25. Listen to ideas from others

"When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen." Ernest Hemingway

If you think you know it all, chances are you will be too busy listening to yourself and how great you are to have time to listen to anyone else. But I know that's not you. Everyone, no matter how lowly their position or task, has something to offer you. Try talking to the lift operator, the car park attendant, the canteen staff, the cleaning staff, whoever and whatever. And, most important, listen to people in your team. They are the ones in the know who have to work with the resources and the products. They are the ones at the cutting edge and they may well have ideas, good ideas. You don't need to consult them over every little thing but the big things . . . well, yes. Talk to them. Get their feedback, their ideas, their creativity.

You obviously have to be careful to make sure that although you are listening to them it is you who still carries the can. You might listen but that doesn't mean you are going to act on every one of their ideas. Nip in the bud the feeling that if they suggest, you have to carry out. Therein lies terrible trouble. Listen, assimilate and then decide based on what you've heard, your own experience and ideas and what is practical. It's no good you listening and then not using their information and them becoming terribly despondent - 'What's the use of telling the boss my ideas, they're never used'.

You have to listen without giving the idea that you will necessarily use their ideas, so then they won't be disappointed when you do something completely different. But you can make them think their ideas were incorporated into your overall strategy.

Virtually every team member I have ever known could tell their manager something useful about what they as a team or a company are getting wrong, or how something could be done better. If you're open to this, ask good questions and listen without prejudice (or talking over them), you're immediately in a different class to most managers.

26. Adapt your style to each team member

"You are unique; you have specific skills that address your organization's perceived needs and attracted its leaders to hire you. You also have a style of working with others that most likely has become an established pattern in your life. To the extent that your style of doing things fulfils the needs of the organization and its members, you will be successful."

Stephen C. Rafe, President, Rapport Communications

Adapting your style does not mean you have to be a chameleon. It means you have to be sensitive to your teams individuality and work with it. You may have outgoing members who like to be praised in public and then you might have quieter, more intro­spective members who would shrivel up and die if praised in public and prefer to be told they are doing a good job privately. There, you've changed your style without changing your skin, spots or personality.

I have one team member, a very good one, who does her job superbly but who absolutely hates appraisals and would do anything to get out of them. She loathes having to talk about herself in any way - and this borders almost on a real phobia. I have to change my style with her considerably when carrying out a six-monthly appraisal because if she gets wind of the fact that I'm even thinking about doing one she'll hyperventilate and have a panic attack. And then I have another team member who greets me each morning with a very cheery, 'How am I doing Boss?' Now he really likes talking about himself and would happily be given a daily appraisal - if I were to let it happen. Both team members do their job extremely well - they wouldn't be there if they didn't - but they do need handling in a completely different way. 1 want them both to continue doing good work, and I have to handle them differently to get the best from them.

Similarly, some people like to be left alone, to create opportunities and make things happen, and they will come and tell you if they need help (the bright self-motivators) and others will need you to direct their actions more and give them specific projects to do. Don't overmanage the former - they'll resist and they'll get irritated (and quite possibly leave). Equally, don't undermanage the latter or they will feel stressed by a lack of structure to their job and won't work hard. Think about the individual. Think about what they need and what motivates them, and adapt your management style accordingly.