What defines a "great manager" in your respective professional careers?

I work in IT so may be skewed a bit, but one of the biggest things to me was a manager that actually...managed. I don't mean managed their employees, I mean was a proper bridge and blocker to keep high-level management from interfering with our day-to-day work. Someone that doesn't just pass a screw-up down to the little guys. Someone that takes responsibility even if a problem or extended resolution wasn't directly their fault. THAT'S the person you want to be behind.

I'm in IT also and agree. On the other hand, you don't want a manager who manages too much. I had a manager who would try to micromanage every aspect of a project. He would constantly stop by with suggestions about how to improve the projects I was working on. It would have been fine if he had good insights, but his ideas never worked out.

He would also come to me and declare that my top priority is now some weird project that he thought up which had no buy in from anyone else. (These would quickly die after launch or fizzle out when he got another great idea.)
Had a similar experience. Definitely agreed.
YES! To add, I'm a software engineer, and my current manager previously was a senior on my team. This makes a HUGE difference in understanding what we do, how we do it, where we need support, who we deal with, etc, because he's experienced it alongside everyone. Not only does he manage, he also is a massive resource is building solutions or resolving issues because he's knowledgable on basically everything we do.

Permanently Deleted

One of my best managers did just that. He would tell me what my priorities were and then get out of my way, shielding me from any upper level politics as much as he could.

Sometimes the politics would seep through despite his best efforts, but he'd minimize it as much as humanely possible.
- As someone who’s currently managing a team, when skip levels try to circumvent me, it is the absolute worst.
The "umbrella" theory of management. The employees hold up the manager and make them look good. The manager shields them from everything "falling from above".

I recently lost a manager to cancer. He was the best boss I ever had.

He was a guy whom you could go into his office and talk about anything. He’s give you advice on retirement (lol, I know), personal life advice, kick your ass into gear (if you wanted that.)

He listened, and it didn’t matter if it was about work or life. He was on your side and even if you were wrong, he’d tell you why in a meaningful way that wasn’t mean or pushy.

It’s almost hard to even explain in words, but he was a great boss.

Miss you t-dawg.

This reminded me of my manager from a couple years ago. They too had cancer, and decided that they’d become a workaholic rather than take the time off that they needed. It also meant they expected everyone they worked with, to work just as hard. With just as many long hours as them.

It was a living nightmare, and ended very poorly. It would be nice if people had mandatory time off when experiencing such trauma in life.
Yeah. I have found the simple act of "listening" goes so far. I had a manager whom always remembered the smallest things. Bring them up in team meetings months later. It was very motivating.

Edit: and obligatory, F*ck Cancer

I personally think good managers should never yell or demean others. If they’re doing this, they’re shit at their job. I’ve seen managers yell at others and their teams just seem to plow through employees. Be better, be understanding, be human. That’s all really

Not my manger (thankfully), but I worked near people whose manger did this. I'd be working when suddenly I'd hear the guy yelling and screaming at some employee who did something wrong. Even if the guy did something incorrect, the proper managerial response is never screaming at them in a public location.

The manger is still working for my company, but I'm not near his employees anymore. I'm not sure if age mellowed him out or if he still screams at his employees.
I had a great manager at a previous job who used to say that regardless of what the business does, if you're running a team, then you're in the people business.

Who leaves me alone.

I once had a manager, we had regular scheduled 1-on-1s (about every month). He always asked this first: is there anything you want to talk about or do you want me to talk about [corporate-related] things? I always said: No, thanks. Then we hang up. This went on for 2 years. "Sometimes we still don't talk to this day."

Best boss I've ever had.

A friend's boss told him to gather the latest data and have a report ready by end of day. With a half hour to go the boss turned up but the report wasn't finished (missing data). "It must have been a bigger job than I expected" said the boss "let me swing in with you and get it done".

My current manager is the best I’ve ever worked with my entire career so far. He doesn’t micromanage, leaves you be to do your work the way you want and only checks up once in a while, and shields us from the politics above his level. He also supports us on anything as long as it’s reasonable.

Consistency and transparency. I mean, don’t be an a-hole, but I figured that was assumed in the question.

Recently lost a manager. Actually, his boss got removed as well. It was like having two Christmases in two weeks. Now our shop and department operate much smoother and happier.

My manager never should have been hired. When I was informed they got the job I thought it was a joke. But I tried to help get the guy on his feet and make him a success, but he just didn't have the brainpan for the job. It was beyond obvious. By the end, he was having constant outbursts, telling everyone to eat his dick, getting successive suspensions, blatantly lying to HR when there was irrefutable evidence against his statements.

When he put his two weeks in, he told some people that he might not leave. I told him I was making it my mission to ensure that he doesn't not walk out that door. Thankfully, he left. But, both he and his girlfriend have reapplied to an entry level position that has opened up do to someone (the person who should have been hired in the first place but because our director wanted a person he could push around in place) being promoted into his position. He was never a good worker in the first place, and his girlfriend was even worse.

A true desire to be helpful to the people they manage. Not that they need to do everyone's job for them, but a manager who asks "How's your work going? How can I help?" and means it is worth their weight in gold.

@pexavc A manager at my workplace reprimanded an employee for making decisions outside of their role/overstepping boundaries, during which the manager threw in the "because I'm your manager and you
need to respect my authority".
To me, this immediately makes the person in charge not worthy of respect - if a misstep occurred, there should be an explanation as to why it was a problem, how to improve and handle similar cases in the future. Demanding respect just proves you don't deserve it.

Don't yell or be abusive. And yknow generally not a dick....

Big plus if they're not toxic af, and kinda understand shiz I deal with being audhd. Like I'd love not to need special shiz but I do. But also fights for us to have better wages. Shiz most bosses don't do in one way or another lol

that made you feel comfortable working there and providing solutions for the organization as a whole?

LOL this has never happened to me.

Martin Butler - Corporeal Fantasy 115 (Business managers and intelligence)

A good manager knows how to delegate things. Who they can trust with what job - and then keep to the trust and not micromanage, but let the person they trusted cook.

If they can actually manage their shit, they are already are a step above every manager I've ever had. And I don't mean micromanaging shit, I mean handling their job the right way and actually supporting those under them by properly dealing with scheduling, conflicts, getting us the tools to do our jobs, etc.