Critiquing Your Management Style: What Works and What Has to Go!

Are you a good manager? You probably hope so, but do you really know what your employees think of your management style? Sometimes getting that kind of honest and meaningful feedback on your management style can be difficult. No employee of yours would want to deliver bad news with you as their manager. So, finding an honest critique can be difficult. But learning and growing must be a part of your career path as well. Here are a few tips about what works and what really doesn’t when it comes to great management skills.

  1. Link Tasks to Business Goals

It is important as a manager to communicate to your employees how each task or project helps to deliver on the corporate mission statement and meet long-term business goals. Including lower-level employees in the strategic methods and long-term thinking that is required in the successful leadership of your company helps them better understand their importance within the overall corporate structure. Employees feel they are truly making a difference in the day-to-day proceedings of the company, and they recognize that you are a true and effective leader.

  1. Establish True Clarity of Values

Good leadership is able to not only communicate but also inspire buy-in regarding your corporate goals and overall mission. If your corporate mission statement isn’t clear or conflicts with day-to-day activities or interactions, you lose clarity and your leadership is undermined. While you may be clear on areas such as the mission, vision, values and identity of your company, the conflict often arises where the rubber meets the road. It really doesn’t matter how many presentations or newsletters you release, if the message isn’t landing within your own company, the clarity simply isn’t there.

  1. Understand and Promote the Value of Work-Life Balance

While it’s been a long time coming, there is an obvious shift in the value of work-life balance across many industries, including agriculture. More employees are opting for flexible work schedules and more vacation time even at the expense of higher wages. Employees look to their manager to set the tone of the team’s approach to work-life balance. Your team will more likely than not follow your lead and appreciate a more balanced lifestyle and work harder to meet corporate goals and objectives because of it. But that also means loss of morale and frustration as they sacrifice their work-life balance to keep up. This is a clear recipe for burn out and eventual loss of your best employees. Set a good example and communicate your value for strong work-life balance to make sure you keep your best employees for the long run.

  1. Evaluate Your Management Style

Sometimes taking a step back and imagining how you would rank yourself as a manager is as close as you’ll ever get to a true critique of your management style. If you find yourself micromanaging or arguing with your employees too often, these are things you will notice on your own. Make sure when you are managing your team, you approach the situation from a position of trust, high-level leadership, and listening. Poor management can lead to loss of respect and reduced morale on behalf of your team. These negative aspects of a corporate culture will inevitably lead to higher turnover, so think very carefully about how you are helping your team accomplish their tasks and what resources you can provide to set them up for success. That will be the true measurement of your success as a manager.

Ready to grow?

For more advice on growing your management career in the ag industry, connect with the career experts at Ag 1 Source today.