6 Questions You Should be Able to Ask Your Managers
Your managers likely have some autonomy within your organization. If not, they should! The goal of managers is to carry out the vision and goals of the business on your behalf, with minimum supervision and control. In order to accomplish this, you must have some sort of objectives and expected outcomes your managers understand and can measure.
Here are 6 questions you can ask them, but more importantly, they should be asking themselves, either quarterly, or annually:
#1 Did we succeed in meeting our goals and objectives?
What results were expected, and did we achieve the expected outcome over the measurement period? What was our level of success, 1 – 10 with each objective?
#2 What traits and strengths did you feel were best used to accomplish the objectives?
Your managers have traits that make them managers, where did they succeed in using those strengths to deliver the outcome you achieved?
#3 What behaviors or weaknesses might have slowed you down and prevent a higher level of success?
No one is perfect, but identifying those weaknesses and behaviors that are impeding growth can help you to dial in counseling and training to counteract.
#4 What are the strengths of the team under each manager, both individually and as a group?
Knowing the strengths (and weaknesses) of your teams will help you identify communication and methods to help develop their strengths for maximum output.
#5 What are you doing to work on your own self development and growth?
There are hundreds of excellent management books, blogs, podcast and other training mechanisms to help grow individually.
#6 What are our goals and objectives over the next 3 months, 6 months, 12 months?
Without goals and objectives for growth, you have no roadmap to know whether or not you have reached your destination. Start small and work your way up, be detailed with your goals.
You may find that these questions need to be modified for your organization but investing in your people will always pay off in huge dividends. What traits are most important in your company industry? What goals and objectives need to be clearly identified so you have something to measure success, and failure? Knowing these important factors will help you develop the process to improve, grow and thrive.
If your business has managers, your ability to create an autonomous force for growth in your business, starts with them. It takes a deliberate effort, and if you’re unable to ask those questions above with a clear idea of what answers you might expect, maybe it’s time to create the structure for solid management and leadership. Infinium can help!
Please contact us at info@infiniumhr.com if we can provide any guidance with training your managers or devising a better management system.