Money Heist is finally back to Netflix, which made the weekend the perfect time to catch up on all parts. Yet in addition to lots of thrills and shocks, the show offers excellent tips for managers courtesy of The Professor.

If you’re a fan of La Casa de Papel, here are six tips to further improve your management style and say ‘ciao’ to mediocrity. But, BEWARE; there may be a few spoilers ahead.

1) Plan, Plan, and Plan Some More

Pulling off a heist isn’t a small feat, let alone one at the Royal Mint of Spain. The Professor began planning each small detail very early before assembling a diverse crew with the necessary skillset. He even made sure everyone was safe in different parts of the world afterwards.

As a manager, you need to be meticulous during planning and effectively address aspects such as customers, operations, and tasks.

You also need to factor in both positive and negative scenarios to precent surprises that throw you off guard. Like The Professor, you need to envision all possible outcomes using decision trees. You should also onboard the team to ensure they achieve each sub-plan.

2) Make Sure Everyone Sticks to the Plan

Coming up with a comprehensive plan is one thing; ensuring your team follows it is another. In Money Heist, Tokyo and other members of the crew became distracted and cause the plan to ALMOST fall apart.

As a manager, you need to keep sure everyone is focused on the current plan. Otherwise, members will be distracted by new projects or stop altogether when they hit challenges.

For this purpose, you can use visual tools such as Kanban. These break down projects into tasks, allowing you to estimate the total time for all tasks while ensuring everyone’s accountability.

3) Use Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation to Achieve Your Vision

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are barely new concepts to mangers. The first form of motivation entails engaging in an activity because it’s rewarding. As for the latter, it’s when individuals are motivated because they wish to earn a reward or avoid being punished.

Money Heist’s The Professor has effectively used these concepts to make the team achieve his vision. As intrinsic motivation, he challenged the team to pull off their heist “for the artistic perfection of it”.

Meanwhile, he made the crew believe banks robbed the public’s money. This extrinsic motivation made the team feel as if they were benefiting others. Therefore, they remained motivated even when tired.

Because of this, the Professor was able to achieve his vision. And so can you at your organization.

4) Know When to Bring Emotions to the Table

Denver almost got a bullet in the head when he let his emotions affect the plan. Therefore, you need to make sure to avoid making decisions based on how you feel.

While being an empathetic leader is important, you shouldn’t be a pushover and let the team do whatever they want. Here are some tips to pull this off.

• Don’t let others take advantage of you and make you finish what they started. Ensure they stick to the deadline regardless.
• Make sure employees correct their own mistakes. Otherwise, you’ll be affecting their learning curve.
• Set rules and make sure they’re followed and respected.
• Always have time for feedback so you can address any issues that impact work.

5) Be on Top of Your Team’s Interpersonal Dynamics

In what was probably the most devious decision on Money Heist, The Professor gives the hostages the option to join his crew or leave.

While this got him more hands to speed up minting money, it also enabled him to identify which problematic hostages. As a result, he kept tabs on them and devised how to deal with them.

This is a good example of breaking down interpersonal dynamics.

As a manager, you need to always be on top of this aspect or else you’ll end up with conflict, employee turnover, and a toxic culture. So, make sure of finding out what’s going on beneath the surface of everyone working with you and address it.

6) Don’t Be Scared to Find a Balance Between Work and Life

Despite spending half of his lifetime planning this grand money heist, The Professor’s life never stopped. You could see him work out and even grow invested in a love relationship. As a result, he stayed composed and avoided becoming so emotionally drained that he quit.

Here are three tips to help you get started on balancing work and life.

• Create a daily checklist to ensure that you begin your day right. This will also help you stay motivated as you check off your tasks.
• Schedule 15-minute breaks to recharge during the day. Preferably, have two – one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
• Don’t shy from taking vacations. Just make sure to plan for one in advance so that your absence doesn’t impact the team.

Do You Have More Money Heist Lessons to Share?

Drop any additional tips and lessons in the comments box below.

And while we don’t recommend that you plan a money heist, we do recommend you constantly add to your knowledge and sharpen your skillset to become a better manager.

So, check out our eLearning courses and choose a new skill that can drive your career upward. You’re also welcome to go over our growing collection of personal development blogs for further inspiration.

Till next time, Bella Ciao!