how to be a happy manager

Performance Management Skills

How to Be a Happy Manager

How to be a Happy Manager:

15 Essential Tips

What’s in this guide:

Page

3 About the “How to be Better Manager…” series

3 Using the guides

4 Tip 1: You weren’t hired to be happy…or were you?

5 Tip 2: The Making of a happy manager

6 Tip 3: Happiness – good for you and good for business

7 Tip 4: The paradox of happiness

8 Tip 5: Don’t let work define who you are

9 Tip 6: Look after yourself

10 Tip 7: Remember who you work for

11 Tip 8: Too busy to be happy?

12 Tip 9: Make work engaging and enduring

13 Tip 10: How to be happier at work

14 Tip 11: Managers make the difference

15 Tip 12: Be a manager people are happy to work for

16 Tip 13: Do what you love

17 Tip 14: Play to your strengths

18 Tip 15: Don’t forget: enjoy the experience!

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How to be a Better Manager...

How to be a Happy Manager is one of a series of practical, thought-provoking guides, designed to help you deal with a wide range of management ideas, activities and situations. Whether you are a new manager, or one who wants to hone or develop existing skills, we’re sure you’ll find something valuable in any of these guides.

This series of e-guides is published by Apex Leadership Ltd. The guides have been developed by a team of professional managers, consultants and educators. The full range of titles is available from Apex Leadership Ltd, or from the Happy Manager.com. Use these guides to benefit from our wealth of management expertise. Let us help you find: a better way to manage...”

Phil Higson & Anthony Sturgess Directors, Apex Leadership Ltd

Using the guides

Each guide contains information, insight and inspiration on essential management topics. The best way to use the guides is to read through each tip in turn, ensuring you pause for reflection wherever you see the “Consider...” points.

Be sure to think about the “What can you do?” action points at the end of each tip. They are there to help you turn insight and inspiration into action!

After you’ve worked through the guide, read the summary checklist. This both summarizes the contents of guide, and the actions you can take to ensure you use it!

Consider ...

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1 You weren’t hired to be happy … or were you? Are you a happy manager? Perhaps happy and manager are two words not often put together but then again, perhaps they should be! You may have answered yes to that question, in which case perhaps you’re reading this because you want to be happier. However, it’s more likely that you answered no or not really. If so, the first tip is to be able to respond to anyone who says: “you weren’t hired to be happy, you were hired to manage!” You can do this by reflecting on three quotes, starting with the father of modern management theory: "What is the first duty – and the continuing responsibility – of the business manager? To strive for the best possible economic results from the resources currently employed or available." (Peter Drucker) And how can you do this? No manager will perform this duty without directing the efforts of other people. In fact, you could say: “Success in management is when those you manage succeed, and the organisation you work for succeeds.” (Unknown) So, if you were hired to manage, and successful management means striving for the success of others, then happiness is far too important to dismiss. This includes both your happiness, and that of the people you manage. Why? Because: Good management should have a clear and firm focus on the benefits of happiness. It is far better to enjoy fulfilling, meaningful work as a happy manager, than to simply endure a job that pays the bills. It’s far easier to manage happy employees, who work well together and achieve significant results, than people who are bored or disgruntled. If happier people are more successful, this will then lead to happier customers, shareholders and wider stakeholders. A happy manager will leave a legacy of healthy, vibrant organizations, happy colleagues and customers and a wider community that is better for their stewardship of the talent and resources they manage. Surely this is precisely what managers should do.

What can you do?

Read, reflect and act on these 15 Essential Tips.

“… recent discoveries in psychology and neuroscience show that …

happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we're

positive, our brains are more motivated, engaged, creative,

energetic, resilient, and productive.”

(Action for Happiness.org)





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5 Don’t let work define who you are Don’t let work become the “be-all and end-all” of your life. Most people would be happier in their work if they didn’t let it dominate their lives. Some psychologists talk about developing a complex self to build your resilience and be happier as a result. They argue that involvement in several diverse activities and spheres, beyond work, can strengthen resilience to work-related stress and depression, and can promote happiness. This is a particularly important point for the happy manager. Allowing your life to be defined primarily by your job and work-pattern can make you vulnerable. Any difficulties at work will have a far greater impact on your well-being, than if you defined your life in broader terms. This wider view of yourself can be an excellent buffer against setbacks at work. Remember, important as it may be, work is not the "be-all and end-all". Valuing your other roles with family, friends and in the community will help you to be a more rounded person, and much less reliant on success (or otherwise) at work. It appears that the art of happiness is in crafting a more rounded life, with strong social networks. Happy people are complex selves living simpler lives!

What can you do?

Don’t define yourself purely by your job and your title – that’s what you do,

not who you are.

Make a serious effort to reduce the time you spend at work especially if this

is dominating your week.

Try not to let work dominate your other living patterns (travelling, eating,

relaxing, sleeping).

Make time for family and friends a priority.

Develop interests – take up hobbies, sports, personal development

activities.

Spend time in your other life roles.

Become more involved in your community.

“People who belong to community organizations, do voluntary work,

and have rich social connections are healthier and happier than those

who do not.”

Daniel Nettle





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8 Too busy to be happy? What is busyness? It’s time spent doing unnecessary or unproductive work. But why is this an issue for a happy manager? Picture a manager new to the job, seated at an uncluttered desk. She reaches for her phone and says to her assistant: “Bring me an in-tray and an out-tray. And oh yes, some paper to shuffle between the two.” Busyness is the metaphorical equivalent of shuffling paper between two trays. It has the appearance of work, but doesn’t deliver anything meaningful, and this is only the first part of the problem. "Busy-work" is the antithesis of "meaningful-work", a key ingredient in the pursuit of happiness. The second part of the problem with busyness is that it’s easy to convince yourself that this work has to be done. Perhaps the most powerful “quality” of busyness is that it has the appearance of work, even though it lacks any real substance or value. Don’t fall into the habit of allowing busyness to clutter your work-life or lead to stress and unhappiness. What does busyness look like? Watch out for:

Doing what simply doesn’t need to be done or doing more than is needed.

Allowing yourself to be diverted or dominated by other people's agendas.

Doing work that is nice, rather than that which is needed.

Succumbing to displacement activity or procrastination.

Butterfly mind, fluttering from task to task without really settling work.

What can you do? Ask yourself four questions to clarify your own working practices:

1. Are your objectives clear and unambiguous

2. Is it clear which activities deliver results?

3. Does the task/activity need to be done?

4. Does the activity do anything meaningful for your customer?

Then take some practical steps to combat busyness:

Be clear about what you are doing to be clear on what’s not needed.

Ask “why?” of others and of yourself.

Say “no!” as often as is needed to keep busyness under control.

Prune and review regularly - stop busyness creeping in.

Don’t confuse activity with productivity - or allow others to do so either.

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should

not be done at all." "If you want to improve how you manage time

- stop doing what doesn't need to be done! .” Peter Drucker





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HOW TO BE A BETTER MANAGER

Updates

For more information on the content of this e-guide, and other related topics, visit: www.the-happy-manager.com

Join the community: subscribe to the Happy Manager Newsletter for regular updates and advice on better ways to manage. Join the conversation: bookmark the Happy Manager blog. (www.the-happy-manager/blog) Leave any comments, suggestions or examples of your own experiences for the benefit of other readers.

Titles available: How to be a Happy Manager Have a Good Workday How to Build a Happy Workplace Workstyle, Lifestyle Build a Better Team Team Building Exercises Team Health Check The Problems with Teams Why is Teamwork Important? Leadership Essentials Defining Leadership Leading with Style and Focus Leading Insights Transformational Change Sustaining Change Making Change Personal

It's All About Performance 15 Performance Management Tips Managing Performance and Potential Performance Management Skills Performance Management Toolkit Conducting a Performance Review Manage Your Own Performance Motivating Performance Managing for Strength to Strength Managers Make the Difference Re-defining Middle Management Do More with Less Managing Time and Priority Extreme Thinking: Unlocking Creativity SMART Goals, SHARP Goals Making Better Decisions What's the Problem?

Copyright Apex Leadership Limited 2012

Efforts have been made to contact the copyright holders of works referred to in this publication. Apex Leadership Ltd hopes that copyright holders will permit references and quotations, where small extracts of their work have been used. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. This book may not be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior consent of the publishers. First published in Great Britain 2012

Copyright Apex Leadership Limited 2012


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HOW TO BE A BETTER MANAGER

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