#WorkplaceWednesday

Let's talk today about managers. Some of you are managers, some of you aren't. Some have been and aren't now, some would like to be. So let's talk about what makes managers good or bad.

I've had a mix of good and bad managers and in-between. My last manager was the best manager I had ever had until he wasn't. We had close to four years of a great working relationship and one choice he made in a two week time span erased the years of good. It devastated me.

Here's what he and I would have many conversations about - and in the end he couldn't lead, he just managed. It was incredibly disappointing.

So whether you are a manager currently or are looking to get into management remember the key points above and here are 10 more truths to keep in mind. Listen being a manager is one thing but being a leader is not for the faint of heart. Go forth and LEAD.

And if you have a good manager who is more than that and leads well - make sure you affirm and encourage them in that role. Your affirmation can keep them moving in the direction of leading rather than just managing.

Comments

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

A dime a dozen

"It's said that in the year 1796, the first U.S. dimes were produced for circulation. Hence, it would make sense for this phrase to originate sometime after." Read more here . Today the phrase carries the meaning that something is cheap or without value if it can be lumped in with other similar or exactly-like things. It's more of an insult than anything.

Life according to van Gogh...sort of

There are two ways of thinking about painting, how not to do it and how to do it; how to do it -- with much drawing and little color; how not to do it -- with much color and little drawing. Vincent van Gogh in a l etter to Theo van Gogh, April 1882 Life is a little bit like today's quote from van Gogh. Some of us live life focusing on the drawing - the details - and have very little color. Others of us go for the color and forsake, to a degree, the drawing - the details. Unlike painting, according to van Gogh, one is not wrong over the other but somewhere in between the two would be the best I would think. If you look at some of van Gogh's paintings I feel like you can see where he might have struggled between the "how to do it" and the " how not to do it" (as he admittedly loved color so much but knew he had to focus more on the drawing) and that seems to be reflected in his life as well. In the end he wasn't able to find the ...

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