What essential skills does a manager require?
Without understanding what it takes to be a manager, many people are promoted to manager. As companies cut budgets, they also deem alleged "soft skills" to be expendable, such as management and leadership training.
However, the fact is that this form of training may be more important than anything else to a manager's and his organization's success.
Many new executives are more used to receiving orders than to provide them. Yet managers require direct reporting to help them achieve their goals.
Many executives do not have a good understanding of their work, as shocking as it sounds. That is why each manager needs to read his job description carefully. He must meet his boss at that stage to negotiate and agree on shared goals. The new manager should summarize the conversation after the meeting in a memo he shares with his boss and human resources.
When managers realize what needs to be achieved, they would be able to have discussions with their team members to determine the strengths they bring to particular projects.
• Active listening
In a constant loop of exchanging thoughts and information, communication requires the interaction of two individuals. Learn to listen and show genuine interest in your team's people before you start issuing a lot of orders. Explore their passions and what they think they should bring to the team. Your style of communication might be to go immediately for closure when addressing a task. Public speaking coaching can come to your rescue to understand active listening.Yet, to arrive at the best solution, your immediate report might require more time to think about a situation. Listen carefully to consider the context behind the words, picking up on the verbal and non-verbal gestures, instead of only hearing the sounds that someone says. If you do not listen carefully, you filter out a great deal of noise.
• Learning to be a manager
Experience, when you become a manager, is the greatest trainer. You just gained what worked and what did not work from the good managers you had. You sensed the ignorance and witnessed a lousy manager's lack of communication.You admired an excellent boss and learned from him. Since you knew she would listen, you were not afraid to state when something was not going right, not to pass judgement, but to recognize the issue and give constructive input.
In new work, you may feel like an imposter—remember, in any case, that you got promoted, not another person. Be determined and behave with certainty and think you can do the job well.
If you think you have more to learn, retain a knowledgeable executive presentation coach or go for assistance with a trusted internal counsellor.
Comments