Employees follow managers, and if they decide to leave, they often leave managers, not their jobs. A team leader inspires and organizes individual contributors, and smart management is essential whether this is your own business or you are just responsible for making a certain department motivated and productive. Being a successful manager is not a nine to five job, it’s a way of life.

Start with managing yourself

Hiring smart people and organizing them is reasonable, however, it won’t work if you yourself are not competent enough, show up in the office later than your employees and consider micromanagement with watching over the shoulder a good idea. With a leader like this, even the best professionals quickly lose their initial enthusiasm. When you yourself set an example and are ready to guide and support others, your people show the best of them and learn from you daily. Here are a few tips for increasing your personal productivity:

1.Start every morning thinking about the experience you are going to live through today, about the appointments and the tasks you have. If you have any events, including family events and team meetings, plan them beforehand and set reminders. At the end of the day, remember what it was like, what impressed you, what were your achievements and the misfortunate events, and what are your next aspirations.

2.From time to time, come to work earlier to have the spare time when no one disturbs you and you can calmly deal with the tasks, check the progress of the employees and make assignments. Prepare daily, weekly and monthly plans and always start with the things that are your least favorite and most complex. After you’re done with them, all the rest will feel like a breeze.

3.Never stop learning and spur others to do the same. To gain the respect of your employees, you need to have a deep understanding of what everyone of them is responsible for, and be ready to guide them. Be the first one to unveil new technologies and if there is a budget for it, help your team to get additional training or education and to participate in industry events. Thus the employees will consider further development within the company the most attractive option. Create your personal career development plan and while sticking to it, make it flexible in order to improve it when your knowledge, skills and opportunities change.