Can you spot a good manager?


  • January 13, 2016
  • /   Shannon Nickinson
  • /   training-development

Source: Pixabay

Can you spot a good manager?

Forbes.com contributor Victor Lipman wrote a post on Jan. 6 highlighting traits of a good manager. It's important to be able to tell good supervisors from bad supervisors, given, as Lipman writes, that some 70 percent of the U.S. workforce is not engaged in their work.

I’d focus on three that are all closely interwoven: integrity, positive energy, and low turnover on the manager’s team.

Integrity – By integrity I simply mean a person of good character, a manager who consistently sets the right “tone at the top” and leads by example.  Such individuals are invariably well-respected in an organization. There’s a great quote from Tom Peters on the subject: “There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity.”

Positive energy – At the risk of sounding a little touchy-feely here, what I’m really getting at is a constructive optimistic outlook – from the kind of person who is upbeat, resilient, and can handle setbacks when they occur.  An employee-manager relationship, if it’s a solid one, can be a long-term proposition.  Positive energy plays well over the long term.

Low turnover – A low turnover rate (e.g. a number of employees who’ve been on the team for years) is often a positive management sign.  A bit like a good marriage that lasts, it shows stability.  There’s an old saying about a certain type of manager, “He got results, but he left a trail of bodies in his wake.”  In other words, a favorable outcome was achieved – but at high personal cost.  Such managers usually don’t pass the turnover test.

Studer Community Institute can help you and your organization get started on a good path for building engagement among your employees with its continuing education series.

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