The Eight Skills Vital For An Effective Manager

It’s said that people don’t leave companies.  They leave bad managers.  If you want to recruit and retain the best employees, you need to have great managers.  They need the leadership skills to motivate and inspire teams to maximize performance.

The Eight Skills Vital For An Effective Manager

1. They Can Sell The Vision

Great managers provide a clear strategy for their teams.  Not only can they articulate the goals, but they can also explain the “why” behind them.  They are driven to succeed and know their success depends on others.

Great managers and leaders are persuasive and can rally people behind a common mission.  They present ideas with enthusiasm and conviction and work hard to get buy-in from the team.

2. They Show A Genuine Concern For Employees

They show a human touch in dealing with people.  They demonstrate genuine concern for employees in a variety of ways. Not only do they help provide training and guidance for career advancement, but they also look for ways to recognise individual and team contributions.  They also understand that life sometimes intrudes on work and make allowances when they can.

They show appreciation for their team and take the time to recognise and celebrate accomplishments.

3. They Are Strong Communicators

Great managers are great communicators.  While they may not always make popular decisions, they take the time to listen to other viewpoints and gather information and then explain their decisions.  They know it is not about simply telling people what to do, but explaining it in a way so the truly understand the reason behind the decision.

4. They Are Outcome Oriented

They never lose sight of the end goal.  While they are compassionate and respectful, they know that their job is to move the company forward.  Nice guys can finish first, but only if they get the job done.

They work hard, and they work fast.  They empower their teams and avoid micromanaging.  Great managers focus on vision and goals while letting employees focus on execution.  They understand it’s more about getting others to understand the reason behind those goals so they can make independent decisions to support it.

5. They Train, Teach And Coach Constantly

Emerging leaders in your organisation need leadership coaching and Leadership Training.  The best managers can identify emerging leaders and provide them with growth opportunities.  Training alone, however, is not enough.  Employees need the right tools and framework to initiate change.

Effective management and leadership training must be designed to change behavior.  Great managers not only provide Leadership Training Sydney for employees but establish a framework for change.  They focus not just on the end goals but break down the interim steps it takes to achieve the goals.  They also provide measurement and tracking mechanisms to provide effective management.

Great managers help their teams develop the skills they need to advance their careers by providing clear expectations and honest performance feedback.  They take the time to tell the team what they need to hear and not what they want to here.

6. They Are Willing To Roll Up Their Sleeves And Get To Work

They are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done and they are not afraid to get their hands dirty.  Pitching in and working side-by-side with them makes it easier to ask them to do their jobs.

Managers need a grasp of technical skills to do the job.  While they don’t need to know every detail or nuance of every job, they understand what it takes to get the job done and the things that can interfere with completion.

7. They Are Strong Decision Makers

While they have to be able to delegate in order to provide effective management, they don’t delegate key decisions.  The best managers seek input and collaboration but are strong decision makers.  They gather the key data points they need and make quick decisions to set the course.

They also work to make sure team members have a clear understanding of who and how decisions are made.  Is it a decision that they are empowered to make, that they can make with my input, that I will make with their input, or that I will make alone?

8. They Realise Culture Is Everything

We spend way too much of our lives at work.  It needs to be about more than just getting a paycheck.  Teams need to believe their work is doing good and not just making money for someone else.

They create a climate of trust.  When employees know their manager will support them even when they make mistakes, employers are more loyal and willing to work harder.  Conversely, employees are less willing to take risks when they are worried about the consequences.  When things don’t go according to plan, strong managers take responsibility.  While they hold employees accountable, they take personal responsibility when things go wrong.

If you can get people to buy into the company culture, and stay true to it even in tough times, you can create tremendous loyalty.  It makes for happier and more productive employees.  It cuts down on turnover.  It weeds out those that don’t buy in.

When everybody understands what drives success and their role in that success, they are more engaged. Great managers know that culture really is everything.