I have been at my current job for a year and a half now and in that time I have come to see and appreciate what I believe are not good manager skills. With that in mind I have been thinking about what I would like a manager to be, or how I would like him to treat me. Before my current job I had another job for about four and a half years, and in that time I had 3 managers and I saw how they acted and reacted in situations. So I feel I know and understand what I expect from a manager.

Firstly, a manager is a leader, and leaders lead by example. In other words there has to be some form of servant-leadership from the manager toward his workers. I’m not saying be feeble or bend to every whim of your workers, but rather have some humility towards them and treat them as grownups. One thing that I don’t like is to be micro managed, in other words be checked up on and so on, which makes me feel like I am seen as a school child. I have enough self discipline to realise and understand when I must work. I also find that some managers have small egos and need to either belittle someone or make an example of them in front of colleagues. I have had several instances where this has happened and this is NOT something a leader or manager should do.

Another thing that I have found in the last year is that managers sometimes make commitments to deliverables without any prior communication with team members which to me is BIG problem, because it creates distrust. If the deliverable being committed to is a long term one then it should be discussed with team members as well and ideally no commitment must be made.

Keep the social life out of it. I have had several instances where a manager has crossed the social line and it resulted in uncomfortable situations at work.

Respect people’s private time and life. I have had several instances this year where it seemed as if the measure of one’s contribution to the team was measured by how many late hours they spent working. I have also had a manager tell me that I must work ‘until 4 am’ because a team member was working till then. This is unacceptable, because working late does NOT prove you are actually working. For all intents and purposes you could be fixing bugs because you made decisions in an earlier situation and now it seems as if you are being a ‘good team member’. It is my opinion that one can work well and effectively without working until 4 am in the morning. You do have a life that you are entitled to.