Meredith Wood reveals seven easy, but highly effective, things you can do today.

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It’s hard enough to manage your own challenges at work. Managing others as well is a whole different skillset, and it takes a lot of practice.

It’s important to remember that, often, employees don’t leave their jobs because of the company. They leave their jobs because of their managers, so it’s important to master the art of being a great manager.

Consider this statistic from a recent study: more than 56% of employees would turn down a 10% pay rise to stay with a good manager. Or this statistic that 82% of employees would rather receive praise from their manager than a gift.

More than 56% of employees would turn down a 10% pay rise to stay with a good manager

Given that praise doesn’t cost anything, why not go for it? Not enough managers take the time to appreciate their employees, or, if they do, they don’t do so in a way that makes their employees feel valued.

Take the time to inspire and motivate your employees. You’ll ultimately raise employee retention and engagement and wind up with a happier team.

Or, consider ditching multitasking. You might think you can do it effectively, but you’re likely neglecting some of your tasks and not being as attentive to your employees as you should be.

Instead, try focusing intensely on groups of similar tasks in a given amount of time through a process called time batching.

Here’s a summary of seven easy, but highly effective, ways to become a better manager, from the onboarding process to the day-to-day tasks.

About the author

Meredith Wood is a vice-president at Fundera