By Mildred Munjanganja,

Vince Lombardi once said ‘leaders are not born, they are made.’ As leaders we all know that through knowledge and desire we are able to make changes in behavior that ultimately make us better leaders. Mastering positive management behaviors involves evaluating our current management styles, making the necessary changes and aiming for constant improvement.

According to the Howard Business Review, most managers fail not because they lack the appropriate skills to perform their jobs but because their interpersonal relationships are often put into question.  

Here are 5 great tips that any experienced manager will tell you have either made or broken their careers.  They are easy to implement, cover day-to-day problems and will make you a respected authority figure in your workplace.

1.    Have the ability to say “I don’t know” – when someone asks you something, it is fairly easy to tell if the answer that you are giving is not genuine.  At times it may be better to simply say “I really am not certain, I am going to have to look into that”.  This goes a long way in gaining and keeping credibility.  As a manager, it may seem easier to hide your weaknesses out of fear of losing control or perceived power – but people know when you have made a mistake, it is more gracious and honest to simply say “I made a mistake”.

2.    Stay away from gossip – gossiping is the fastest way to lose your credibility!  People will no longer trust you and will start wondering what it is you are saying to other people about them.  Negative information that you relay can ruin your career and the person who you are talking about.  Try to ask yourself if you would want other people to know that kind of information about you and always remember that anything you say is subject to interpretation and may get distributed and altered and will likely have a negative impact.

3.    Do not show it when you dislike someone – one of your responsibilities as a manager is to foster the growth of the people you manage, showing someone that you do not like them, may hinder the person’s progress and potential growth and other employees may take your lead and begin to dislike that person as well. At some point you may become biased into giving the employee you dislike a bad performance review or rating when they might actually be good at a particular task.  

4.    Accept that absolutely no task is beneath you – “getting your hands dirty” is a sure way of showing the team what you expect out of them – it will set the tone of how your team members approach their job functions in the future. You will also be able to see what is working and what’s not working and then use your experience to pull the team together to find solutions to problems that you otherwise would not be aware of.

5.    Give credit where credit is due – have you ever wondered if it would help or hurt your image as a leader if you stopped taking any credit for projects completed but attributed those successes to the team players that helped you achieve it? How would it affect the attitude of the people involved? Making your team feel appreciated and giving them a sense of accomplishment will go a long way into building a team that is committed to working on projects in the future and giving them their best shot.