Bookmark This! 20 Tips for Managers and Leaders

• Sharlyn Lauby


• 20 Jul 2018

Many of you may know that, a few months ago, Mr. Bartender and I moved from South Florida to the Northern part of the state. As part of the move, we downsized our home and offices. A huge task! But it was so rewarding. It’s amazing how stuff accumulates.

As I was cleaning out my office, I ran across some articles that I had saved with tips and advice for managers. Today, I wouldn’t keep paper articles. I can just save them to Pinterest. But in looking them over, it got me thinking, what are some of those pearls of wisdom that have held up over the course of time? Well, thanks to this pile of decade-old articles, I have a few to share with you.

The first ten are focused on individual traits for managers and leaders. No matter what role you have in the organization, I can see these being important activities to always remember. Not listed in any order of importance (they’re all important!), these would also be equally helpful in our personal lives.

1. Establish positive work relationships with those around you.
2. Recognize the contributions of others.
3. Say “I don’t know” when you don’t.
4. Carefully manage your time. It’s your scarcest and least renewable resource.
5. Follow-through in a timely manner.
6. Have someone you may confide in.
7. Bring more humor into the workplace.
8. Continue your personal and professional growth.
9. Read just for fun.
10. Smile, it’s contagious.

The next ten I thought were a bit more focused on what we do as managers and leaders in the workplace.

11. Know your organization’s goals and values, so you can help others achieve them.
12. Never tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind.
13. Don’t always look for one right answer.
14. Answer questions. Question answers.
15. Establish a reputation for reliability by completing assignments well and on time.
16. Learn how to distill large amounts of information into a few salient points.
17. Learn how to say “no”.
18. Conduct an honest self-evaluation each year.
19. Network with people outside of your field.
20. Recognize that no one is indispensable.

I hope you don’t mind that, on some level, I wrote this post for me. I’m going to bookmark it for myself so that I can occasionally review the tips. Make sure I’m always striving to do these things. I hope you’ll do the same. Together, we can change the world of work.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the Queen Mary which is docked in Long Beach, CA

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