Ask anyone about the best manager they ever had and they’ll answer instantly. Ask them what made that manager great, and the answers are strikingly consistent: they listened, they backed me, they helped me grow.
In our recent skills booster, The Manager’s Balancing Act, Productivity Ninja Hayley Watts unpacked why management feels so relentless right now. Managers are pulled in every direction, with targets to hit, teams to support and pressure from above.
The three things every manager is balancing
At the heart of the session is the Adair model, which breaks the manager role into three core elements:
Task. The work itself. Setting objectives, organising resources, monitoring progress.
Team. The relationships. Building a positive culture, communicating well, keeping everyone pulling in the same direction.
Individual. The people. Understanding that each team member has their own goals, needs and abilities, and supporting them accordingly.
The model’s central insight is that these three are interdependent. Over-focus on the task and your people burn out. Over-focus on individuals and the work drifts. Effective managers aren’t brilliant at one element; they’re deliberate about balancing all three.
There’s no single “right” management style
Hayley also walked through six recognised management styles, from Visionary (“come with me”) and Coaching (“what will you do next?”) through to Pacesetting (“do as I do, now”) and Directive (“do what I tell you”).
We all have a default style. The trap is assuming it works in every situation. A Directive style can be exactly right in a crisis and demotivating everywhere else. Coaching builds capability but takes time you may not have on a deadline. The skill isn’t picking a style, it’s reading the situation and flexing.
Feedback that actually lands
One of the most practical parts of the session covered the seven characteristics of effective feedback: specific, frequent, balanced, actionable, relevant, timely and kind.
Two points stood out. First, research shows positive feedback needs to significantly outweigh constructive feedback, at a ratio of around 5:1, for people to accept and believe it. If criticism is all your team hears, they won’t trust the praise when it comes.
Second, the old “feedback sandwich” doesn’t work. Wrapping constructive feedback in compliments causes confusion and can make the message land worse, not better. When feedback is frequent and normal, there’s no blow to soften.
Watch the full session
We’ve only scratched the surface here. The full skills booster includes the group discussion on great (and not so great) managers, how to spot which style a situation calls for, and Hayley’s take on protecting your wellbeing while managing others.
Watch the full recording of The Manager’s Balancing Act here:
If you’d like to go deeper, our The Manager Role workshop helps managers reflect on their personal style, understand its benefits and limitations, and find the quick wins that propel them to further success.
Get in touch with our team, we’d love to help.