Ben Halpern

Posted on Apr 7, 2020

Describe the best manager you've ever had

#discuss #career

Top comments (18)

Her name is Karyn. I worked with her at CSX the rail road company. She had very cool ideas in mind, she knew how to listen to her employees, she protected us when she knew things weren't fair, she wanted us to keep growing and learn new things, she was flexible, she was thoughtful. One of my favorite things about her was that she trusted her employees. She knew our talent and she knew we will get things done. Also, She was ready to help us when we needed help and she never crossed the line that make her seem like a micromanager. While I was at CSX, she tried to make things better not only for her employees but for everyone! and she was 100% pro diversity and inclusion and I'm thankful that she gave me the opportunity to be part of her team. I don't even work for her anymore and she reaches out here and there to see what's up with me. She is awesome and I miss working with her all the time. She is not a boss, she is a leader.

Nedim F • Apr 8 '20

We all need Karyn in our life

Pato • Apr 9 '20

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John Luke Garofalo • Apr 7 '20

I've seen the best and worst managers.

The best manager:

She defines clear expectations.
She listens and asks questions constantly.
She defends her team members to other stakeholders in the organization.
Shoulders the blame when things go wrong.
She helps the team/individual learn from any mistakes.
She is a master of empathy and communication.
She knows when to get involved and when to back away.
She goes out of her way to consistently have one-on-ones with every team member.
She knows what drives each team member she's responsible for managing.
She uses a balanced combination of data, intuition, and empathy to back up her performance evaluations.

The worst manager:

She doesn't define any clear expectations.
She always knows what to do.
She is the loudest one in the room.
She doesn't have time for one-on-ones with her team members.
She is never at fault for the failures of her team.
She never listens or asks questions.
She only uses data to back up her performance evaluations.
She only uses gut feeling to back up her performance evaluations.

Anwar • Apr 7 '20 • Edited

I remember my manager from my second internship while I was graduating.

I had to learn C#/asp.NET, and he was the CEO of a company that sell a popular accounting management solution as well as managing all the IT infrastructure for our customers.

Not to say he was not into programming, but had the required sensitivity to be able to understand the big picture and give me directions for the smallish ERP I had to develop at this time.

However, he had this ability to dig into a subject so far that he sometimes used to teach me tricks about a specific and complicated use case, and this was very eye opening for me.

But what I will always keep from this wonderful experience was his strong knowledge in database modelization. All I know today is because he insisted in teaching me best practices, and I feel today I would not have the same vision about how I solve problems if I would not had this experience back then.

So if you are reading this, thank you for your patience and your pedagogy!

Paula • Apr 7 '20

I had this very supportive manager in my first part time job in a tech company close to my university, who appreciated my job even though I was very noob. Even if I left and drove my career in another direction years ago, he keeps checking on me even now, from time to time, and follows my achievements.

Gayan Hewa • Apr 7 '20

I have had a few. First off, was someone I worked with on multiple occasions via a freelance contracting platform. He helped me realize my potential as a programmer. And where I can / should improve my self. The other one was a non-technical manager (somewhat technical) but the best thing with him was that he complimented my weaknesses. Mostly the introversion I had become non-existent to everyone else due to the fact that when we worked in projects things just clicked fine. And the manager would know exactly when and how to push me to make sure I got heard.

Shannon Crabill • Apr 7 '20

I've had several managers in my career and most of them have been good. But experience with the manager in my current role (let's call her Sara) sticks out to me.

I'll say that my manager before I came to this job, was not great and is a big part of why I left a full-time role with benefits for a contract one with no benefits. I was a few months into my new job, everything was fine, very different from my previous one (in a good way) and it happens, I made a mistake on launching an email campaign.

Oh no.

Mistakes happen. We're human, but I think we can all agree that making a mistake in a new role is especially nerve-wracking. In my old job, where I had been for 5+ years, a tiny mistake, one much smaller than the one I had just made, my manager made me feel horrible and it kept being brought up as opposed to any of my positive accomplishments. So, I was very concerned about what would happen here.

The experience was totally different.

I can't remember if I realized my own mistake and brought attention to it, or if the client did, but eventually, me and my manager had a chat. Sara wanted to understand what had happened and acknowledged that while yes, I did make a mistake, there was room for interpretation on the client-side. In summary, the talk amounted to yes, it was a mistake, it happens but everything is ok. I wasn't belittled or made to feel like I was unskilled or flawed, it wasn't a blame game. It was a conversation where I left feeling ok and not devastation that one error would continue to follow me around and get brought up every 1:1, etc.

And that is part of what makes a good manager, in my opinion.

Santosh Yadav • Apr 7 '20

His Name is Anand Bhushan, worked with him during my time at Loylty Rewardz where I worked for 5 years, I was a very short-tempered angry young man, and used to fight with everyone who is wrong, He changed me as a person, He thought me how to handle difficult situations, It changed me as a person as well. I become calmer and started thinking before talking to anyone. Even in my last job, my manager told me, he wants to learn how to handle difficult situations like me. All thanks to Anand :)

Ben Halpern • Apr 7 '20

Not too implicitly expose everyone who wasn’t the best 😬

Sarah • Apr 11 '20 • Edited

I've had a few great managers, they had very different styles but this is what they had in common:

Personable and approachable: I would say this is arguably the most important
Listen: leading is sometimes confused with dictation, but I've found the best leaders to listen more to their reports
Genuine interest in those who report to them
They can talk the talk and walk the walk: they lead by example
Patient and empathetic
Have enthusiasm and confidence in the team