How to be a good manager

Your manager shapes your week more than almost anything else at work. Gallup found that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units (Gallup, 2015 (opens in a new tab)). The good news: the things that make the difference are small, repeatable and learnable. Start with the first 90 days if you are new, or skip to the weekly habits if you have managed for a while.

Your first 90 days as a new manager

Most new managers were promoted for being great at the work. The first three months are about learning a different job: getting results through other people.

1. Days 1 to 14: listen before you change anything

   Your first job is to understand the team, the work and what your boss expects.

   • Meet each person alone for 30 minutes: what should stay, what bugs them, what do they want to learn?
   • Ask your own manager what a good team looks like by day 90, in plain numbers or outcomes.
   • Read the last quarter of goals, project notes and tickets before you form opinions.
   • List every open promise the previous manager made, so nothing quietly drops.

2. Days 15 to 45: set the rhythm

   People relax when they know when they will see you and what you expect.

   • Put a recurring 1:1 with every person on the calendar, weekly or every other week.
   • Start one weekly team meeting with a fixed agenda and a written recap.
   • Agree with each person on what good work looks like in their role this quarter.
   • Fix one small annoyance the team named in week one, fast, so they see you heard them.

3. Days 46 to 90: make your first real calls

   Now you know enough to set direction and act on it.

   • Set two or three team goals for the next quarter and say why each one matters.
   • Hand off one piece of your old individual work to someone who wants to grow into it.
   • Have the hard conversation you have been putting off since week two.
   • Send the team a one-page note: what you learned, what changes, what stays the same.

Weekly habits of a good manager

None of these takes more than an hour a week. Together they are most of what people mean by a great boss.

• Post a Monday priorities note. Three lines in the team channel: what matters most this week and what can wait.
• Hold every 1:1. Move one if you must, but never cancel the same person twice in a row.
• Name one specific win out loud. Say who did it and what it made possible for the team or a customer.
• Block a focus afternoon. Planning and your own work belong on the calendar, not at 9 p.m.
• Treat waiting as your problem. When someone waits on a decision, an approval or another team, unstick it before tomorrow.
• Close the week in 15 minutes. Check your open promises, update your notes and pick next week's follow-ups.
• Spend an hour on the front line. Join a customer call, read a draft or sit with a new hire.

Run 1:1s people want to keep

The 1:1 is the meeting where trust gets built or lost. Thirty minutes, every week or two, with three rules:

• Their topics go first. Start with what they brought; your updates fit in the last ten minutes.
• Talk about growth once a month. Ask which part of the job they want more of, and what would help them get there.
• End with a written next step. One line each in a shared doc, and open it at the start of the next 1:1.

Want an agenda and questions ready to copy? Use our one-on-one meeting template.

Give feedback small, often and specific

Say what you saw, the effect it had, and what you would like next. Praise in public if the person enjoys it; corrections always in private, within a day or two.

• Vague: “Great job on the launch.”

  Specific: “Your rollout checklist caught the pricing bug before any customer saw it. Could you walk the support team through it on Thursday?”

• Vague: “You need to communicate more.”

  Specific: “Twice this month I heard about a delay from the client before I heard it from you. Next time, message me the same day a date slips.”

Ask for feedback on yourself too, and thank people when they give it. More scripts in how to give constructive feedback.

Set the team’s rhythm

A steady rhythm means fewer surprise meetings and fewer “quick questions”. On a phone, swipe the table sideways.