How to Be an Effective and Inspiring Line Manager
Understand the challenges that a new line manager may face, and learn practical solutions for accomplishing tasks
An inspiring line manager is critical to any organisation’s success, yet this role presents many unique challenges. Put simply, if you want to be a colleague, boss, counsellor and psychologist all in one job, then welcome to line management.
An inspiring line manager is essential for increasing productivity and engagement. Line managers must not only ensure organisational targets are met but also meet the individual skills needs of their team members.
Managing people requires a unique set of skills and, fortunately, these can be learned and developed. In this article, we take a look at the key roles that any inspiring line manager plays within a business. We also examine ways they can become more effective and inspiring leaders.
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What is a Line Manager?
A line manager is an individual within an organisation who oversees a team of people, resources and operations. They report to a more senior manager, acting as a liaison between them and their own team.
Line managers have responsibility for aligning the performance of their team with overall organisational goals. Their responsibilities can include tasks relating to organisation, motivation, development and performance measurement, including:
- Recruiting and hiring new team members
- Training new team members and developing their skills
- Setting objectives with clear outcomes
- Communicating decisions and creating a team ethos
- Monitoring individual and team goals against targets
- Offering performance-related feedback to team members
- Coordinating with other line managers across the organisation
- Training employees to temporarily fill the roles of colleagues while they are away
- Ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of team members
- Providing reports about productivity and other performance indicators to senior management
- Resolving conflicts within the team
- Ensuring quality standards during all processes.
Different Levels of Line Management
Although there are likely to be different levels of line management within different organisations, two common roles are team leaders and supervisors.
Team Leaders
Team leaders are normally individuals who have a high degree of technical proficiency in their jobs. They are experienced and well-respected within their teams, which means they can effectively motivate their peers, give guidance and enhance skills where necessary. Team leaders tend to act as intermediaries between staff members and supervisors.
Supervisors
Supervisors are more likely to take a role in strategic decision-making and will help to deploy senior management strategies. They tend to carry out administrative and technical tasks and ensure day-to-day work is completed on time.
Supervisors are often the first line of management, and their main priority will be managing people by monitoring performance and targets. They report upward to senior management and convey their decisions downwards to team members.
Sometimes, the distinction between team leaders and supervisors is less clear. In most cases, supervisors tend to take on more of the responsibilities associated with line management. However, team leaders may also get involved in tasks such as training team members and responding to issues. Therefore, everyone must be equipped with the skills to effectively manage others.
How Important is an Inspiring Line Manager?
Given the connected nature of a line manager’s role, these individuals are critical to the success of any organisation. The senior management team will be responsible for the overall strategic direction of the business, but line managers are the ones who must implement this strategy effectively and efficiently.
Effective leadership promotes a culture of success. Managers can be actively engaged with team members using a range of line management skills. They provide direction, support and encouragement, and deliver regular feedback.
Line managers are also in a position to identify and address problems with strategy, which makes them key to organisational learning and growth. Furthermore, an inspiring line manager is responsible for identifying and promoting individuals within their team to develop the new generation of line managers.
Research by Gallup has shown that the first level of management, including line managers, has the greatest impact on staff performance and engagement. Line managers are also in a position to identify and address problems with strategy, which makes them essential for organisational learning and growth.
For example, Johnson & Johnson, which Impact Factory has worked with for many years, has seen an improvement in performance and efficiency after going through our soft skills training.
What are the Challenges of Being an Inspiring Line Manager?
Many people are promoted to line managers because of their technical competence at a job rather than their people skills such as communication, relationship management and conflict resolution. These individuals are selected on the basis of being good at their current job, but largely left to develop on their own.
Unfortunately, they often lack the tools needed to be effective people managers. They may learn from another manager, which means they are developing their leadership skills by chance, rather than attending a professional line management development course.
Training is essential because line managers can face the following challenges.
Going From Peer to Boss
Many people are promoted to line managers above their peers, some of whom may have applied for the same role. It can be hard to establish authority and credibility while still maintaining positive working relationships. This requires an important shift in mindset.
Pressure
Line managers can feel under huge pressure to perform because they have more work to do in the same amount of time. They need to be able to manage their time effectively and balance doing their job with being available to their team. They may also need to deal with limited resources when solving problems that arise.
Personal and Managerial Effectiveness
Inspiring line managers will need to balance their own roles with overseeing their team. Alongside the technical skills of the job, they will need to enhance their soft skills to maximise team effectiveness.
Effective Communication
Line managers will need to communicate effectively with individuals, not only with their own team, but also senior management and other line managers. The way we listen and speak plays a key role in collaboration and teamwork, and is also essential to innovation, problem-solving and creativity. Line managers need to ensure that there are open lines of communication at all times.
Managing Performance and Accountability
Giving feedback and managing performance can be the hardest parts of a line manager’s role because it is often more than simply measuring objectives and pay scales. Performance management can also touch on company-wide issues such as facilitating change. Therefore, line managers need the tools, skills and understanding to do this effectively.
Motivating, Coaching and Developing Team Members
Managers will need to motivate and inspire their team members and encourage them to meet their goals. They will also need to develop their own skills and abilities so they can help staff with career development.
Delegation
Managers also need to learn when to delegate. There is a fine line between being an involved manager and a micromanager. Having trust in your team members’ abilities is central.
Managing Conflict
One of the most important parts of being in charge of a team is the ability to tackle workplace issues. Line managers must handle conflicts and personality clashes, and address problems head-on as they emerge. Having difficult conversations can be a challenging experience, so line managers need the confidence and skills to do this.
How to Become an Effective and Inspiring Line Manager
Taking a Leadership Role
Think of the most inspiring line manager you ever worked with. The one who really motivated you, helped you tackle challenges and had a genuine and lasting impact on your working life. Realising how much impact a line manager can make by taking a leadership role is an exciting moment that challenges you to do better. You not only have the capability to advance your own career but also empower others to advance their own.
Shift of Identity
Stepping into the role of line manager requires a new level of awareness and an additional set of skills to undertake the role effectively. For example, success in tasks can be individual and collective, so line managers need to examine the performance of the team as a whole. They need to promote collaboration and teamwork, performance against goals, employee engagement and much more.
Shift of Thinking
One of the main shifts in thinking for line managers is learning how others work. Successful teams leverage the skills and talents of all team members in different ways to achieve success.
Clarify the Challenges
Many line managers struggle with the change, which is why successful organisations tend to provide support to prevent them feeling isolated or out of their depth. This organisational ‘scaffolding’ should include time with their own managers, and access to the right development programmes and resources to develop essential skills and learning.
Developing Soft Skills
Team leaders need to be consistently focused on developing their people skills, including communication, teamwork, decision-making, flexibility, mental agility and motivation. They must also learn how to run effective meetings.
Great managers bring out the best in people and help their employees shine. They ask the right questions, understand cultural issues, listen carefully, lead by example and are selfless in their work.
Managing Relationships
Former peers will view their new managers differently, so you need to understand and embrace this change. Successful line managers will need to set clear expectations and boundaries to improve relationships and team cohesion.
Delegation
Line managers must be excellent team contributors yet must never think theirs is the only way to achieve the desired goal. Productive teams are led by managers who can delegate effectively rather than micromanage. This shows trust that improves motivation and engagement.
The Bigger Picture
Line managers need to oversee the work and happiness of their own teams, but they also need to be plugged into the bigger picture of the organisation, including its strategy and politics.
A good manager will gather information on the skill needs and productivity of co-workers, and build support for their team’s goals. They will also communicate company goals to their team to keep them informed and prioritise tasks.
Managing Time
Great line managers must allow enough time to achieve their own tasks, including project management. However, they must balance this with people management activities to ensure team members feel engaged.
A study by Leadership IQ found that the optimal amount of time people should spend with their managers every week is six hours. A rise from one hour to six hours led to employees feeling 29 per cent more inspired by their work.
How We Can Help With Line Manager Skills
Businesses and organisations need to find better ways to equip their line managers so they can manage teams more effectively. It is essential that organisations help by providing training for line managers, preferably before they start their new roles.
We offer open courses for the public and run regular line management courses that are suitable for newly-appointed line managers and those who want to improve their skills.
We also run tailored training programmes designed in partnership with the organisations we work with. These respond to specific people-driven challenges to help them meet their business objectives.
Our line management programmes address all the challenges mentioned above and will help individuals feel confident in their ability to manage, encourage and inspire others. This is because we demonstrate the key techniques and tools, and help participants practice what they need to be effective leaders.
Listen to our podcast on – How to excel as a new line manager
Read – What is line management? – what does a line manager do?
Check out these – Top 10 line management tips
