes a good manager" , a cantidate my girlfriend was interviewing replied "Punishment"! He didn't get the job. 😆

One you can fit the baby Jesus in