Management Lessons For Self & Others(?)

• Don't try to keep others busy for the heck of it.
• If you aren't sure what output you want, take time to decide first, and then let the team work on what you need. If you're letting the team take a crack at it, be moderately open to agreeing to what they put together, with the required refinements, of course.
• If you want something done your way and are not open to debate - say it. It's far more frustrating to be heard, potentially agreed with only to be shot down later.
• Stick to promises made.
• Don't underestimate the challenges your team deals with. There is a difference between belittling and giving confidence.
• In any output, there are must-haves and good-to-haves. Learn to differentiate, and accept not having the good-to-haves every now and then. Not everything is a deal-breaker.
• Ensure that what you convey to the team, is what your superior conveyed to you, lest they have to re-work their output because you weren't sure what your superior wanted.
• Don't insist on outputs whose structure has not been finalized in slides - be prepared to discuss content in Excel. It saves the team a LOT of time otherwise spend on unproductive pointless slide making.
• Slides are NOT the best way to communicate everything.