People Management

In your opinion, what are the essential qualities of a successful manager?

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Expert Answer

Anonymous

4.4Exceptional
At XYZ, during 1:1 a developer on my team said that he did not understand how ELK works and wanted to my advice on how to learn this technology. I saw this as a mentoring opportunity and assigned a Sr. Dev as he was subject matter expert on ELK to mentor this Dev. I also ensured that he was provided right resources so that he can learn on his own as well. The result was that this Dev was able to pick up on ELK stack and operate independently. I also followed up in the next few meetings to ensure that this dev was on the right track.

Anonymous

4.2Exceptional
In my opinion the following are the most essential qualities of a successful manager:
1. Communication:  Make sure all team members know whats expected out of them as clearly as possible. Make sure every member of the team knows exactly what other members are working on. To this effect I established a process at Proofpoint that emphasized on documenting all of your work on Confluence whenever possible. As part of the communication quality I also maintain clarity in times of ambiguity. For example at Proofpoint when there was a slight change in prioritization because of a change in upper management I made sure that the team morale is not affected and all of their concerns are heard and answered as much as possible.
2. Empowerment: I believe that as a manager, my job is to establish a platform for success for all team members. For example at Proofpoint, this manifested as defining clear problems and tasks for all team members and letting them solve the problem in a way that aligns with the team's priorities and time commitments. Unblock them when necessary and support them throughout the process.
3. Accountability: Being accountable for the decisions I make and also instill the same principle in my team mates. Establish metrics to track progress and do your best to make sure the team follows those metrics.
4. Reward and establish trust: Give kudos and reward team mates for their contribution. Be transparent and offer constructive feedback to improve whenever necessary.

Anonymous

4.2Exceptional
- must know the trade off between time cost quality triangle
- must be able identify stakeholder and their interest/need and influence on the project
- must be able to foresee risks and creative, resilience enough to identify mitigations
- must be a problem solver
- resilience / patienceful
- Open minded, good listener at the same time assertive
- Must be have flexibility to modulate the style of communication based on the party dealing with

Anonymous

4.2Exceptional
Customer Obsession: I prioritize understanding and meeting the needs of our customers, ensuring their satisfaction and loyalty through efficient operations and exceptional service.
Ownership: I take ownership of projects and processes within Amazon, driving initiatives forward and being accountable for their success from inception to execution.
Bias for Action: I'm proactive in addressing challenges and opportunities in Amazon's operations and customer service, taking swift and decisive action to optimize processes and resolve issues.For instance when we run out of supplies,I quickly take the orders of our customers and find a way of putting them as priorities when we restock .This is to ensure I proactively meet customers needs
Invent and Simplify: I constantly seek ways to innovate and simplify processes at Amazon, whether through developing new procedures or leveraging technology, to improve efficiency and enhance the customer experience.
Learn and Be Curious: I maintain a commitment to continuous learning and curiosity, staying abreast of industry trends, customer preferences, and emerging technologies at Amazon to anticipate changes and proactively respond to evolving needs.
Insist on the Highest Standards: I uphold high standards of quality, accuracy, and compliance in all aspects of my work at Amazon, ensuring that we meet or exceed the highest standards to build trust and credibility with customers and stakeholders.
Dive Deep: As a business analyst, I dive deep into data and analytics to uncover insights that drive informed decision-making and process improvement at Amazon, identifying opportunities for optimization and innovation.
Earn Trust: I prioritize building trust with customers, colleagues, and stakeholders at Amazon by demonstrating integrity, reliability, and competence in every interaction and decision, fostering trust and confidence in my abilities and expertise.
Think Big: I encourage thinking beyond the status quo and aiming for significant impact through ambitious goals and strategies, driving growth and innovation at Amazon.
Deliver Results: Ultimately, my success is measured by my ability to deliver tangible results that positively impact Amazon's performance and customer satisfaction levels, driving continuous improvement and success in my role

Anonymous

3.8Strong
A successful manager is someone who is
1. Result driven: Works with stakeholders to identify the key priorities to work on and executes accordingly.  
2. clear vision: It is very important to have a strategic vision to work on for the teams, products the person is managing. define KPIs to measure them. Aligns the goals as per company's goals
3. Ownership: Owns the goals set out based on the vision. Executes them and keeps people updated.
4. Customer driven: Works based on customer and company's priorities.
5. Good listener and empathetic: Actively listens to people issues and works accordingly. 

Anonymous

3.8Strong
My philosophy is "Help Me! Help you" - I always am an enabler for my team to perform at their best. 
Essential Qualities for a manager are:
a) Be great at Collobration
b) Be a great Communicator
c) Think of using the team mates strength to better their career
d) Be a proponent of the awesome work their team is doing
e) Unblock the issues so the team be more productive
f) Hold the team to a higher engineering standard

Anonymous

3.6Strong
a) Enabler - a good manager should empower his team to succeed 
b) Execution and Stratergy - should be laser focused on execution and should be able to think of problems before they happen and solve both people and business problems with technology
c) Lead the mission from the front, shield the team from distraction and celebrate team success.
At Auctane I enabled my team to succeed, I came up with the vision of solving customer problems and executed key projects to help impove CSAT by 25% and increase reveneu by 5 million $. I celebrated my teams ontime and within budget - with my team making sure that they get the kudos for the role they played.

Anonymous

3.5Strong
The essential qualities of a successful manager are:

1.  from team management perspective is: 1) be a good listener and care about the team problems and individuals personal and professional needs alike 2) be passionate about developing careers and mentoring the team. 3) Be a enabler, help anything and everything your team needs your for, be escalation, be techincal or strategic guidence, boosting team morale, help shield from randomization, maintain healthy work life balance. 4) Not be biased and judgemental.
2. Organization perspective: 1) Be obsessed about providing business value through customer obsession 2) Make sure your team is getting the recognition and able to work on the most important projects for the organization 3) Great collaborator who can blur team boudaries and thrive in a cross functional environment. 


Anonymous

3.3Strong
being able to set up a key success metrics (KPIs) and keeping the the team to meet the metrics.
supporting team members to grow
managing low and high performers
knowing how to work efficiently with stakeholders and keeping them accountable for their work

Anonymous

3Strong
Approachable and good listening skills, people management, understanding the business
  • In your opinion, what are the essential qualities of a successful manager?
  • Can you share your top three characteristics of a successful manager? How do you ensure that these qualities are present in your own management style?
  • Can you give an example of a manager you admire and why they embody these essential qualities?
  • How do you stay current with the latest management techniques and trends?
  • What role do you believe empathy and emotional intelligence play in effective management?
  • How do you maintain a balance between being a strong leader and a supportive coach for your team?
  • Can you think of a time when a team member approached you for advice on a project? How did you assist them?
  • What qualities do you look for in a mentee, and how do you tailor your approach to their needs?
  • Can you describe a time when you had to provide feedback to a team member on their performance? How did you approach the conversation?
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Interview question asked to Data Science Managers, ML Engineering Managers, Engineering Managers and other roles interviewing at Meta, Coursera, Nintendo and others: In your opinion, what are the essential qualities of a successful manager?.