Your journey to becoming a
better manager starts here
Our experts reveal the secrets to their success
You might imagine the very best managers already know how good they are. Not so. In fact, quite the reverse.
We spoke to some of the managers across RELX who achieved 100 percent ratings from their teams on the ‘how good is your manager?’ section of our employee opinion survey. All of them were surprised they had done so well.
Some were shocked. It seems humility is a trait all great managers share - along with some other critical ways of thinking, being and behaving. In this article we bring you those insights.
It also seems that there is no substitute for experience. Many of the people we spoke to have been with us a long time. They’ve been around the block a few times and know what’s what. They understand that there are moments that matter in the employee journey and they are well prepared, no matter what comes their way.
You could spend weeks reading all the latest management texts to learn how to be a better manager. You could wait for your experience to catch up. Or you could make a coffee, sit back and read these secrets of success from people who know. You decide.
I can’t take all credit for being a good manager. With gratitude and pride, I share this with my team. It’s important managers of people stay grounded. My management style is a mix of authoritative, persuasive, collaborative, democratic and most importantly, nurturing. But I always see it as a sensible balancing act of meeting the demands of the business while ensuring that all team members are empowered to do their best, which means not only being good listeners but, at times, being firm in applying the rules and regulations of the company. Empowerment is the most important thing that a manager needs to do. You can’t delegate properly if you don’t empower. If I were advising others on developing their management skills, I would just say, it takes time and don’t be too hard on yourself - it’s a non-stop learning process.
I think everybody has their own management style but, for my part, I always look to manage and lead from within. Being one of the team helps to drive a collaborative culture, it promotes best practice sharing and builds trust. I always try to be available and approachable. We have a daily team huddle where we discuss the issues of the day and I ensure I have a catch up with people one-to-one on a daily basis - even if it’s just for five minutes to check in and see how they are. I may have a team but I see them all as individuals and treat them that way. It’s also a habit of mine to share appreciation emails we receive for a team member with my managers so people get the recognition they deserve. Recognition breeds motivation. If that means we are then delighting our customers then everybody wins. These are the small things I do which have a big impact.
It’s all about my team. We have three team members who have been with the company for at least 45 years and the others on the team have been here for at least 10 years. They are true professionals who are experienced and trustworthy. They do an outstanding job, and I have learned a lot from them. It makes managing people a lot easier. I let my team manage their own work/day to day because they have earned my trust through their knowledge and experience. I am always there to support them if they need it, but I do not have to hold their hand throughout the day. I think it is very important that you get to know your team and understand what motivates them and what they want to achieve. Share a little about your personal life while asking about theirs. This helps to develop a personal bond and relationship. It also helps you tailor your communication style and how you reward and recognise people.
Leading my team well is the most important thing to me and my go-to style is servant leadership. First thing every day at work I ask everyone on the team what they need from me, what obstacles can I remove, what do they need from me to be more efficient, how can we take you to the next level and what would you like to learn. I’m here to support my team and if I ask these questions and help where I can then a big chunk of the job is done. It means being an avid and tireless listener.
The confidence to empower
‘It’s nothing to do with me, it’s all about my team’, was the message from pretty much everyone with whom we spoke. Which probably explains why empowering people and trusting them to do the right thing is seen as one of the most important things any manager can do. Most of our managers see their role as doing nothing more than helping their people become successful by doing what they can to make people’s working lives easier and more productive. These managers always make themselves available and are present to support, mentor and coach their people. They lead from within the team and recognise people are individuals, so they flex their style to each person’s needs and the situation as it presents itself. These outstanding managers also trust their people’s experience, make use of it and take the opportunity to learn from them.
My style is to be very open. I want an environment and culture where my team can feel safe and have a supportive environment. A place where people can feel open in providing feedback so we can all continuously improve. My role has evolved over time to become a coach for success. When I became a manager I had to shift my mindset from being an individual contributor. I never try to forcibly put my agenda in place, but instead communicate, understand the big picture then point my team towards a positive direction. Prior to the pandemic we had a much more structured way of working but now we have a more human approach. We have learned to rely on each other and trust the common goal. The pandemic has brought us closer together. Finally, I would say for any manager to be successful they must attend to their self-awareness and understand that each individual has a unique, personal goal.
Managing others and gaining their respect is about authenticity, all the way. The diversity on my team is what drives our creativity and collaboration so I’m mindful of protecting that. I may not know all the ins and outs of management, but I do know my people and how to bring out the best in them. So that's where I focus. Most of all I want to make sure that my team loves this business as much as I do and, for me, work-life balance is a huge part of that. My team never has to apologise for having life outside of work because I value that. My priority is helping them overcome obstacles and I am not afraid to get in the trenches when needed. The pillars of my leadership style are integrity, energy and resilience. I'm growing, like everybody else, so seeking feedback and making adjustments personally and as a team has been the key to our success.
My first priority is always to make sure my team members are happy. As such, my management style has to be intuitive, tailored to the individual. It’s based on developing a real relationship with the person to better understand their motivations, ambitions, and worries. Listening and caring is vital. When you do that, it is my experience that you create a shared responsibility with the employee so that they come to understand limitations and challenges, and develop a greater sense of initiative for themselves - which helps them grow. Helping employees grow and develop should be the key driver for any people manager. Individuals build a team and when they develop, the team excels. To pull all this together, I recommend having regular dialogue with your team, understanding their future vision and also the future product vision, relating it back to the end-user. When the team reflects on its role and contributions, we feel very lucky to do the work we do.
Being emotionally intelligent
The best managers are great communicators. Both in terms of quantity and quality. They speak to their people regularly, often daily, and not just about work issues. They speak with them as people with lives outside of work - caring about their well-being and what else is going on in their lives. They’re good listeners, recognising that we have two ears and one mouth and they are probably best used in that proportion. They give their people a voice and create a psychologically safe environment for them to use it - involving their people in decision-making. Our best mangers have emotional intelligence with high levels of empathy.
I adopt different management styles based on the nature of work - sometimes with more delegation, sometimes with a more hands-on approach. I trust my team members and I encourage them to try new ideas and pilot innovations to further improve results. For the best outcomes, it’s important to align the team’s objectives to the company’s overall vision and strategic priorities as ‘why’ should always come before ‘what’. Only by understanding the overall company objectives, business context and strategic direction, can team members embrace their objectives and be self-motivated to achieve them. Everyone in my team has a voice - they have their own strengths and potential and I find that a supportive and networked culture is both motivating and rewarding. I never take team members’ extra efforts for granted - timely recognition is a must from any manager.
I want to be a good coach for my team and to make their lives as easy as possible so that they can focus on their core mission and spend more time learning and becoming experts in their area. I also try to make my passion contagious as I really love what I'm doing and I hope they do too. I hope to be creative as well, it's a great quality of my own manager that has always impressed and inspired me. We all connect on Monday mornings to start the week with good visibility on priorities and, above all, with a good mood. I ask them all to behave like entrepreneurs, manage their own business and make the best use of the internal resources available. I would advise new managers not to systematically behave as they would like their own manager to behave, as everyone's expectations and needs are different. It is also up to us to adapt our way of coaching according to each personality, whose diversity makes a team rich and successful.
I lead by example. I've always been a very hands-on person. I've never asked anybody to do something that I wasn’t prepared or capable of doing myself. If I can help others achieve their goals then it’s a good day at work. What makes a good leader is that for the most part people don't feel like they're working for a company – they feel like they're working for each other. I happen to have the benefit of a broad range of experiences from my own career. So, when somebody comes to me with a challenge, I've always sat down with them on a one-on-one and we've worked it out in real-time. For people to come to me and say they are stuck takes courage so mutual trust and respect is critical. Everybody needs something different so one of the questions I have started to ask each of my employees is how do you want to be managed?
I would probably describe myself as a democratic and collaborative manager. I make sure that the kind of environment I create within my team is psychologically safe. I want to ensure my team feels comfortable in sharing their thoughts and ideas without fear of being judged. I tailor my style depending on what’s needed. It can vary from being a motivational speaker, life coach or even career mentor - each day is different. But in essence my role is to support, motivate and guide. I believe that it doesn't have to be about performance management all the time, I also consider my team’s well-being in addition to career paths. The pandemic has triggered a lot of meetings - sometimes it feels like they are endless, so to disconnect from the routine we often organise fun engagements whenever we can.
Setting an example
Our best managers share their passion for the work they do. They also make it fun to be part of their team. All of them share the wider business context of the work their teams do and they implicate their people in delivering the strategy. But they never lose sight of the details. They are all over every work process and critically they never ask people to do something they are not prepared or capable of doing themselves. While they never fail to recognise and reward outstanding performance they also hold themselves and others accountable. The best managers regularly celebrate team success and lead by example - setting the standards high.
I'm very direct in my style, particularly about expectations, goals and behaviours. Some might even see me as tough and a bit scary at times. It all stems from the beginning in hiring the right people, making sure that you can trust them and that they understand their roles and responsibilities and then using key performance indicators to ensure we all stay on track. I let my team run their own work areas. I let them make their own hours. I also deal with opportunities for development in real time - never waiting in providing feedback. The role of a good manager is to be a good team member who is there to support and make other people’s jobs easier so they can be successful. I know all the work areas of my team inside-out and if needs be I will roll up my sleeves and step in to help. This builds credibility, which is important. When recognising people - I do say good job but never as a routine so when I do say it, people know I mean it.
I am a very relaxed manager and I approach things on a day-to-day basis. We have scrum calls every day, so we have a good idea of what everyone is doing and what it is that I can do to help them get along. I think a manager’s role is to make their employees’ jobs easier. I see my role as a mentor, which in turn helps my team write better code and to get their jobs done faster. I also make sure that I give out tasks based on everyone's interests, likes and strengths. I find people perform better that way, although of course I also challenge them with new work areas. If someone does an amazing job I do what I can within the rules to give them special recognition as a way of saying thank you. From a performance management perspective I try to do this continuously rather than just at defined points through the year. We have also created a culture where it's family first - as long as the work gets done I provide a lot of flexibility, which also helps drive performance.
It’s important to develop your management skills as you go, while always staying true to yourself and accepting that mistakes happen. I’ve learnt to delegate effectively and trust my team to perform as they are the experts who know how to get the job done. I see my role as an enabler - giving people the independence they need to do what they think is best and give them support when they need it. It’s motivational for teams to be able to set their own targets. Working towards those targets gives them an emotional connection to their work, rather than them feeling like they are doing something someone just told them to do. One of the trickiest aspects of management is recognition. My team is global and so there are different cultural preferences that I need to consider but a thank-you in front of peers seems to be universally welcome.
Here are some tips I can share to help any manager become successful. It starts with open communication and the desire to build productive relationships with people - giving and being able to receive feedback. I also take time out to celebrate my team's success no matter how big or small it may be and I promote a fun environment. In addition, I always hold myself accountable - if a member of the team fails, that’s on me too. It’s important to delegate the right jobs to the right people while involving people in decision-making and sharing best practice. I balance work and family and I help my people do the same. I recognise that I am not perfect but I always try my best to support my team and I make decisions based on what's right, not who I like.
Developing self-awareness
Our best managers don’t see themselves as the finished article. They see themselves being on a learning journey in which they need to invest time and resources. They are developing and honing their self-awareness so they are better placed to understand others. But team success starts with hiring the right people with the right fit for the team. It means managing performance and development in real-time - never letting issues stack up. These managers work hard to ensure they delegate the right work to the right people at the right time. Above all, our best of the best acknowledge and accept that mistakes happen and they don’t lay awake at night fretting - they see them as opportunities to learn for the future.
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