Seven Faces of Effective
Management
Peter Starr is a coach, trainer, and
mentor. He founded Chilli Pepper
Development in 2015 and since then
has focused on finding the small
improvements that can make a big
difference to his clients. He focuses
his consultancy work in leadership,
management, consultative sales,
behavioral change, and innovation.
Developing first-line managerial
skills has been an area of focus for
15 years, from being in those roles
himself, through employed Learning &
Development functions to his ongoing
consultancy work. Peter focuses his
work based on applicable learning and
actions that make a difference to team
performance.
Peter lives in Staffordshire, England
with his wife, two children, a dog, and
two rabbits. In between home and
work life, he is also coauthoring a book
focusing on innovation skills for first-
and second-line management teams.
Business Expert Press 978-1-63157-966-0 (2018)
www.businessexpertpress.com
Peter Starr
Abstract: Leadership and management often focus on
senior leaders or leaders who have other leaders within
their team. This guide supports those frontline manag-
ers who have no managers or supervisors within their
teamthe front end of management where life can be
tough, stressful, and frustrating. It explores the spe-
cific challenges they face, the different styles they may
adopt, and the different skills they need to develop to be
effective.
Keywords: coach, coaching, leader, leadership,
management, manager, managing, supervisor, trainer,
training.
Introduction
This article will guide the reader through the different
faces that a manager will need to adopt in the some-
times arduous, often rewarding though always challeng-
ing world of people management. I hope that it will give
value to both new and experienced managers that read
it, along with the future managers who have yet to take
on that role. It will also give those outside of people man-
agement an awareness of the spectrum and flexibility of
approaches that are used by high-performing managers
throughout the world!
To be an effective manager there are key attributes
of personality, skills, and behaviors that are needed to
be successful. For example, clarity of communication,
drive, empathy would all be skills that a manager could
be reasonably expected to possess. However, there are
other attributes that are required either exclusively or
in a greater or lesser degree. For example, a leader re-
quires a large dose of drive toward a company objective
whereas a coach would have a greater focus on the needs
of an individual. Within this article, we will look more
broadly across the seven faces as collective styles rather
than break down behavioral characteristics unless par-
ticularly relevant.
Expert Insights
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 Seven Faces of Effective Management
Through my own experience as a man-
ager of teams and in interviewing other
managers from both organizational and
sporting backgrounds, the different roles
the manager may need to play when work-
ing as the head of the team are leader,
coach, trainer, dictator, salesperson, inves-
tigator, and judge; I call these the 7 Faces
of Effective Management.
Remain True to Yourself
Management and leadership require many
different skills, attitudes, and behaviors.
We will explore these throughout this arti-
cle. Because of this, becoming a manager
of people for the first time can be very
daunting. You have probably been man-
aged before in the workplace and so have
a role model (good or bad) to give you a
steer. If not, then you will have noticed,
consciously or not, the behaviors of other
leaders, your parents, guardians, teach-
ers, sports captainsthey will have had an
impact on you.
So where do you start? What if youre not
good enough? What if ... ?
A trusted mentor of mine once told me
every problem you will face, starts with a
thinking problem. He probably stole it or
heard it from somewhere else, but I liked
it. The way we think impacts the way that
we feel; the way that we feel impacts the
way we behavethe things that we say and
do. So, lets start with the way you think.
You are in your job role which includes
managing people. You may feel like you
have earned it, been lucky to get it, de-
served it, didnt want it but took it?? What-
ever the reason, you are there so lets think
about how you think.
It is likely that you or someone else
saw some skills and behaviors in you that
led them to think that you could manage
people. That is a great start. You already
possess some of the attributes needed so
you can build on some solid foundation.
Managing people is a changeable job role
people change from day to day and so can
you in terms of your attitude, work ethic,
2 Business Expert Press 978-1-63157-966-0 (2018)
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performance, etc. And as you become older
or manage for longer, each new generation
is slightly different than before; and so
their needs and wants change.
As a manager of people, I hold this belief:
Belief #1 I will always be developing my
skills as a manager or leader; perfection is
always aspirational and never achievable
This helps keep me focused, engaged,
and never dwelling on mistakes that I make
for too long.
When managing, it can feel that you
have to be many different things to differ-
ent people and in some way that is accu-
rate, hence this article.
Through the changing requirements of
your role, remaining true to yourself has to
be a constant. Without this there will likely
be two significant outcomes:
1. You will have sleepless nights, struggle
with doing the job, probably hate it, be
ineffective, and eventually leave.
2. The people you manage will see through
your veneer and you will lack authentic-
ity, lose their trust and respect.
Through bitter experience, I have learnt
another belief that helps me to perform
better.
Belief #2 I will be as effective as I can be
within my role; but I will always remain
true to my personal values, beliefs, and
morals
Remaining true to yourself is about be-
ing comfortable or accepting of what you
need to do and doing it in a way that feels
authentic of yourself. If you have tough
decisions or messages to deliver, get in the
right headspace to be able to do so. If you
dont agree with a higher up decision that
has been made, have the conversation with
your boss (not your team) so that you can
understand it more; do this before you have
the conversation with your team members.
As a manager, you will face tough deci-
sions, conflict situations, and moments
Expert Insights
 Seven Faces of Effective Management
where you have to be unpopular. Remem-
ber, you work for an organization where
you are paid to get a job done.
So, when you need to be toughbe a
tough version of who you naturally are.
When you need to be a caring bossbe a
caring version of who you naturally are.
When I am thinking of flexing my behav-
ioral style, I like to think of it as a dial on my
chestI turn up or down certain aspects of
my natural style. If my natural toughness
is a 6 out of 10, I may need to turn it up to a
7 or 8 to get a message across. If my natural
listening skills are a 5 out of 10, I may need
to turn that up to an 8 or 9 when coaching.
Hopefully you get the picture? Be the
best versions of your normal self, depend-
ing on the situation. Manage the expecta-
tions and needs of your organization, your
team, the individuals, and as importantly
of yourself.
How to Recognize Which Face You
Need
Often people have told me that being a
good manager is all about experience or
once you have done the role for 3 years
then you will be good enoughthese state-
ments are said everyday and I hate them!!
It makes me think so, if I turn up, sit
around for 3 years, then I will have the
experience to do the job?which is ob-
viously nonsense. You have to do things
within that time frame of experience. And
if you need to do things within that time
frame to gain experience, can you identify
what those key moments may be? And if
you can identify those key moments, can
you create the situations or opportunities
to have those moments sooner rather than
later? Say in 2 years rather than 3?
Belief #3 As a manager, I can create 80%
of the situations that I need to experi-
ence to be able to fast track development
of my skills
One of the most challenging career mo-
ments can be the transition from team
member to team manager. Various research
Business Expert Press 978-1-63157-966-0 (2018)
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suggests that up to 40% of new managers
do not make the transition successfully
due to the below reasons:
They receive training to do their original
job and are promoted on the basis of that
skill, though subsequently they receive no
training or mentoring to become a manager
They spend too little time on managing
and communicating with their team
They have no support network in place
to help them in the transition
For new managers then, taking on the
role of a manager can be particularly chal-
lenging. Certainly, if you have been pro-
moted from within a team, there can be
an expectation to maintain your existing
workload and then to add managerial re-
sponsibilities on top. Juggling these new
challenges, with learning the new role,
dealing with peoples issuesthis will
add to your workload both physically and
mentally.
And now I am going to recommend you
do another thing on top of all this. But do
this and you will become a better manager
and leader much quicker.
Belief #4 I will diarize 1015 minutes of
time daily to think strategically about my
current management skills, how I need to
use them on this days challenges, and how
I want to develop them
Spend this quality thinking time con-
sidering your own performance, relating
it to your goals and objectives and draw-
ing upon resources that you have to learn
from. This conscious awareness allows you
to develop your skills quickly and effec-
tively by being proactive rather than reac-
tive in your actions.
Now, lets look through the seven faces.
LeaderSee Them
Leadership is setting a new direction or
vision for a group that they follow, ie: a
leader is the spearhead for that new di-
rection. Management controls or directs
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