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What makes a manager great? In this guide, Scott Miller, together with his co-authors, Todd David and Victoria Roos Olsson – who are all executives at FranklinCovey – educates and enlightens new managers on the best leadership practices. Miller reveals the mistakes he made on his way to becoming a good manager and teaches them as lessons.

New managers should learn the essential management practices, and experienced managers should review them. Scott Miller admits his management style was completely wrong three months after starting his new job at the Covey Leadership Center. When he started, he was only 27. He monitored when the members of his team arrived at work and also when they left. He wouldn’t let them waste even a minute of their work day on personal matters.

During this period, he says he was being a nightmare and tyrannical. He eventually outgrew his controlling behavior and became an effective, admirable, and accomplished manager. On his way, he learned important lessons about leadership, including the critical management strategies.

In the old days, first-level leaders had more than one manager above them who had steadily climbed the corporate ladder, gathering experience along the way. Since they reduced the number of management ranks, organizations now have fewer seasoned managers to teach new ones how to do their jobs. However, you can also become a great manager by developing a leader’s mentality.

Develop a Leader’s Mentality

Do you understand how your thinking processes work? What is your mindset like? Leaders have to be aware of what and how they think. Make sure your suppositions are realistic and correct. If you find out you’re wrong, you need to change your mind quickly. Changing your beliefs isn’t easy, but you can’t become an excellent manager by clinging to biased thinking or incorrect information. “See-Do-Get Cycle” created by FranklinCovey’s provides a mental framework for navigating change and developing the necessary behaviors for the transition to becoming a better leader:

  1. See – The way you see things controls your behavior, and your results depend on what you do in response to your perceptions.
  2. Do – Pay close attention to how you behave and act with caution.
  3. Get – Find the important goals you would like to reach.

In this mental framework, the “see” component is the most important. To achieve real, long-lasting results, you have to adapt your mindset to your reality. You must see situations clearly and act accordingly.

Basically, becoming a leader includes that you let go of some of the mind-sets and skills that brought you success as an individual producer. Most people get promoted to managers because they are successful individual contributors. This is especially true for former sales superstars who become managers. However, these competitive performers usually have a “‘zero-sum’ mentality – if I win, they lose. This mindset won’t work for managers. When you become a manager, you must put your team’s success first.

Discover the best way to develop a leader’s mentality, consistently connect with your leadership team, and predictably turn them into highly engaged employees. Book a complimentary appointment for us to discuss at https://go.oncehub.com/GregNichvalodoff or call me at +1 (604) 943-0800.

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CONTACT ME

Inscape Consulting Group
Greg Nichvalodoff, BSc. BM (Honors), MBA, PCC, CMC
Office: 604.943.0800
Mobile: 604.831.4734
greg@inscapeconsulting.com