top 12 traits of a successful manager

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Top 12 Traits of a Successful ManagerBy Bill McCurry, McCurry Associates Inc.

It’s easy to recognize Successul Managers because they have easily identiable traits that dene

them both as people and as leaders. Perhaps you’ve never thought o yoursel in these terms, but we

guarantee your sta has. They recognize these qualities on an almost subconscious level, because how

well you exhibit these traits refects on how motivated the team is to give their best every day on the job.

I you don’t have at least some measure o each o these traits, you need to do some soul-searching and

personal reworking to change how you look at your work and your team.

Each o these skills is weighted equally although most Successul Managers would agree that

organization is a little more equal than the others.

1. Organization

We’ve looked at hundreds o businesses and those that are most ecient and protable over the

long run are led by totally organized Successul Managers.

Organized managers know what has to be done every day and make sure they cross items o

the list as they’re accomplished, moving unnished projects to the beginning o the next day’s list.

They have job descriptions or everyone on sta, including themselves. They have established a

clear-cut, easily understood and graphically represented chain o command. There’s no conusionabout who is doing what job and who’s accountable.

Meetings are essential or organization so everyone knows what is going on, and to take

advantage o the collective intellect. Meetings are careully planned, and agendas are strictly

ollowed.

Organized managers are on time, showing up when they are expected with no excuses. They

believe that being late is rude. They respect their team and expect the same respect in return.

Organization doesn’t necessarily equate

with neatness. However, organized people

know what is in every pile o paper, havewell-maintained les, and keep their

appointment calendars and their to-do lists

updated.

I you wonder i you’re organized, you

probably aren’t or, at least, you could

improve. Truly organized people don’t worry

about being organized. They just are, and it

shows in their success.

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2. Prioritization

Another Successul Manager trait is the ability to prioritize, recognizing the dierence between

“Urgent,” “Important,” “Marginal,” and “I I Could,” and then correctly assigning every activity to one

o these categories.

Urgent tasks are those things that cannot be bypassed, such as answering the phone, opening

your door or business, or being available when the IRS demands your attention.

Important tasks are those things that might not be as urgent, but which we will need to respond

to, plan, and properly execute i we’re going to be successul. The biggest o these are long-term

projects, like an employee manual, policy book, marketing plan - things no one will call us on i we

don’t nish beore we go home today, but things that, i we lack, will cause our business to alter

over time.

Marginal activities that all into the “need to be done but don’t have to be done right this minute”

category, might be activities like remaking displays or creating new display pieces. They’re

important, but they don’t have an immediate, visible payback. We can put them o but probably

shouldn’t.

“I I Could” activities may be things you’ve set as long-term goals or thought about doing or

some time, like a complete reorganization o your physical store or work area. Maybe it’s joining a

local service club, or being more involved in the community as part o your marketing. It could be

surng the Internet or new product, business, and marketing ideas. The problem with this category

is we tend to put in things we want to do beore evaluating their importance to the business or

importance to our long-term goals. The critical step is to look at how these things will eed the

success o our business. Perhaps they deserve to be moved rom the “I I Could” category into a

more important task category, or perhaps they should be downgraded to an even lower priority.

Marginal and wish lists can be on a separate piece o paper or a separate computer le, one

you reer to oten but not necessarily each day. Urgent and Important lists change constantly and

directly aect how your business is run and how well your team unctions.

Start each day by making

a list o tasks that need to be

accomplished beore the day is

over, including those that didn’t

get done the day beore. Most

days, there will be “letover”issues. What you want to watch

is whether the letovers were

rom your Urgent or Important

list. The Successul Manager

correctly identies Urgent and

Important tasks and nishes

them rst without being

sidetracked.




3. Assessment/Measurement

Every action you take has a direct impact on how well you meet your goals. This means that aside

rom the daily task list, you keep an eagle eye on typical business management tools, including

nancial reports, customer eedback, market share

measurements, response time reports, as well as per-

employee reports on sales, gross margin and net prot.

Every Successul Manager expands these reports to cover

each employee, not just the salespeople, and watches

trends over time to better adjust stang or protability.

Part o your assessment is to make sure your customers

and employees are happy. The major litmus test is to ask:

“Would you recommend our store to your closest riends?”

This is a question you can ask employees and customers. The yes or no answers should be

tracked and will tell you, bottom line, about the potential success o your business. You should

strive to have 99 percent o your employees and your customers respond with “yes.”

Successul Managers constantly measure where the business is and how well it’s meeting

its goals. They know the acts and gures, not only requiring reports, but also reading and

understanding them. It’s not enough just to look at the bottom line. You have to know how those

numbers were generated and what you can do to improve them. Too oten managers keep the

books so their CPAs are happy and the government requirements are met, but they don’t eel

a gut-level connection with the nances. You should have a CPA who is willing to explain basic

accounting principles, so you understand what’s going on in your business. You also want to see

internal reports that show the trends and direction o the company’s nancial results.

4. Delegation

One o the most dicult lessons managers have to learn is delegation. You don’t have to do it all

alone. There is a team to support you. I you eel your team isn’t able to support you, the nger

points back at you or not choosing and/or training them correctly.

Too oten, when a crisis arises, the entrepreneurial-minded manager wants to leap into the ray

like a super hero. This response denitely gives you an ego boost and may provide a great story,

but it’s also highly unproductive and may have negative repercussions down the road.

Sure, you met the immediate challenge, but you didn’t teach anyone else how to handle it. Yoursta’s perception is that you don’t think they’re capable o doing the job. We guarantee you no one

is going to put out extra eort i it’s not expected and it doesn’t earn them the bonus o your trust in

— and appreciation o — their abilities.

The “I’m Your Only Problem Solver” response is commonly ound among small-business owners

who routinely indulge in “crisis management.” They may have started the business alone out o

their garage or in a small storeront and single-handedly beat back obstacles to become a success.

Bravo! But the time comes when the entrepreneur has to give way to the leader. Managing people

includes teaching them to replace you.





Many people will use the term “small businessperson” or “entrepreneur” interchangeably. There’s

a dierence. An entrepreneur builds wealth. A small businessperson conserves wealth. The

entrepreneur tends to take more risks in order to build wealth. The small businessperson tends

to be more conservative. This shows up dramatically when we talk about delegation and allowing

other people to perorm. An entrepreneur will take the risk o delegating because he realizes that

he can’t do it all himsel, whereas, a small businessperson may

be more earul. I you’re araid to delegate to your team, we

suggest you careully look at your team members, or careully

look at what is holding you back rom delegating.

You can’t grow, you can’t prosper, you can’t reach your goals

i you attempt to do everything yoursel. However, you must be

careul to whom you delegate and you must keep a watchul eye

on how well they are doing the job. You can’t just delegate and

walk away.

Higher ranking Army ocers stay arther back rom enemy

re because their experience and training makes them more

valuable to the unit. They let younger soldiers go rst to learn

the ront-line skills. In the same way, Successul Managers stand

back and let the team solve problems, ready with advice — and

even hands-on help when required — but standing behind the

ront line.

The secret is to develop each team member’s individual talents until they know so much they can

be put in charge, leaving you time to look or new opportunities and grow the operation.

The key is to nd each team member’s strong areas and your personal strengths and

weaknesses, and to gather and build a team that can supplement each other’s weaknesses and

complement each other’s strengths.

Successul Managers teach everything they know, but they keep on learning at a pace that

makes them a continual source o new inormation. To benet your store and sta, you must create

an environment o lielong learning.

5. Commitment

As a Successul Manager you are ocused on your team, your business, your goals and yourbelies. You are centered and reuse to allow outside matters to distract you rom the job at hand.

You’re ready to help your team, whether it’s an on-the-job situation or an ater-hours problem that

needs attention. You know the goals o each individual team member are as important as your

goals and you’re ready to go the extra mile to help them achieve those goals.

Your commitment to your business is honest and comes rom your core. You believe in the

business and what it stands or. I you nd yoursel at variance with the team goals, you either

change the goals or nd another situation where you can be ully supportive.

As a Successul Manager you don’t watch the clock, putting in the hours until it’s time to head

Solve a problem for

someone; you’ve

given them a gift.

Teach someone how

to solve a problem; you’ve given them a

career.__ Author Unknown





out the door. Your commitment is total and unwavering. Next to aith and amily, it’s the orce that

impels you to get out o bed in the morning, do your best every minute o every day, and sleep at

night condent you’ve done your best.

Successul Managers see their world through the lens o their commitment. They are always

looking or good ideas. They may see a counter display at another store and bring the idea back

to reshen their counters. They pick up eective ideas anywhere they can and adapt them, being

careul to stay within the copyright, patent and other laws.

Business guru Tom Peters has long advocated the path to success is letting someone else try

out an idea, and when the bugs are worked out, adapt that concept, tailoring it to your business.

6. Congruence

Congruity. The biggest complaint we hear rom employees is the boss isn’t doing the same thing all

the time, isn’t holding the team to the same standards all the time. He’s always changing his mind.

Employees want congruity. They crave consistency. They want to know what they’re doing makes

sense in the big picture and it’s moving the business orward.

Here’s an all-too-typical example o incongruity. The boss says, “We stand or quality work. Never

ship anything to a customer that you’re not proud o. I it’s not good, we don’t want it to go out

with our name on it.” He makes the speech, goes into his oce, comes back two hours later and

says, “This order is late. Come on. Let’s ship it. It’s good enough as it is.” Employees can’t unction

properly in that kind o an environment. Standards have to be set, they have to be ollowed, and

they have to be in congruence with everything the business stands or.

7. Confdence(Patience)When someone asked Andrew Carnegie to identiy the primary reason he had been so successul,

the steel magnate said, “Faith — aith in mysel, aith in others, and aith in my business.”

Everything about Successul Managers exudes the aith and condence they have in their

mission, their goals and their team. They have no doubts about their own ability or the ability o

those around them. The result is their team members become equally condent because they see

the manager knows what he’s doing and is supportive o their eorts.

You demonstrate that condence by allowing sta members to use their own judgment within

your guidelines. Whether appeasing a customer or handling a supplier issue, the person knows

you’re condent in their ability. The more monitored independence you allow, the more condenceyou’ll see in the team.

ConfdenceEngendersPatience

Condence’s companion is patience. Impatience, wanting it all done right, right now, will result in

anxiety, stress, discouragement and ailure. Count on it.

Like any growing thing, ideas and processes need time to grow, mature and ripen beore they’re

ully eective. People need to train, to practice and to experience beore they’re ully ready to

unction at ull capacity. The Successul Manager has condence the work will bear ruit and the

patience to see it develop.





We’ve met with a lot o managers who are “too ast to hire and too slow to re.” Successul

Managers have a clear idea o the type o team members they want and they are willing to be

patient until they nd them. They will only hire the best possible candidate. They never compromise

their standards because they’re scared the position won’t be lled by the next sale or promotion or

holiday.

Successul Managers understand i they hire a substandard worker, that person will single-

handedly bring down the perormance o everyone else on the team. Successul Managers want

every person working with them to have the opportunity to learn, grow and perorm at their all-time

best all the time. Successul Managers have no patience or laziness or dishonesty or lack o eort,

but they are patient with reasonable progress toward the goal.

8. Creativity

Successul Managers aren’t araid to step outside the box. Instead o running the business by tried-

and-true templates, they look or new and innovative ways to increase protability.

The secret is to take a creative look at whatever you’re trying to do. What might seem like

a ailure could turn out to be a huge success in a dierent application. Successul Managers

break traditional rules and operate outside standard guidelines, within the letter o the law. They

encourage their team to contribute new ideas or improve on old ones.

They hold group “think tank” sessions on a regular

basis. They never laugh or put down an idea, no matter

how ridiculous it may seem. It may be the catalyst that

triggers someone else to solve a problem. Care is

taken to keep creative sessions on track. SuccessulManagers encourage independent thinking.

9. Enthusiasm

Have you ever worked with someone who really hated

their job? Someone who dragged in each morning,

grumpy and belligerent? Most o us have encountered

Gloomy Gus or Wretched Gretchen somewhere along

the line and we know they make the workday doubly

dicult.All Bad Days or Management Have Been Cancelled.

Sound harsh? Yes, it may be, but it’s reality. You’re

the leader - i you can have a bad day then so can

everyone else. Put on your “game ace,” smile and play

the role o a leader.

Successul Managers are excited about their job, their team, their organization, and about lie

in general! Like cheerleaders, they exude excitement. They are masters o spin, turning even the

least accomplishment into the rst step o a great adventure.





Work isn’t a playground, but you can and should have un on the job. Customers gravitate to

places where the sta is smiling and interacting like riends. Nothing turns o a customer as quickly

as a sta member whose bad mood refects the lack o excitement around him or her.

When stress inects the workplace, everyone is debilitated. Forget creativity. Forget excitement.

Forget progress. Stress cuts the hamstrings and cripples the organization. Successul Managers

relieve stress whenever possible. A lighthearted approach, a quick joke, a burst o laughter - any

o these can overcome legitimate stress caused by competitive pressures, deadlines or seemingly

impossible customer demands.

Successul Managers nd ways to have good clean un at work and as a group ater hours.

They’re sensitive, careul that no co-worker is oended by crude or insensitive jokes. They don’t

allow activities that demean any group. They may organize a holiday group outing to a local

restaurant, or order pizza, or set up a un contest with silly prizes.

You might set aside certain Negativity Days when anyone displaying negative responses has to

put a quarter into the Fun Committee jar. When the jar is ull, let the team choose how they want to

spend the money. What you do can be hokey or meaningul, but it has to be un. The point is you

want your people just as happy and enthusiastic as you are.

Challenges can either breed excitement or depression. It’s your call. I you and your team give

the competition a good ght, whether you win or lose there’s going to be an eagerness to try again.

Successul Managers are excited about rolling up their sleeves and leading the team to victory.

10. Don’tJustFollowThrough,FollowUp

It’s said success is a journey, not a destination. The

Successul Manager understands the road is paved withollow-ups. It’s not enough to just set a course and orget

it. Successul Managers constantly monitor their business,

coach employees, and ollow up on results.

Successul Managers spend a signicant portion o their

time monitoring or coaching. They praise, reprimand or

redirect constantly. Every person in the operation knows, at

every minute, what is expected o them, how well they are

doing, and what they can do to be even better.

Successul Managers understand constant andconsistent ollow-up is essential or a productive operation.

Parents are advised to express irritation or anger with the

child’s behavior, not with the child. Eective managers

operate in the same way. In the old days, bosses may

have been able to get away with yelling or being rude or

insensitive when someone wasn’t perorming eectively, but

that doesn’t work in the politically correct, hypersensitive

world we live in today.





While emotion (like disappointment, rustration or even anger) can sometimes be appropriate,

Successul Managers try to remain positive and proessional. Ridicule, disrespect or sarcasm has

no place when you’re dealing with employees or customers.

Successul Managers do more than just keep an eye on their team to make sure everything is

done correctly. They make certain their word is their bond. When they promise something, it gets

done. When they initiate a bonus plan, it gets awarded. When they mandate punitive action or

breaking company rules, employees know they can expect to pay the price or their transgressions.

Successul Managers are known or not breaking their word. They carry out their plans and

make good on their promises. There are no worse words than “I’ve told them a thousand times.”

Successul Managers tell them once and maybe a second time, and then begin to implement the

company’s ormal discipline process. They expect their people to trust and respect them. They don’t

threaten, they just enorce with equal justice.

11. Foresight(Planning)In the United States, the Five-Year Plan is a standard business document. In Japan, company

planning extends 50 years and longer. Successul Managers spend time watching trends. They

read the trade magazines, sur the Internet, keep an eye on what the industry leaders are doing

and devise ways to benet rom watching trends. Without oresight and planning, your business will

be let behind in the dust.

12. Persistence

Successul Managers have their eyes so ocused

on their goals that lie’s little interruptions don’tinterrupt them or long. They know that nothing’s

easy. They expect hiccups in the plan and

prepare themselves to get past them as soon

as possible. They post motivational sayings on

the wall to remind the team that they, too, must

develop a dogged persistence.

They know that nothing comes easy. There’s

no ree lunch. But their enthusiasm and ollow-

through allow them to persevere even when thesituation seems hopeless.

Successul Managers understand that ailure

is only a steppingstone to success. Successul

Managers are prepared to run the distance.

They’ll work as long as it takes to achieve their

goals. They’ll continue to coach the least eective

employee until they are as strong as their

teammates. I they ail, they spend enough time

Success is 10% Inspiration and

90% Perspiration– Albert Einstein

Never, never, never give up! – Winston Churchill

Successful people make

mistakes, but they don’t quit.– Conrad Hilton

Those who think it can’t be

done should get out of the way

of those who are doing it.– Author Unknown





thinking about what went wrong so they can x it on the next try.

Worry can paralyze. The ear o making a mistake keeps us rom doing anything.

We suggest a new approach: Try it, x it, and do it. Use your team’s collective intellect to come

up with things you think will be successul. Once you have the ideas, launch them, monitor them,

and tweak them as things go on. For most o what you’re doing; things can be launched and

tweaked as you go. It’s better to start on the journey and move orward, step by step, correcting

along the way, than to sit and wait orever until things reach that illusory perection we look or in

our wildest dreams.

CommonalityotheAttributes

Did you notice that every one o these attributes has at least one thing in common? Each trait also reers

to a type o communication. I you’re a Successul Manager, your communications will be organized,

prioritized, creative, condent, enthusiastic … you get the idea. How well you communicate to your team,

using every one o the top 12 management traits, will make the most signicant impact on how they

perorm. Inuse them with the traits o Successul Managers and you won’t be able to ail.

Excerpted from “It’s Your People … Really! Change Your Focus and Grow Your Sales,”

by Bill McCurry and Harold Lloyd.

Available from the PMA Business Resources store at www.pmai.org/store.

Prepared by the Proessional Picture Framers Association™

©Copyright Proessional Picture Framers Association, 3000 Picture Place, Jackson, Michigan 49201, (517) 788-8100,July 2006. All rights reserved. No part o this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any orm or by

any means electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded, and/or otherwise reproduced without prior permission.

Bill McCurry

top 12 traits of a successful manager

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