Learning how to lead your team more effectively can
provide a sound platform for career development, as well
as fostering a better workplace environment that is based
on collaboration and mutual success.
Four Keys to
Reaching Your
Potential to Be a
Great Manager
David Deacon
I f you are fortunate enough to serve as
a manager with responsibility for the
performance and output of other people
in addition to yourself, chances are that
both of the following statements are true:
• You really want to be a good manager,
possibly even a great manager, and to
fulfill your potential in that role by
leading your team well.
• If you have attended any training on
how to be a manager (which may be
unlikely) the course probably focused
on processes you need to follow, sys-
tems to use, and tools to help you
complete various managerial tasks.
The challenge for most managers is
that the second statement will not help
you to achieve the first. It’s unlikely that
any of the management training you
have completed will help you reach your
potential to be a great manager, and,
in most companies, you will find that
you are on your own in the search for
improvement in this area. If you have
worked for a great manager in the past or
have a mentor who knows how to man-
age well, you at least have a sense of what
you need to do; however, without having
experienced that opportunity, it’s likely
that you are relying on instincts.
Let’s start with what the best managers
actually do, the things that make them
so effective and impactful. These manag-
ers usually deliberately, consciously, and
actively create the environment around
their teams, encouraging and supporting
great work by individual team members
and by the team as a whole. Although
this frankly sounds simple and obvious,
the reality is that most managers often
do not pay any attention to the team
climate they create, the collective and
individual success of the team, and the
overall motivation and momentum of
the team. These managers usually have a
different focus—on objectives, processes,
and performance management as the
www.asq.org/pub/jqp 25
 proxies for managing well. In contrast, great man-
agers recognize that the real value in their roles lies
in the opportunity to set the tone and establish and
reinforce a team culture where members thrive and
achieve great things. This is why the best manag-
ers are blessed with teams of high performers who
are highly productive and impactful; they create
an environment in which those results can hap-
pen. These managers aren’t lucky; they are good at
their jobs.
It’s this conscious and deliberate curation of the
culture that sets great managers apart, and because
this starts with your attitude and approach to
the manager role, you can take a big step toward
managerial greatness simply by being more deliber-
ate in the way you manage. Becoming intentional
and thoughtful—developing into a self-determined
manager—is the essential step, and there’s a lot you
can do to develop your ability without relying on
an employer to help you (which, given the scarcity
and variable quality of most management training,
is just as well).
To do this correctly, pay close attention to four
aspects of being a manager—reflect on the work of
your team, get really thoughtful about the people
on the team, pay attention to team dynamics, and
watch your own impact and adjust where needed.
Reflect on the Work Your Team is Supposed
to Do
Why does the work of your team matter? If you
were in charge—indeed, if you owned the com-
pany—what would you value about the output of
the team you manage? Why would you desire to
have it want to do the work it does? What does the
team contribute to the effectiveness and success of
the overall enterprise? Of all the things your team
does, which are most important—the work that
brings the most value? Without your team, would
bad things happen? Why would you all be missed if
your team did not exist?
These questions are important in two ways. First,
you need to have a clear understanding about the
purpose and value behind the work of the team to
fulfill your own sense of purpose and satisfaction.
You need to know why the work matters to you,
how it fits with your overall sense of what you are
expected to do, and how the work ensures that your
own ambition and drive are reflected through the
importance you place on the output of the team.
26 The Journal for Quality & Participation July 2019
Additionally, you need to be able to explain
to your team why its work and efforts matter.
Remember that what you want and need from
your team is great performance—not just having
team members do what they are supposed to do.
This means that you need team members to be
motivated and committed; you are looking for
additional discretionary effort, not just doing the
work. You are hoping to find some spark of great-
ness from each person. None of this will happen
without team members believing that their work is
important, that their outcomes impact the success
of the company in some way or make a posi-
tive difference to customers/clients. The additional
effort that you need from the team comes from
its members being motivated to do great work,
which means that they need to know the value and
importance of their work. This is why you need to
understand the reason the work of the team matters
to you; you cannot explain with any credibility why
the team’s output makes an important difference if
you do not believe that its work is important. So, for
the first step, reflect on why the work of the team is
important, the difference it makes, and decide how
you will communicate this with genuine belief.
Get Really Thoughtful About the People on
the Team
Great managers are really good with team mem-
bers, treating them like individuals, rather than as
a group. These managers pay attention to mem-
bers in a thoughtful way, working out what each
person needs in order to contribute his/her best
performance. Great managers search for two specific
things from individual members—their best per-
formance given their capabilities and energy levels,
as well as their growth and ambition to contribute
more (and in new ways) in the future.
With these two aims in mind, you should think
about every member on your team and decide
the following:
• What are his/her skills and opportunities for
improvement? Ensure that you are describing
these characteristics in your own words, based
on what you have observed and the way the
team member works. Keep in mind that you
will need to discuss your perspectives with each
individual, so you’d better own your point of
view. Watch how team members do what they
do, decide what they do well and where they
have shortfalls, and be able to describe these
 observations thoroughly. Take the time to vali-
date your thoughts with them. By the way, the
best managers do not fall back on corporate
competency models or job assessments—even if
these might be informative. Instead, role-model
managers form their views, using their own
words, and articulating opinions in ways that
resonate with each member of the team.
• What is your plan for each team member, given
his/her balance of strengths and weaknesses, as
well as the work he/she does now? What could
the future hold for that individual? How could
his/her work be broader, his/her contribution
better, or be different from current performance?
On what does the team member need to focus
now in order to maximize his/her impact, as well
as in the future in order to take advantage of his/
her potential? Regardless of whether the indi-
vidual’s potential is modest or huge, everyone
needs to feel some degree of progression, so as
the manager you need to be able to plan for each
team member’s growth based on your assessment
of his/her relative capabilities and potential.
Furthermore, you need to do one other thing,
which may feel a bit counterintuitive. Find some-
thing that you like and appreciate about each
individual. No one will give his/her discretion-
ary effort for a manager who doesn’t like him/
her. To be clear, you will not equally like every-
one on the team, and this recommendation isn’t
The Self Determined Manager: A Manifesto for
Exceptional People Managers
Author: David Deacon
Abstract: This book offers
the opportunity to think dif-
ferently about the best way
to be a manager. Managers
are the key ingredient that
makes the difference in
great companies, and the true work of managers
is to create an environment for their teams—
whether that’s one other person or thousands of
people. The best managers are conscious, deliber-
ate, highly skilled leaders. This book is written for
everyone who wants to be better at performing
about making friends with team members; how-
ever, as the manager you need to determine what
you value—even for the people who aren’t really
likable or with whom you don’t naturally relate.
Determine what you value about each person
and focus on those traits when devising the plan
and helping the team member to achieve and
grow. You’ll get much more from each person as
a result of this approach.
Pay Attention to the Team Dynamics
The best managers treat team members indi-
vidually while also paying attention to the overall
dynamic that exists in the team. These managers
never forget that they are responsible for how the
team works together, and they realize that they set
the tone for the team collaboration. Here are some
questions you can ask about the overall team.
• Are we cooperative or competitive with each
other?
• Do we work toward shared aims or individual
achievements?
• Do we collaborate or play games among team
members?
• Are we transparent or secretive?
• Do we help each other or encourage survival of
the fittest?
• Is our team spirit positive and progressive or
reactive and low-key?
• Are we ambitious or tentative?
this vital role. It shares the attitudes, actions,
and agendas of the very best people managers,
covering both what they do and the approaches
they take. It’s not easy to be a great manager, but
this book provides a blueprint and the mani-
festo for everyone who wants to manage others
well. With practical questions, checklists, and
in-depth explanations, it’s a powerful and practi-
cal guide that every manager will want to read.
Publisher: Motivational Press
ISBN Number: 978-1-62865-582-7
Format/Length: Softcover/148 pages
Price: $19.95
www.asq.org/pub/jqp 27
 • Do we look outward or focus internally?
• Are we optimistic or gloomy?
When the answers you find are less positive than
you want, there are two things you can do. First,
reflect on your part in shaping what you find. What
matters to you about the way people work together?
How positive and ambitious are you, and how do
you transmit that approach to your team? What
behaviors do you encourage and endorse? How is
what you feel and how you act reflected in the team
dynamic? Are you a role model for the behaviors
you want your team to demonstrate? Ask yourself,
what you need to do to change your approach that
will influence the way the team works together?
Next, talk about these issues with your team. Take a
few minutes (not an entire offsite meeting initially)
to discuss your intentions for and observations of
the team dynamic to start the dialogue. Openness
takes time; it’s not a one-time conversation; how-
ever, raising team members’ awareness and letting
them know your expectations for the way they
should work together is worth doing now.
Watch Your Own Impact
You are the manager, so you set the tone. By vir-
tue of your role, your words and actions are watched
28 The Journal for Quality & Participation July 2019
and amplified. Everything you say is likely to be
repeated, the things about which you talk become
the team’s priorities, and the way you behave sets
the norm for all team members. Because of the
power of amplification, the team will reflect your
expectations, and actions you take will be emulated
many times. If you are pessimistic, your team also
will be. If you don’t have a plan for where the team
is supposed to go, members will be directionless.
You will get the team performance you deserve
because of how you act, what you say, and what you
do. You alone have the power of amplification; it’s
the structure of the job. Although you cannot turn it
off and never should pretend it isn’t driving how the
team acts, you can use that power for good and take
advantage of its leverage to create the team climate
you desire.
Being keenly aware of your impact on your
team and getting really thoughtful about how
your approach and style drive the team dynamic
is worthwhile. Watching your impact and adjust-
ing your behavior accordingly is a hallmark of a
truly accomplished manager. When doing this,
here are a few specific things to which you should
pay attention.
• Set high standards. You define success, profes-
sionalism, and benchmarks. Make sure that your
team is working toward achieving the highest
level possible. Anything less than that level of
performance would be a waste of team members’
capabilities and your ambition; aim for creating
the very best team you can imagine or stop being
the manager.
• Be restless for achievement. Celebrate successes,
enjoy achievements, and recognize great work
by the team and its members. Always wonder
what can be done better, what else the team
could do, how current results could be made
even better next time, how the work could be
conducted faster, and how outputs could be
improved. Great managers are always somewhat
impatient and a bit dissatisfied; it’s what drives
them forward.
• Treat people like adults. People do their best work
when they are treated like adults; work is not
the same as school. If you find yourself bullying,
shouting, patronizing, belittling, name calling,
behaving aggressively, or being condescending,
you need to stop and adjust your behavior. A
skilled manager creates a great environment by
treating team members like adults.
• Don’t play favorites. One of the best ways to kill
a collaborative and high-performing team is for
the manager to favor people who get his/her
attention and endorsement for personal reasons,
rather than business or project reasons. People
quickly learn to put their effort into being a
favorite, disengaging from the team if they know
that they are not “in the sunlight.” Either way,
your team will no longer be engaged in the
things that really matter if you have favorites,
and that result will be your fault.
• Keep working toward perfection. Being a great man-
ager—a self-determined manager—is hard work
and requires your attention all times. You need
to give more than you get, know your own mind,
and have the courage to follow your perspectives.
Some days it can be very difficult to keep the focus
on all of these factors, leading the team and its
members, setting the proper tone, and sustaining
a culture of exceptional performance. Don’t give
up, however. Your job is really important, and
how you do your job makes a huge difference to
the success and careers of the people who work
for you. Keep working toward perfection—for
your own satisfaction and because your team is
relying on you to do that.
Summary
The four keys to becoming a great manager start
with you knowing what you think and want, figur-
ing out why the work matters, determining how the
individuals on your team can produce great out-
comes, and learning what they need to attain high
performance. Then you need to discern the team
dynamics you want and watch your impact on the
collective team and its members by working to set
the tone and create a climate of success, exceptional
performance, and growth. Even if there is no man-
agement development in sight for you, you can start
to cultivate your abilities as a manager by reflecting
on these four principles, becoming more aware of
what you have, what you need, how your approach
drives the team, and how to consciously deliberate
and shape the team environment. Your team mem-
bers will love you for it!
David Deacon
David Deacon (selfdeterminedmanager@gmail.com)
is the author of The Self-Determined Manager: A
Manifesto for Exceptional People Managers and was
recognized by the Best Practice Institute in 2014 as a Best
Organizational Practitioner.
www.asq.org/pub/jqp 29