What makes a manager NAUGHTY or NICE?

New post for the Better Managers blog. 

As we look ahead to planning for successes in the New Year, and reflect on our shortcomings from this year, it’s important to consider what makes us naughty or nice as managers. Is it the time and attention we pay to employee retention and training? Is it the way we setup our operations to be organized and compliant within our select industries? Or maybe, it’s simply how we strive to evolve as managers and as human beings.

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” –John Maxwell 

With that in mind, let’s refocus during this final stretch of the year on our potential and what we can do to feed it and help it grow. Among my many personal goals as the year wraps up is to give re-energized concentration to the important items on my list and let the rest go. This one goal has continued to challenge me throughout this past year, as projects come and go that test my resolve to focus on the primary goals of my position and not get sidetracked for too long. My resolution for this last leg of the year is to give my absolute attention to the long-term goals that I believe will bring me the most success in the New Year. If you stop to think about where you are in your goals for the year, what should you focus on before the clock tolls 2013?

Now you may be wondering, “Where will I start?” PRACTICE THE ONE-A-DAY PRINCIPLE. You can’t please everybody all the time but you can do something extraordinary for one person each day (and maybe that person is yourself!).“Find a customer, colleague, relative or friend each day and do something remarkable. Using the one-a-day principle will make your business and life remarkable.”—Mark Sanborn, leadership development speaker and author of the best-selling book The Encore Effect.

Next, start prepping for the New Year – GET ORGANIZED! If disorder has been plaguing your progress this year, now is the time for fall cleaning. Instead of spring cleaning when you’re wiping away cob webs and dusting dark corners, fall cleaning should focus on aligning processes and tasks you attack regularly with a system that can help you stay on top of them. For the managers who utilize the Manager’s Red Book or its companion products, that system may already be in place, but there is always room for improvement.

Finally, STOP USING THE “BAD THING” LABEL. Whenever something happens that is not in line with our desires it’s okay to be disappointed. What we need to stop doing is labeling it a “bad thing” because usually, failures breed your next big success. This is how we learn and grow. “When Greyston Bakery filled its first order for brownies for Ben & Jerry’s, the thin brownie sheets stuck together in 50-pound lumps and could not be separated. You could certainly label this a “bad thing.” But Ben pondered what to do and ultimately Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream was born— one of Ben & Jerry’s most popular products. So don’t stick “bad thing” on whatever happens to you that you don’t like initially. Who knows, that may be the very thing that you need to break out into a brilliant new future.” —Srikumar Rao, professor teaching personal mastery and the best-selling author of Are You Ready to Succeed?

The bottom lines is, prepare to excel next year by taking stock of this year and then charge forward. I keep asking myself: What battles did I fight and not win this year? Are any of those battles worth continuing? Why didn’t I win them and what can I do to win them next year? When you find the answers to these questions, you are ready to face a new year – tougher, smarter and stronger than ever before. See you on the other side!

By, Danielle Lafontaine, Marketing Communications Manager, Red Book Solutions | 5 Years – Digital & Traditional Marketing Copywriter with Ad Agency and Corporate Marketing Experience | Social Media Guru & Community Builder with B2B and B2C Chops