Learn from Darth Vader, the best manager in the galaxy

Hang on to your hats folks, because it’s not long before the most wonderful time of the year is finally upon us – the release day of Star Wars: The Last Jedi!

As good as the sequels are though, nothing can match the brooding, mysterious Darth Vader of the original trilogy, a man who has gone down in history as a monster, but who clearly has two sides to him. Vader was a great project manager who built not one but two death stars. Two! He dealt with all the stress from HR, payroll and PR that comes with such a project, and still went home to his wife mother father younglings meditation chamber happily each night. So what can we learn from the Darth Vader School of Management?

I’m glad you asked…

Top 5 management lessons to learn from Darth Vader

5) Take an interest in the career aspirations of your staff

Every good manager wants to strike a balance between being a friend and being a boss. Darth Vader is at one end of this spectrum, and it’s fair to say that David Brent would sit at the other.

The middle ground is understanding your worker’s needs and career dreams, whilst realising that they probably don’t want to work for you for the rest of their lives. Build up a good relationship with your staff, keeping it open and professional so that they aren’t afraid to seek your advice.

4) Get three things done before noon

It is said that if you can manage to complete three tasks before midday, you are well on your way to having a productive day and it sets you in a positive mindframe for the afternoon. This has been proven by the sith lord himself when, within the first few minutes of A New Hope:

Boarded an enemy ship
Killed a guy
Ordered a full search of the ship for the Death Star Plans.

He’s more than earned a feet-up with a cup of tea.

3) Eliminate the Unnecessary

The unnecessary: otherwise known as clutter, background noise and distraction. All things you want to avoid when you are managing a project, to ensure you have a clean and productive mind. Darth Vader showed us how well he understands this principle when he killed that guy in point 4.

If you can remove everything that reduces your focus, you are sure to do a better job. This can include plugging in your headphones with your favourite music, turning off your internet or email for an hour, or even just using the force to destroy those who annoy you asking your colleagues to be a touch quieter.

2) Understand the importance of delegation

Nobody understands the importance of delegation more than Lord Vader. How else could he build planet-destroyers without being able to pass on some work to other people? If he had designed, constructed and controlled the Death Star himself, he would probably only now be getting around to switching it on, never mind doing it a long time ago.

Fair delegation of work isn’t something to be afraid of – it’s why you have staff, and they expect work to come their way. If you try to do everything by yourself, you may get there in the end, but it’s an inefficient way to work.

1) Learn how to say no

At the start of a management career, everyone wants to be Mr Nice Guy. They want to buck the trend of management, by letting everyone find and have their own way, and be a facilitator who allows god things to happen.

Darth Vader suggests this is not the most appropriate line to follow.

Saying ‘no’ helps set limits, not just of the boundaries of the manager-employee relationship, but also of what your business is able to do to offer to help your staff develop. Saying no isn’t a bad thing – it sometimes forces you to think creatively about how you can change the no into a yes. Saying ‘no’ can be a good thing – especially when it’s a starting point, and not an end result.

We can help your business flourish without needing the Force.

Unless you have trained hard and become a Jedi master yourself, chances are you are always learning about how to become – and stay – a good manager. A good step towards this is to make sure your workplace is clean, professional and modern. Your work may be stressful, but your workplace shouldn’t – let us take care of that for you.

If you are considering moving premises in the new year and looking for new offices to rent, why not give us a call and see what we can offer? We have a range of beautiful, serviced offices to suit a wide range of business needs, all only half an hour from Edinburgh city centre.

These most definitely are the offices you are looking for.