Five telltale signs of good managers

1. Good managers dig deep

They know metrics are crucial but incomplete without first-hand observations. Hence, they regularly visit operations, observe customers, and engage with workers at their workplaces.

This is not just because learning about the details of the business uncovers problems and opportunities (and might reveal that some metrics are collected in a way that misrepresents reality), but also because employees do not take seriously leaders who do not dig deep (“How can he know about my job if he spends all his time in meeting rooms?”).

2. Good managers front-load clarity

They do not wait for misunderstandings to happen to clarify what they mean. They are proactively clear.

They do this not only because misunderstandings are a waste of time, energy, and often money, but also because misunderstandings, even when resolved, become precedents that lower the team’s trust in their manager.

3. Good managers explain all decisions

One reason is to build skills. It is one of the most effective and time-efficient ways to increase your team's understanding of the business.

However, a more important reason is that managers who do not explain their decisions might appear irrational to their team. This destroys trust that their manager is a leader worth following.

Similarly, businesses whose managers do not explain business decisions to their team might appear irrational or incompetent, which also destroys trust that they are worth working for.

4. Good managers play iterated games with their team

They do not delegate merely to get tasks done, but also to develop their team members' skills.

They do not give feedback solely to correct mistakes, but also to foster trust and engagement.

They do not view interactions with their team as isolated events, but as a series of interactions, where each is played not to maximize immediate outcomes, but to improve subsequent interactions.

Good managers recognize trust and skills as compounding assets and continually use every opportunity to build them within their team.

5. Good managers treat good performance with negative externalities as bad performance

Do employees take shortcuts, game metrics, violate core values, or destroy trust rather than build it?

Good managers dig deep (point #1) into how people achieve objectives, and do not consider an objective achieved unless it is achieved in a way that strengthens the company.

Moreover, hearing that you won’t get a bonus despite achieving your objective is frustrating. Hence, good managers are superclear since the beginning that only objectives achieved without negative externalities count (they front-load clarity, point #2).

Further reading

My two books, Best Practices for Operational Excellence and Managing Hybrid and Remote Teams, dig deeper into the concrete details and best practices business leaders can use to raise their team’s efficacy.