Being a company manager is a lot of responsibility but it’s also a rewarding challenge that you might be interested in. Think about it, you’re finally in a position where you can make all the difference in the world. You also find yourself in a scenario where you can impact the course of not just your company but the industry as a whole. With that in mind and without further ado, here are several tips that should help you excel at this crucial function.
Wise delegation of tasks
The first thing you need to understand is that, as a tech company manager, chances are that your employees will have a more technical prowess than you in many aspects of the business. This, on the other hand, is completely normal and not exclusive to the industry. Think about it, does a person running a steel mill knows the most about the chemical composition of quality steel? Do they know all there is about the manufacturing process? No, because this is not their job. All you need to do is wisely delegate these tasks and give the tools necessary to perform them.
Learn how to give feedback
The next thing you need to learn is how to give your employees feedback. Ideally, you would give them every one a personalized approach (introverts and extroverts require a different tactic when giving out feedback). The problem with this idea lies in the fact that in the tech industry, there are a lot of people who are not actually working from the office, which means that the only means to give them feedback is via a written form. Learn how to break down their flaws as gently as possible and you might see some improvement where you least expect it.
Outsource non-core tasks
As a tech company, it would be ideal if you could focus on the tech-aspect of your business exclusively and leave everything else to specialists. We’re talking about the HR and customer support, as well as situational problems like litigation and disputes. In the case of the latter, you could just find reliable litigation lawyers in your vicinity and negotiate the terms of this outsourcing partnership. The main reason why this is so important is due to the fact that it gives you fewer administrative tasks to handle. Either way, you look at it, outsourcing is definitely the way to go.
Make time for them
One of the problems with the advice of spending time with your employees lies in finding the right way to do so. First, you want them to feel special… to feel like they have your personal attention. However, you don’t want to distract them from their regular duties and you do not want to have them stay late so that you can have your face-to-face meeting. So, make a mandatory one-on-one meet up with each person in the office and ensure that everyone knows their turn. This is really the best way to handle this scenario. Make this into a corporate tradition in order to reap full benefits.
Don’t waste time on meetings
A lot of tech startups have a custom of wasting too much time on meetings. In fact, there’s a figure that an average office employee wastes 31 hours in various meetings every month. The main reason why we’ve used the word wastes (even though meetings as phenomena are essential to the business world) is due to the fact that the majority of these meetings could have been emailed, instead. So, either learn how to organize great standing meetings or start sending circular emails a tad more often.
Define culture and values
As a tech manager, it’s your decision to make what kind of office you want to run. What you need to understand is that it all starts with defining your corporate culture and values. A lot of people put emphasis on interest but the interests are always the same. People want their business to grow, they want to be personally recognized, promoted and for their income to grow. Corporate values, on the other hand, send a lot stronger and a more personalized message of what you want to achieve, as well as how you intend to do so.
In conclusion
As you can see, the majority of the above-listed tips are not necessarily related to the tech industry but rather with the act of being a company manager. Still, by understanding the peculiarities of the industry, you’ll have an easier job of adapting your methods. Each industry attracts a certain profile of employees and the career paths that they progress down on are fairly similar, as well. By gaining an in-depth understanding of this, you’re still putting yourself in a much more favourable spot.
