According to Brian Tracy, self-discipline is one of the main qualities of self-made millionaires.

It’s also a quality of any NFL player, Olympic athlete, Grammy Award winner or successful business owner.

“Practice Golden Rule Number One of Management in everything you do. Manage others the way you would like to be managed.”

-Brian Tracy

Effective management. It almost seems like a catch-all phrase these days. But, the fact is, whether it’s a small business manager or a big time corporate manager – some are effective and some aren’t.

What exactly does it mean to be effective? Being the "effective" researcher that I am, I googled it for us so we can be clear. Here is what The Free Dictionary give us:

ef·fec·tive adj.

1. a. Having an intended or expected effect. b. Producing a strong impression or response; striking: gave an effective performance as Othello.

2. Operative; in effect: The law is effective immediately.

3. Existing in fact; actual: a decline in the effective demand.

4. Prepared for use or action, especially in warfare.

Wow. Every one of those definitions fits into what I would look for in an effective manager, but I really think the first one is the best.

An effective manager has the intended or expected effect and an effective manager produces a strong impression or response – they do what they set out to do and what is expected of them; they are leaders.

Brian Tracy lists the following ten skills as essential to being an effective manager:

1. Planner – they work with a plan of action, with goals – they think on paper.
2. Organizer – they organize people, money, resources and facilities in advance.
3. Recruitment Officer – they have an interview and selection process in place that helps to hire people who can do the job and fit in with their team.
4. Delegator – they can delegate clearly defined tasks to the right people.
5. Supervisor – they have reporting systems in place to monitor progress; they have clearly defined standards and expectations.
6. Performance Measurer – they have systems in place to ensure that deadlines, quotas and quality standards are being met.
7. Reporter – they use systems to summarize information that needs to be relayed to others.
8. Producer – they are always improving what gets done and reassessing to ensure that the end result is the best result.
9. Innovator – they get outside of the box, and they invite their team members to join them.
10. Profit Maker – they understand that the bottom line is to make a profit – and they look in every direction to make that happen.

If you are looking to be a more effective manager, ask yourself honestly which of these skills you improve on. Then call a FocalPoint Business Coaching Professional for a free coaching session – you will be amazed at the results.