A Deeper Understanding of Management

My management style has evolved and matured greatly over the past eight years . Through feedback from longtime employees , Ive learned how to be less intimidating. That was a primary complaint, especially from female employees. Ive found parenting to be one of the best sources of management experience. Employees are very much like your own children (even when they are much older than you). They are all different; each of them brings their own talents, knowledge and baggage to the workplace. Ive found that each key employee requires a slightly different approach. I often joke that I am the staff psychologist . Understanding their personalities, what drives them, what worries them and what their emotional and psychological issues are is part of being their manager. Just like my children, they all need consistency, structure, direction, encouragement, appreciation and the occasional scolding. Obviously I cant do this with all employees. There just isnt enough time in the day. So I focus my management efforts on key employees and let them manage the others. Ive noticed that several of my managers have begun to take on this same approach, so there is an element of leading by example.