Learn about your people to become a great manager

As I was working away the other day someone asked me, "how many hours a week do you work"? I responded with, gee I don't have a clue. They asked again incredulous, "you don't even know?" I replied, what difference does it make? And they said, "well, I work forty hours a week and that's all this company is getting out of me."
And I suddenly remembered something I had read. If you are working your passion then it's not a job. Some say I work tirelessly. Other say, maniacally. I say, I work.
But I enjoy what I do and I enjoy doing it. For me to work 50 or 60 hours a week is no big deal. But as a great manager I understand that most of my people never want to work over 40. The difference is,

I work my passion while they work their job.

Should I be upset with them? Of course not. As a great manager part of my job is to know my people. Understand what motivates them. Understand their modus operandi and how they work, play and succeed. Know their strengths AND their weaknesses. Be able to utilize their strengths and reduce the effects their weaknesses have upon how they do their job, their coworkers and the company.

If I know what rewards them, a personal compliment? A mention in front of a meeting? A handwritten note? A plaque? Monetary? Non-monetary? then I understand my people and how I can help them achieve superior results.
Because some work their job and some work their passion. Some live for what their job brings to their lives and some work for what the financial reward from their job brings to their lives.

How are you learning about your people? What are you doing to understand them in order for you to achieve great results in your job and for your organization?

I am www.stevesapato.com and I live to help you become a better manager because GREAT MANAGERS ARE MADE NOT BORN.

Great Managers Know their people

Pay it Forward

I m watching a move called Pay It Forward and I remember having seen it and that it impacted me but don’t remember much about the specifics of the movie.


I do know this though, and that the concept is what indeed we should all live by.

And then I received a friend request on LinkedIn and I remembered why I Blog. I am paying it forward. I remember why I am working on Sunday to design lesson plans so I will be the best trainer tomorrow and that all of my students will walk away with at least the opportunity to be better at their jobs.

And I remembered that I Blog about managers, management, and what it takes to be a better manager is because I am paying it forward. If I make someone, just one someone, a better manager, then I have changed the loves of so many others! How many people does that manager touch? Control? Supervise? How many other supervisors will learn from the Manager. How much of a difference am I making?

I don’t know. And that isn’t even important. What is important is that one manager, one person wrote to me and said they were looking forward to learning from my Blog. That means I can reach ONE person no matter who subscribes to my Blog! ONE PERSON who wants to get better. One person who wants to learn. I can make a difference to ONE PERSON!

And after all, isn’t that what YOUR job is all about? Being such a great manager that you make everyone’s job just a little easier? I little less stressful? I little more successful? Isn’t it your job to pass on many of your abilities so that others can learn from you? So they can help the company and other people that they touch become better?

If I have reached one person who makes a difference to one other person. I am paying it forward. And that, my friends, is what life is all about.

Steve Sapato www.stevesapato.com

What makes great managers? INVOLVEMENT!

Having been involved in dozens of projects, some were successful and others were not. But somewhere in that scenario was the involvement of great teams of people, the result of great management. It takes a great manager to put together a great team. Sometimes it happens by accident but most times it is out of the knowledge a great manager brings to the department. If a manager is allowed to hire or bring together their own team that will be the true test of a great manager.

Want to bring a new person into your management team? Watch how they perform the small jobs. Watch how they react to intent and see how they react under pressure. Do they show their temper when upset? Do they question the intent of a project that is not going in the right direction? Do they stand and ask questions or do they simply acknowledge and allow?
What makes a great manager is how they perfrom and then the type of people they perfomr with? When they form small teams before they become managers who do they select? How do they select? Ask them. Ask and ask again?
A great manager will put together a great team because they know and understand what it takes to get a great job done in a great way.
Now that you know what makes a great manager... are you a great manager? Look at your team and let me know. I would be very curious as to your selections, your reasons and possibly your excuses.
-Steve Sapato  training management specialist