Managers

Good managers are hard to come by. There are many things that make a great manager, and very few have all of these qualities. See my post on types of leaders for more on the qualities one can learn to become a good leader.

I'm in a technical role and like having a manager that knows at least something about the process that their team is working on. They do not need to know every detail, but they should know how to ask the right questions. Knowing which questions to ask, usually results from having some experience in the role. It is a painful experience watching someone try to manage a team without this quality.

Ideally, you want to be able to learn something from your manager. Their experience should be yours for the taking.

A manager should build a working environment encouraging people to move if needed for personal growth, but do things for their team to make sure they don't want to move. This could involve supporting their employee's personal ambitions within the company, providing a budget for education and learning, or encouraging collaboration with other teams that the employee strives to be a part of.

Everyone typically wants the best for themselves. Ambitious people want to perform exceptionally on what they are working on. Managers should foster an environment that allows people to discuss things openly, without worrying if there could be negative consequences. Feelings of fear and personal consequences results in people not speaking up when they should. There should be a focus on the solution or problem without fear of consequence for the person that raises it.

A manager should encourage people and show appreciation when they do a good job. They should avoid constant negative feedback when someone's giving their all but still struggling on a hard problem. Bringing the person down might push them to solve the immediate problem, but it will result in resentment and hate.

Negative people should be removed from the team. A manager should identify these people that are a bad influence on those around them, and remove them if they manage to slip into the team.