How To: Be a Great Manager

If being a manager is no longer the stuff of dreams, maybe that’s because being a great manager has become increasingly complicated. In the 21st century, managing isn’t just about being a leader. It is also about listening to, understanding, empowering and supporting employees. A manager’s challenge is to get a team of people genuinely involved in the projects they are working on. Unfortunately, confronted with these new responsibilities, managers have struggled to adapt. For example, in 2017, an international survey by the Gallup Institute revealed that 70% of employees who reported diminished professional commitment felt poor management was responsible. Given these new managerial challenges, how then is it possible to be a great manager?

In an attempt to answer this question, we went to ask business coaches and professionals for their advice on what best practices to adopt.

For many years, Joost Smits van Waesberghe held a top management position at Procter & Gamble. Today he is the supply chain Vice-President of a multinational cosmetics brand; for him, management must involve empowering teams. He takes us through the evolution of contemporary management techniques and challenges.

After a long career as a Sales Manager at Danone, Norine became a management coach. For the past ten years, she has been helping managers gain a better awareness of their strengths. Specialized in proximity management, she tells us what she believes makes a manager great.

Clément is the co-founder of Convelio, a start-up based in London and Paris. He takes us back to his early days as a manager, including the challenges he faced from rapid expansion and having to manage teams that were divided between two countries.