Playing the managerial role in any capacity is quite challenging. It requires a mixture of skillset, commercial awareness, and utilizing resources for the overall growth of the business.
Although both genders make great managers, a Gallup study revealed that individuals tend to score 6% higher when working for females as they are more engaged in their work.
Regardless of gender, essential skills must be honed by all levels of management in order to deliver strong business growth.
Are you eyeing a managerial role within your company? Here are some skills you should consider developing further.
1. Strategic thinking and planning
Planning and strategic thinking fall under conceptual skills. It is the ability to consolidate ideas within your company’s guidelines without losing sight of available resources.
Time, labour, and finances are crucial elements needed in planning. Without these, it will be impossible to achieve set goals.
In playing the role of manager, you should set priorities and review systems in line with company goals.
This requires the ability to engage in abstract thinking. It also involves identifying goals, recognizing risks, and developing an operational blueprint to complete tasks.
Indeed, without a well-thought-out plan, little or nothing can play out as expected. It is also useful to find innovative solutions to likely problems that may arise during the implementation of a project.
With these skills, the manager can predict problems and immediately plan ahead of time.
2. Delegation skills
Your ability to delegate responsibilities is an essential skill to have in management. Delegation requires some level of psychology to be successful.
For example, after working a few years as a manager within a company, you tend to gain insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your team.
You can determine which team member meets timelines or produces detailed work at set deadlines.
With this skill, you can assign other employees or subordinates to complete specific tasks to ease your workload.
Delegation of duties expedites the completion of tasks and eliminates time wastage. Thankfully, there are now countless tools and software available to help streamline your tasks.
For example, if you’re running a fitness business and you’re looking for a smart tool to manage clients and payments, you can read through a TeamUp review to understand how you can automate tasks.
This can lead to cost savings for your business as you should experience a reduced admin burden.
3. Communication skills
Communication largely depends on interpersonal skills to be successful. It is a crucial management skill that determines how well a manager shares relevant information within the company.
To a large extent, it is a significant determinant of how timely tasks and projects can be completed.
Whether vertical or horizontal, verbal or written, excellent communication skills should facilitate an uninterrupted workflow.
At certain times, it may be necessary to use informal communication channels within the office setting.
This promotes goodwill, trust, and loyalty among employees. It is also a proven way to bring management closer to the ordinary employee who may feel disconnected from upper management.
That notwithstanding, both formal and informal communication methods are needed to improve team collaboration.
They both help resolve disputes that could breed animosity within the workplace.
4. Commercial awareness
With commercial awareness skills, you have a rudimentary understanding of how businesses operate in the marketplace.
A study revealed that many graduate students lacked this skill – making it a huge problem for recruiters.
This skill is proof of your understanding of the organization’s mission and which sector it belongs at the management level.
It also involves your knowledge of socio-political issues that impact businesses. Do you know your company’s competitors?
As a manager, your commercial awareness skills help you strategically make decisions that bring success to your business and harmonizes your employees.
5. Decision-making skills
Your ability to assess a situation and make the right decisions for the company is a critical component in any management role.
The guiding principle for this skill is for your decision to translate into profit margins for the business.
Although it is normal for you to make a few errors in judgment, the positive ones should outweigh the failures. This is how your peers and superiors will judge your decision-making skills.
Furthermore, it would be best if you exuded confidence in making decisions for the business.
That is how others within the company will buy into your communicated ideas.
More importantly, you should be ready to be held accountable for your decisions and how each one impacts operations.
Be prepared to take responsibility for your actions (and inactions) as the business seeks to outrun its competitors.
The perks that come with being a manager can only be a result of practical management skills.
It is a delicate and intensive job role that can only reap the right results with the right expertise. Be sure to acquire the skills listed above and explore others to enable you to become more productive as a manager.
- DISCLOSURE – This post has been written by an outside source
