What the World's Experts Say: 9 Specific Activities You Should Do to Become an Amazing Manager!

Great managers can be reduced to a handful of concrete actions. The article lines up three respected sources - Gallup's expanded Q12+, Marcus Buckingham's eight engagement pulses, and Google's nine-point manager checklist - and shows how each translates into day-to-day manager behavior. Gallup's list highlights the environment a manager must create, from clear expectations to respectful treatment, while Buckingham splits focus between team values and personal strengths. Google's checklist distills the research into nine specific manager habits such as giving actionable feedback, avoiding micromanagement, and discussing career development every six months.

The author argues that these lists are not academic abstractions but practical tools. By surveying their own team with the nine-point list, a manager can get anonymous scores, identify gaps, and use the results to steer one-on-ones. The article provides a step-by-step implementation: hand out the checklist, collect anonymous responses, then weave the items into regular coaching conversations. This turns vague ideas about "good management" into measurable behaviors.

Why it matters for technical leaders is that the items map directly to the levers they control: clear goals, regular feedback, career talks, and respect for expertise. Applying the checklist can lower turnover, improve team focus, and increase morale without costly training programs. The piece also cautions that while other skills like strategic thinking matter, the nine points cover the core employee experience most managers influence.

Readers walk away with a ready-to-use survey template, a concrete discussion framework for 1-to-1s, and a justification for why these nine habits are sufficient to be called an "amazing manager." The approach is grounded in data from Gallup, Buckingham, and Google, making it a trustworthy shortcut for any engineering manager looking to boost team performance.