Manager Skills

A Manager is the person responsible for planning and directing the work of a group of individuals, monitoring their work and taking corrective action when necessary. For many people, this is their first step into a management career.

An effective manager takes responsibility for ensuring that each individual within his department succeeds and that the team or business unit achieves results. Successful managers require both talent and skill. Effective management skills can be developed through training, mentoring and experience. But if a manager is void of natural talent, then the odds that he will be successful diminish significantly.

A skill is the learned ability to carry out a task with pre-determined results often within a given amount of time, energy or both. In other words the abilities that one possesses.

Management in businesses and organizations is the function that coordinates the efforts of people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively.

Check your demands and systems to make certain they are not undercutting collaboration.

Overcome the four barriers to collaboration skills:

☛ Distance

☛ Dominance

☛ Discomfort

☛ Dissonance

Do not just immerse yourself in today's tasks. Think big picture. Step back from the dance floor from time to time and take the balcony view and review systems. Set priorities aligned with major goals. Learn new and scary things. Encourage innovation by backing good people who take smart risks.

Being a leader involves persuading others to follow the direction you want to go in. As such managers lead by example, have reasonable expectations of their staff and are excellent persuaders.

Managers will usually be expected to set budgets, manage them and carry out other admin such as writing reports. For this, they will need good numeracy, literacy and computer literacy skills.

Managers may encounter problems in their work. They have to be able to think on their feet and solve problems as soon as they happen. To do this they will need to be experts in their field and be able to remain calm and focused while they come up with solutions.

Managers are the main line of contact between the front line staff, senior management and clients. They are responsible for keeping everybody informed.

The manager puts the strategy in place to achieve the team's vision and missions. To do this they must be able to plan ahead and look at the bigger picture.

Sometimes it is tempting to do a job yourself because it is quicker than explaining it to someone else. However, managers should learn to delegate work where necessary to share responsibility and accountability.

Managers work closely with people in their team, assigning them work and ensuring they get appropriate training to do their jobs. As well as keeping staff motivated, they are also responsible for hiring and firing them. In order to do all of this, managers must be approachable, compassionate, diplomatic and have good communication skills to listen to and reward their staff.

The manager is responsible for organizing their department, implementing processes and guides and outlining what needs doing.

Managers are often expected to complete work to deadlines. They must therefore manage the time of their teams and themselves and prioritize work so that projects are completed to deadline.

Here are a few skills to become a manager:

☛ Good organisation

☛ Good time management

☛ Interpersonal and relationship-building skills

☛ Delegation

☛ Forward-planning and strategy

☛ Communication

☛ Problem-solving

☛ Administrative and financial skills

☛ Leadership

The most productive companies are typically more proactive than their peers when it comes to identifying and developing effective managers. The six most common managerial success traits include:

☛ Communication

☛ Leadership

☛ Adaptability

☛ Relationships

☛ Development of others

☛ Personal development

A manager with good communication skills is able to instruct as well as he listens. Managers who can communicate effectively can process information, and then relate it back to their teams clearly. Effective managers should be able to understand, decipher and relate the organization's vision back to their employees in order to maintain productivity.

Leadership is a crucial attribute that many managers lack despite their job title. It is common practice for companies to promote employees with the best results, but sometimes the best salesman does not make the best manager. True leaders are able to instill trust, provide direction, and delegate responsibility amongst team members.