What kind barriers including even self imposed ones, may prevent a manager from being a good performer

Barriers, and even self-imposed ones, that may prevent a manager from being a good performer.......Here is what I can think of, but I don't know if I am clear on what you are asking:

Listening: not taking into one's head the full extent of what somebody is explaining or asking for (can be customer-related or an employee/company topic); not using approachability skills in the body and the face, which is showing attention and interest on it; being unavailable or not around constantly (if you have a special deployment, you need some plan for people that would normally go to you)

Follow-through: not keeping on top of what was asked of you; not instigating a change from someone with more authority than you as a follow-thru to what was asked of you; not doing anything; not doing what you said you would do; not advising people of something worth announcing before they learned of it through a different method

Budget: insufficient staff headcount to allow for smooth handling of work and even workload across team members (and what has the manager done about this?)

Briefing: improper, incomplete or absent briefing on a project, and results at a customer level indicate bad implementation and therefore staff that do not represent a product or service well. (Or before.)

Perception: a work culture that does not seem to view the dept as worthy of attention at specific stages or any time. (Manager works toward change through effort to instigate a knowledge between "foreign" depts about each other and creates an emphasis on that newly emerging understanding.)

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Is that the kind of thing you are looking for?

Another factor to consider: Why the manager got to be the manager in the first place.

Overwhelmingly, organizations promote into management those who are superstars in their technical/functional roles, without regard to whether or not the superstar has the appropriate skillset and experience to actually manage.

That one can (for example) sell like crazy does not at all mean that he/she can lead a sales force.

In addition to ayaree's feedback, I would add:
Lack of conflict management skills...if one can't resolve conflict, one has no business managing.

Lack of political savvy (looks goofy on-screen....S A V V Y) ...one must know how to navigate through organizational seas to get stuff done.

Lack of composure...the screaming lunatic.

Lack of humor...ya' just gotta be able to laugh, especially at yourself.

Lack of business acumen...that one understands the business of (say) customer service does not mean one understands how to develop a budget or understand a profit/loss statement, or figure out do-able profit margins.

Lack of compassion...gee Sally, your kid's been sick three days already this week, one more and you're outta here!

Lack of problem solving skills. Lack of creativity (remember, doing the same thing over and over again thinking you will get a different result is the definition of insanity).

Lack of timely decision making. For example, if I keep writing here (and I could go on and on and on), I'll never get my real work done today!

ksb

Karen,

Do you know good resources around this? Books etc.. for CSM. I understand the obvious points for discussion, but's often good to see how others practice it.

IMHO, the best resources (in random order):

PDI (Personnel Decisions International)
Lominger (a Korn-Ferry company)
DDI
Marshall Goldsmith

Succession Planning....Training and Development of high potentials...all of this is relevant.

Orgs like PDI, DDI, Lominger...they all have norms and research-based stats around this discipline...and will even have it broken down for specific functions, such as customer service.

Additionally, I would presume that orgs such as ASTD and SHRM would have data available (American Society for Training and Development. Society for Human Resource Management).

Hope this helps!

ksb

Lominger has an excellent book: FYI: For Your Improvement. It lists competencies which will help anyone in leadership develop their soft skills.

Usually, in my experience, the soft skills are the greatest barrier managers must deal with. It truly is about; communication, setting direction, and dealing with ambiguity. If any of those three areas are out of whack...it will be a struggle.

With the right level of communication (up, down, and sideways), managers can ensure that the people they serve feel included, informed, and important.

Setting direction is vital, as tough decisions must be made and followed through on. A typical issue is giving direction but never checking in and affirming/coaching towards the result.

Dealing with ambiguity is equally important. Management (especially in a retail environment) is all about rolling with the punches (from customers, the company, and the co-workers). It's easy to get tripped up, frustrated, and/or become nothing more then a filter for those above you. If you don't expect last minute surprises you will burn out, quickly.

My favorite phrase is this, 'If you're going to become a trash collector, don't gripe when the trash stinks'. I think this is all about mindset. As a CSM, you have to expect a lot of garbage some days.