And now for the final installment in the three-part series on leadership… The last, but not the least, quality that all good leaders possess is great management skills.

There are libraries full of books, catalogs full of courses, universities full of degrees in management. But you don’t need an MBA or the latest fad management book to be a great leader–all you need are a few basic principles.

• Become a MACROmanager. We’ve all experienced (or at least heard of) the dreaded micromanager–the supervisor who looks over your shoulder, triple checking everything you do and offering “helpful” hints when you just want to be left alone to do your work. But it can be hard–especially for first-time managers–to let go and empower your employees to work independently. So how do you become a macromanager? Use this handy acronym! S.T.D. Stay out of the details. Trust your employees to do their work–don’t second guess their decisions. Delegate, delegate, delegate.
• Provide honest feedback. If an employee has done a great job or come up with a new and innovative way to do something, then tell them. Don’t save it for the end-of-year performance appraisal. More importantly, if an employee is not doing a good job, you should immediately speak with him about it. Yes, it’s an uncomfortable conversation, but if you put it on the back burner, it’s going to sit there and simmer until you explode out of the blue on your poor unsuspecting employee. That’s just not fair.
• Ask for and listen to honest feedback. This is the flip side of providing honest feedback. I’ve worked for many managers who had absolutely no problem telling employees what they were doing wrong, but never asked for (or asked for and then reacted badly to) honest feedback from employees. At least once per quarter, you should ask a few employees (individually–not in a group) how you’re doing. Alternately, you could ask for anonymous suggestions. Is there anything you could do better? Do your employees have suggestions to improve things around the office? There’s only one way to find out! And a good leader listens to and accepts constructive criticism–she doesn’t lash out or punish others for being honest.
• Remember that one size does NOT fit all. I once heard a great story (can’t remember where, of course) about an American manager who was sent to oversee a factory in Japan. To reward an employee who was doing a particularly good job, the manager called a staff meeting and presented the employee with an award in front of everyone. The employee was mortified. In Japanese culture, humility is important–by singling out the employee, the manager actually shamed him. Talk to your employees about how they each individually would like to be rewarded. What motivates them? Perhaps a health conscious employee would like an hour three times a week to go to the gym. (Healthy employees cost the company less in insurance!) Perhaps a busy mom would like an extra hour in the morning one day a week to spend with the kids. Maybe an up-and-coming star would like to be sent to a project management course. You don’t know until you ASK.

What management techniques have you used (or seen as an employee) that embodied good leadership?

Today, I’m continuing the series on Leadership with the second quality I think all good leaders possess–the ability to set goals and develop strategies.

A good leader is not only the captain of her ship, she is also the navigator. She selects a destination for the crew and charts the best course to get there. Like a ship’s captain, a leader has to be prepared to change course in response to both external forces (e.g., the weather) and internal pressures (e.g., a sick crew member). Good leaders are able to:

• Set measurable and achievable goals. This is not as easy as it sounds. There are entire MBA programs and certification courses dedicated to learning how to set goals and measure performance. Let’s say you’re the leader of a sales team responsible for three products. What is your goal? To increase sales and make more money, right? Wrong. That goal is not specific enough. It doesn’t help your team understand where you want them to focus their efforts. A better goal would be to increase sales relative to last quarter’s numbers by 10% for product 1, 20% for product 2, and 50% for product 3. The second key to setting goals is that they need to be achievable but not easy. You want your team to stretch and push themselves to meet the goal, but you don’t want to set the bar so high that they feel discouraged from even trying.
• Adapt to a changing environment. Imagine that a new company has opened in your area, and that they’re selling products similar to your products 1, 2, and 3. A good leader is able to use that information to inform the development of a new strategy. Perhaps your team used to highlight low prices as the centerpiece of their marketing campaign. You’re dismayed to learn that the new company’s prices are even lower than yours. What can you do? Well, obviously, you could lower your prices, but you could also revamp your marketing effort to highlight a feature of your product with which the other company can’t compete, such as your excellent warranty program.
• Keep options open. Good leaders are willing to take risks and are able to rapidly change courses if those risks aren’t paying off. If your idea to focus your marketing on the warranty program isn’t leading to an increase in sales, then stop doing it and do something else. I don’t know about you, but I’ve encountered many “leaders” in my professional life who are totally unwilling to admit when they’ve made a mistake. They just keep plugging away with a bad idea until the whole team crashes and burns. A good leader, however, regularly evaluates progress and is willing to accept critical feedback.
• Motivate and inspire others. All your goal-setting and strategizing will come to naught if you can’t motivate your team to give it their all. A good leader is able to generate excitement about achieving goals and striving for excellence. Think outside the box when it comes to motivation. Maybe an individual sales contest would inspire your employees, or perhaps a treat for the team at the end of the quarter if they’ve met their goal.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the last post in this series!