100 tips for managers, to be a Better Boss

1. Spend at least 15 minutes every day handwriting thank you notes.


2. Stand behind people in times of stress and crisis.


3. Treat others the way you want to be treated.


4. Return phone calls with dispatch.


5. Remember the change is the door that can only be opened from inside.


6. Don’t always look for the one right answer.


7. Be especially considerate to front line staff.


8. Be open and accessible. Walk around your company at least once a week.


9. Dress for success.


10. Empower others. Be an enabler.


11. Improve your oral communication skills.


12. Praise in public criticize in private.


13. Carefully manage your time. It’s your most scarce and at least renewable resource.


14. Be humble in victory and gracious in defeat.


15. Spell and pronounce names and titles correctly.


16. Have someone whom you may confide in.


17. Don’t surround yourself with “yes” people.


18. Remember that success is getting up just one more time than you fall down.


19. Know when to advance and when to retreat.


20. Don’t ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself


21. Get your own coffee.


22. Cut down on memos. Have more face-to-face communication.


23. Place your own telephone calls.


24. Remember, friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.


25. Be decisive. Avoid the ready aim, aim, aim syndrome.


26. Start applying the lessons learnt at training seminars the first day back at work.


27. Maintain an optimistic outlook.


28. Network with people outside of your field.


29. Be curious and open minded.


30. Treat temporary workers just like permanent staff.


31. Invest in continuing education of your employees.


32. Train supervisors in effective interviewing techniques.


33. Schedule free or quiet time to think and plan without interruption.


34. Be an active listener.


35. Encourage and reward risk-taking. Have the courage to let go of the familiar.


36. Be a mentor to someone on the way up.


37. Be approachable.


38. Celebrate the personal and professional accomplishments of your staff.


39. Use “We” rather than “I” when talking about your firm.


40. Keep all promises. Don’t promise more than you can deliver.


41. Strive for total quality/continuous improvement at all times.


42. Look at problems as opportunities.


43. Bring more humor into the workplace.


44. Take your job very seriously but don’t take yourself too seriously.


45. Say “I don’t know” when you don’t.


46. Keep your car to the company grapevine.


47. Hire others that contrast and complement, rather than replicate, the skills and personalities of present staff.


48. Recognize that consistently high performance may only be achieved if you take time to recharge your batteries.


49. Use the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep it simple, stupid) whenever possible.


50. Lead a healthy life style focused on weight control and exercise.


51. Be a positive role model.


52. Never underestimate the competition.


53. Never tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind.


54. When in doubt trust your intuition.


55. Remember that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.


56. Be confident and comfortable, but not complacent.


57. Recognize that no one is indispensable.


58. Place the needs of your family over the demands of your company.


59. Don’t become a slave to technology.


60. Recognize the reality that perception is everything.


61. Always be truthful and forthcoming when dealing with media.


62. Be on time for appointments others have with you and for those you have with others.


63. Start and end meetings in time. Use a written agenda.


64. Never think you are infallible.


65. Understand your metabolism. Use time of peak productivity to tackle your most important assignments.


66. Practice what you preach. Walk the talk.


67. Don’t burn bridges you may have to cross again.


68. Disagree without being disagreeable.


69. Recognize the importance of sleep to both your health and your profession.


70. Allow sufficient time to unwind and “come down” after being “up” for major events.


71. Work smart, not hard.


72. Answer questions. Question answers.


73. Don’t play favorites.


74. Socialize with staff outside the job setting.


75. Realize that anger is powerful weapon that should be discharged rarely.


76. Never lose sight of the Big Picture.


77. Praise and criticize in a specific and timely manner.


78. Focus annual performance reviews on the goal of constructive improvement.


79. Seek professional assistance when a personal or work related is interfering with your ability to perform.


80. Apologize when you are wrong.


81. Read just for fun.


82. Recognize that what is right is not always popular and what is popular is always not right.


83. Ensure that planning is both Top-down and bottom–up.


84. Accept that you are not responsible for everything that goes wrong (and right) in the area of your supervision.


85. Learn how to say “No”. Avoid over    commitment.


86. Fire when necessary, but only as a last resort.


87. Remember that the customer or client is the most important part of any organization.


88. Smile. It’s contagious.


89. Be proactive. Don’t wait your ship to come in; swim out of it.


90. Be wary of quick fixes. Band-Aid solutions rarely last long.


91. Don’t be reticent to toot your own horn but not too loud or too often)


92. Timely, honest communication is critical in times of change and uncertainty.


93. Have the wisdom to know what you can cannot change. Act accordingly.


94. Don’t dwell on the past. Learn from it and move on.


95. Follow through in a timely manner.


96. Encourage informality and relaxed company climate.


97. Learn how to read body language. More than 80% message is not conveyed by words.


98. Conduct an honest self-evaluation each year.


99. Look out for Number-1. Watch out for Number-2, too.


100. Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, some days you are the statue.