I think people would agree that becoming a great manager requires a certain amount of time. Very few people are thrust into a management position and then do it exactly right, avoiding the myriad of challenges and speed bumps that inevitably confront those who lead employees. No, it takes time to develop critical leadership skills. It takes time to acquire the experience that comes with learning from the mistakes we inevitably make. It takes time to create the disciplined habits that characterize effective managers.

On the other hand, there are a number of specific things you can do to make a difference right now. In fact, you can read this article, start practicing three simple skills, and become a much better manager – today.

The process is fairly simple. Almost without exception, inconsistent performance, or sub-par performance, is created by employees who are marginally engaged, if not disengaged. Disengagement is linked primarily to poor managerial leadership. What constitutes poor managerial leadership? Well, that list can get pretty long, but the primary issues are poor communication and the failure to make employees feel appreciated or valued.

The simplest way to deal with these two very common issues is to open up and create meaningful dialogue with your employees. Unfortunately, managers almost always feel they have too much on their plates to waste time engaging in conversation with employees. There are deadlines. Demanding customers. Budgets. Projects. Problems to be solved. And that’s before lunch. In the final analysis, taking the time to sit and chat with an employee is just not very high on the priority list when there are a dozen critical fires to put out at any one time.

Not to worry. The three secrets described below are simple to execute and, in the big scheme of things, will improve your management skills dramatically. More importantly, they may even free up some time, since employees generally do much better work when they are engaged.

Three Secrets to Better Management

Secret No. 1: Find out what you can do to help your people succeed.

How? Simply ask.

It is amazing how few managers actually ask their employees what they need to be more effective in their jobs. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, authors Linda Hill and Kent Lineback suggested what they believe is the most important question a manager can ask employees: “What can I do to help you be more effective?”

Great question! If it’s not the most important question you can ask, it has to be in the top five. Assuming you have some semblance of a relationship with your employees; i.e., the employee doesn’t have a small figure on his/her desk with your name on it, full of thumbtacks or stick pins, he/she will typically be willing to share a thing or two that will really make a difference in how they perform.

Taking this idea a step further, this could easily be the question you ask at every one-on-one meeting, before every project, or during every review. If you are serious about making your people more effective, you will ask – and then you will take great pains to deliver what they need.

Ask: “What can I do to help you be more effective?”
Result: Improved communication. Better performance. Fewer problems.

Secret No. 2: Give your people permission to push back.

One of the foundations of employee engagement is communication. In fact, it’s probably THE foundation. Communication, however, means dialogue. It means a two-way conversation; a conversation where an employee feels comfortable offering ideas and opinions. Sadly, many managers are not comfortable with that idea. They certainly aren’t comfortable with someone disagreeing with their ideas.

Caryl Stern, the current CEO of Unicef, doesn’t see things that way. She recently told New York Time Business Day columnist Adam Bryant that allowing her employees to challenge her thinking was a critical component in her success as a leader (great article – give it a read).

“I tell the people who work for me when I hire them: “If you work for me, you’re going to hear what I’m thinking. You can push back, and I’m going to listen when you push back.” My staff doesn’t have to worry, “Is she angry? Is she happy? Is she contemplating?” They know where they stand. They know what I want. They know what makes me happy. I know what they want.”

In a hierarchical relationship (teacher-student, manager-employee, etc.), meaningful dialogue has to be invited and encouraged. Make someone feel stupid and you will shut it down. Ignore other people’s ideas and the dialogue will fade away. But allow people to voice their ideas – rationally and respectfully – and you may improve performance in ways that you never considered.

News Flash: You may be the manager, but one thing is for sure – you don’t know everything.

Say: “You can push back, and I’m going to listen when you push back.”
Result: Open dialogue. New ideas. More engaged employees.

Secret No. 3: Challenge the status quo.

Most managers don’t want any part of this. Why? Because challenging the status quo means change. Change is work. And there is already plenty to do without adding even more work. It is true that challenging the status quo may mean more work, but failing to challenge the status quo can substantially limit a team’s effectiveness. That’s why successful CEOs consistently challenge the way things are done:

“In business, the big prizes are found when you can ask a question that challenges the corporate orthodoxy,” said Andrew Cosslett, the C.E.O. of the InterContinental Hotels Group. “In every business I’ve worked in, there’s been a lot of cost and value locked up in things that are deemed to be ‘the way we do things around here.’ So you have to talk to people and ask them, ‘Why do you do that?’” [Distilling the Wisdom of CEOs (New York Times, April 16, 2011)]

Managers must take care to do this in a positive way rather than making employees feel as if they aren’t doing well. Asking this question right is all about the attitude with which you ask it. On the other hand, this will often happen quite naturally just by adopting Secret No. 2. When employees feel comfortable pushing back, they will often point out things that could be done better, faster, or with less cost without being asked.

Ask: “Why do you do it that way? Is there a better way?”
Result: Performance improvements. Cost savings. Substantial gains.

The traditional road to management rarely includes training. To set yourself apart among your peers, and to begin the process of increasing the level of employee engagement, exit the traditional management road and start practicing these management secrets.

Annual reviews are designed as a part of an overall performance management process. During the typical annual review, managers are usually assessed in a number of mission-critical competencies. Unfortunately, though well-intentioned, the typical review contains a number of flaws.

First, adequate training in assessment areas is not always forthcoming. In fact, specific competencies are not always adequately identified for managers prior to the review.

Second, in many cases, clear objectives and expectations have not been established for each competency, so the review takes on a highly subjective tone. For example, in the presence of a single instance in which a manager has seeming failed to demonstrate “initiative” (over a 12-month period), a manager may receive only an average score on this required competency – a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5.

Third, at some companies, managers may be assessed (allegedly) on literally dozens of competencies. In one case, I consulted with a company that assessed managers on over thirty management or leadership competencies in which they were expected to do well. However, the review process often devolved into identifying the two or three areas that needed improvement, while little attention was given to areas of strength or excellence. Managers perceived the whole process to be about about finding what was wrong with them rather than truly managing and improving performance.

All of this caused me to think about which competencies are really important in management leadership, i.e., which competencies should a company focus on to improve management performance? The Center for Creative Leadership – a well-respected leadership think tank – recently surveyed 2,200 leaders and asked what they considered to be the most important skills that leaders must develop to be successful in the current business climate. Here are the top 5 competencies they identified:

1. Leading people: directing and motivating people.
2. Strategic planning: translating vision into realistic business strategies, including long-term objectives.
3. Managing change: using effective strategies to facilitate organizational change.
4. Inspiring commitment: recognizing and rewarding employees’ achievements.
5. Resourcefulness: working effectively with top management.

(Hmmm.  It seems that, to be successful in the current business climate, leaders must first and foremost be good at leading people. But, isn’t that what leading is? What else would they lead – the facilities?)

Notwithstanding my sarcastic comment about No. 1 (I’m sure what they have in mind is for leaders to be more effective with people), I think they have it right – with one glaring omission. The single most important skill that any leader must possess is the ability to communicate effectively. Of course, those surveyed would likely say that communication is intrinsically present in each of these competencies, but in my view that is exactly the problem. While organizations consistently claim communication is critically important to success, it is rarely identified as its own competency – as demonstrated in this survey [Note: In many reviews, "verbal communication" and "written communication" are listed as necessary skills, but these generally refer to presentation skills (verbal) and general business correspondence (written)].

The important take-away here, I believe, is that current leaders do believe that working with people is the single biggest competency needed to be successful. If that is an accurate assessment, then managers would be well served to access any training or education available to improve those skills.