So you want to be a Manager? Being a manager is part handling clients, part managing staff and part satisfying the company needs. Quite a balancing act! To be an effective manager, you need to have organization. The efficiency of the staff that a manager supervises will often reflect on the managers skills. Managers will also have to juggle with the stresses that come with the position. Problems and complaints will come up often and the manager will have to handle and resolve these in the most effective way.
Managers will also have to be personable. The manager must have good relations with both the customers and the staff they supervise. If there is any kind of tension between the staff and manager, productivity will be hindered. The manger him/herself will have their own manger to answer to and if the higher manager is displeased, this will cause a domino effect down the chain of command. The manager will become stricter. This brings back the balancing act. Managers should be strict but also fair. If there is no fairness, then there is no balance.
Managers have a big responsibility. Whatever the staff does, the manager will be held responsible. Depending on what the problem may be, the manager will have to staff deal with it or if the situation get out of hand, the manager will have to step in. Having to handle a work problem is never a good thing regardless of whether or not you are a manager or staff member.
How do I know? I speak from experience, and I’ve been in that position before. I was a tutor for over a dozen students from grades 1-5. In a way, I was a manger of these students. One day my manager came to me and told me that she had received some phone calls about some of my students not doing their homework. I didn’t want to look bad or lose my job. I found out later that some of the students had been lying to me about their homework being completed. In response to that, I had to be stricter towards them. Instead of just asking if they had homework, I had the students take out their notebook and I would check if they had any homework listed. I would do this for the rest of my time there and my manager didn’t get calls again!