The Three Levels Of Trust You Should Have In Your Managers

Rocky Romanella – CEO, 3Sixty Management Services.

When you’re a leader, you can’t do it all. Trying to have your hands in every project and make all the decisions creates a chaotic and unproductive work environment and workflow. Therefore, having a management team you trust can help you, and the organization, soar.

When you’re looking for the right candidate to promote or hire into a management role, it’s not always the obvious choice. Oftentimes the best manager isn’t the most skilled or tenured but is dynamic in their ability to manage and lead.

Here are three levels of trust you should have in your managers:

1. You trust they can make a decision.

A decision maker has the ability to do just that, make a decision. Decision makers are big picture thinkers. They have the ability to take all information available, look at the options from their widest consequences, and make a choice. A decision maker is skilled at critical thinking. They’re able to commit to deductive reasoning and articulate why they made the decision they made. When a manager can effectively explain the reason and process of their decision it displays thoughtfulness.

A decision maker is also organized and aware. They understand the importance of prioritizing the decisions that need to be made in order to propel projects forward and keep work flow moving.

2. You trust they can solve problems effectively and/or creatively.

A good manager should be able to handle a lot of responsibilities without your constant input. Problems are going to arise. However, the organization cannot run efficiently if every problem is brought to you and needs your input to solve the problem. That’s why a good manager doesn’t just bring you a problem. They bring you a problem with a list of possible solutions and they make good strategic choices.

3. You trust in their desire to lead with the company’s values in mind.

A strong value system, with a mission and vision, is important to have as part of your company’s culture—recruiting, onboarding, annual performance reviews and social responsibilities should all be connected to this. Bringing your values to life helps institutionalize them. The right managers should be able to manage without sacrificing the company’s values. A good manager makes decisions and propels projects forward in alignment with the overarching mission of the company.

Putting the right people with the right skills in management positions is a vital skill for leaders to have. Good managers can drive results and keep all team members empowered, performing and happy. When it’s time to decide who to promote, keeping these three points in mind can help you make the best decision about who should be the managers in your company.

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