Your Primary Duties as a Manager

Managers have a few primary duties that they need to perform: providing leadership, establishing a proper work environment, and leading the production or delivery of products and services.

Leadership

As the representative of the leadership department, managers must articulate the objectives of this area, and strategize to conquer them. They need to have vision, and effectively communicate that vision to their subordinates to instill confidence and provide a sense of direction. Some people want to know where will they go, and appreciate some direction in their lives. As social creatures, we also take comfort to know that we're making a concerted effort towards common objectives that we deem significant. As such, not only does the manager require vision, they should convince all their workers of its necessity. If workers believe in the manager's vision and are sure in their capability to lead, they will follow without complaint.

Following this, a manager should develop practical project designs for the staff to follow, and these project plans must be explained to the staff rationally. By doing this, workers can't claim that they did not know the plan or their role in it. Think of a football game where it is played by eleven members on the field; all are given tasks to perform, and they all have a common objective. In the case that any one player does not know the goal, they will most likely make a wrong move and cause the team to lose. Planning needs communication that ultimately leads to teamwork and harmony within that team. Managers must keep their plans and calendars up to date, and keep them visible to everybody in the department.

For managers to instill a sense of self-confidence in the staff, they should not only demonstrate that they know what they're talking about, but they must also express a high stage of moral conduct. The manager's word must be considered absolute. If they are caught in a lie, defrauding, cheating, backstabbing or other misconduct, then this will be seen by staff who may no longer believe in them. A true manager is a person of integrity.

Lastly, beware of the "reactionary" managers where they just respond to problems as they happen. Under this case, a manager will not be in control of the department's destiny and dances to the tune of somebody else's fiddle. This reactive method of operation can be a problem, especially when focus shifts to damage control over prevention. Few reactionary managers are ever considered "essential", but managers must take control over their environment and practice more practical management as opposed to reactive management.