Communicate Frequently and Throughout the Organization

Peter Drucker (often called the Father of Modern Management) said that up to 75% of a senior manager's time is spent on people issues.

While there will always be people management issues, given the nature of organizations and human behavior, there is a way to leverage this down and be efficient and effective in your management of staff. It's the simple concept of "communication", and becoming proactive in communicating vision, expectations, process, decisions and implementation of policy. In fact, the level of requisite communication, is likely to the point where it feels like over-communication to you, however it's not even close in your people's perception.

Rather, it's a way to stay ahead of the curve in business strategy and execution. Does everyone involved know the decision and goals, right down to front line execution? Has everyone been communicated with? Upward? Downward? Sideways in the organization?

Save yourself some time and lessen the headaches -- communicate, communicate, communicate. I think guys can be especially guilty of "assuming" managers know what you're thinking, or that that staffers can figure it out because it's "so obvious".

In most businesses, I'd take average talent that feels empowered, and where communication is strong, with a tight vision, over a bunch of superstars that don't have those characteristics and values in their organization.