The Top 5 Essentials A Scientist Needs To Become An Effective Manager - Part 4 - More Ear Than Mouth.

More Ear Than Mouth?

Welcome back to this blog series on the top 5 essentials a scientist needs to become an effective manager.  So far I have covered the following topics;

1) Have an interest in people.
2) Have a desire for a career in management.
3) A strategic mind.

In this post, I am going to cover point 4 in the 'Top 5' which is the need to have more 'ear' than 'mouth'.

When managing people it is better to have more ear than mouth!

So what does this mean?

When anyone moves into a management role they are tasked with objectives that cover a wider more strategic aspect of the organisation within which they work.  The role has an extra level of complexity as it is likely to require the management of the highest source of variable behaviour, people.

I don't need to tell you that everyone is different, has different needs and desires.  They also have different agendas and attitudes thus requiring the manager to understand the individuals in their team and to develop a way in which to get everyone on board to achieving the strategic goals, for which the manager is responsible.

So many of us have experienced, the type of manager that is focused more on their level of status and power (even if the level of status and power is fairly negligible) and needs to be listened to.  They have an expectation that they will have respect straight from time zero.

With a manager like this, it doesn't take a genius to work out that the staff within the team will be demotivated in their performance and overall the manager (if they are lucky) will achieve average results.

So back to my fourth point about having more ear than mouth.  When dealing with people in general  in whatever capacity, have you noticed that when you are speaking to them, you are not really hearing a lot?  When you are talking, you start to lose the focus on the person that is in front of you, you lose a level of awareness about that person, their body language, anything they say etc.  Added to this, if we have a really strong agenda behind what we are saying that we need the listener to take on board, then , more often than not, our attachment for the need for understanding distracts us from helping the listener to understand.

Have more ear.

So this is my point.  When being a manager, allow yourself to take the bird's eye view of your team.  Think about who is in the team and what it is that they need, to perform optimally.  Ask questions, listen, ask more questions.  Get an understanding and then a plan for the development of the team based on what you have found out.  Don't become a manager that talks a lot and then makes assumptions about the team which then reduces motivation.  Find out what your team members are passionate about and what their skills are and steer them into roles that are more suited to them and allows them to shine at what they do.

I am not saying "Don't use your mouth!", but what I am saying is that if you are going to use it, damn well make sure you know how.

Watch out for the final part of this series which focuses on having a vision of what success looks like.