How to Become 'Manager of the Year'

Being a fair, effective, and strong manager is essentially a high-wire juggling act. You need to be strict with employees, but you don't want to come off as unfriendly. You need to be authoritative, yet you also have to allow breathing room for employees to float new ideas. Finally, you need to admit when you're wrong -- one of the hardest things for a person in power to do.

Follow the helpful advice below, and you'll be well on your way to being crowned "Manager of the Year":

• Be clear about what you want. Explain tasks and assignments in a detailed, easy-to-understand manner. Keep in mind that the more specific you are in what you want done, the fewer knocks there will be on your office door asking for further explanation. Also, the assignment itself will be carried out in a speedier fashion if you're thorough with your instructions from the outset.
• Always be accessible and approachable. It's important that your employees feel comfortable coming to you with any problems or concerns they may be having in (or even outside) the office. If you give yourself an air of being unapproachable, potential company problems could be spiraling out of control unbeknownst to you, simply because employees are hesitant to bother you by bringing them to your attention. Stay open and approachable.
• Never criticize an employee publicly. You should never raise your voice and inform an employee what they're doing wrong while in the presence of other employees, no matter how serious the situation. Always bring a troublesome or underperforming employee into your office for a private chat on how to change bad behavior or work habits.
• Treat your employees with respect. Be open to listening to employees' ideas on how to improve the business; in fact, you should encourage them to think of ways to improve the business. While you are their manager, conduct yourself in a way that communicates you're also a team player. Take the time to learn a bit about their lives outside the office. Take your team out to lunch and inform them that the purpose of the meal is to talk about things not related to work.
• Allow room for mistakes. Do not overreact when one of your employees accidentally makes a bad move. Instead, talk about what happened in a levelheaded manner and encourage the employee to learn from his or her misstep. Mistakes are to be expected -- from everyone. Keep in mind that your employees are bound to respect you more if you admit a mistake you've made yourself.
• Check in on a regular basis. Depending on the demands of your business, you should schedule at least one weekly meeting with your employees to discuss how work is moving ahead. Listen carefully to what each person has to say and take notes accordingly. Always keep them abreast of any news you're allowed to share that comes down from upper management, and address any office rumors that may be making the rounds.