Are You a Super Cool Manager?

Where is your cape? All the cool managers wear superhero capes. Why? Because it’s amazing what they accomplish every day.

Doing it all and getting fantastic results—all in a day’s work, right? But does your company actually get fantastic results? Is doing it all effective for your company?

Optimal staffing allows you the resources to complete your workload and develop staff. Being an extraordinary manager requires you to spread your knowledge to your staff so they have a chance to be extraordinary too. But in the current economic environment, managers are expected to do more with fewer resources—which often means fewer employees.

But rather than picking up the slack on your own, prove how cutting the payroll is negatively affecting key metrics, and then let the executives decide if that change is worth what was saved. Realize that one of your key messages to executives should be your customer feedback, even if it’s not one of your key metrics. When staffing is cut too deep, it’s often the customer that suffers most.

What’s the Impact?

The impact of trying to be an extraordinary manager when you do not have the resources you need affects both you and your employees. Both of you become fatigued and overwhelmed by the pressure.

When this occurs, your ability to control your emotions and make the best decision is compromised. Many of your high-performing employees will also leave, because they carry most of the burden.

Are You on It or in It?

It is natural to want to be one of the front line. You want to show your employees that you are helping them get the work done. But this is not what extraordinary managers do. If you are too busy doing the work—if you’re in it—there is no way for you to work on it.

You best help your staff when you help them improve their skills at getting the work done and find ways to rearrange work to find gains in efficiencies.

The Super Cool Managers

When you try to exert more power (work longer and harder), you miss opportunities to study the impact of cutting payroll on employee and customer relationships. And do not assume that you are benefiting by merely reporting the same results as you would when payroll cutting is not a directive.

You need to show leadership the impact of the choice they’ve made. Knowing what to do and how to keep your cool is what the super cool managers do. .