What are The Key Managerial Skills and How to Develop Them?
The ever-changing business environment demands appropriate managerial skills to tackle distinctive challenges. In order to combat uncertainties possessing, acquiring and enhancing managerial skills is fundamental. Without developing managerial skills, the dream of personnel growth and career development is impossible to be fulfilled.
What are the key managerial skills?
Technology, more opportunities, unseen crises and bombardment of information seem to have little bit updated the conventional concept of managerial skills. Earlier, a manager with average planning techniques was considered a sufficiently skilled manager. In contrast, today’s competitive and uncertain businesses require more in addition to conventional skills. Modern managers need skills like creative problem-solving skills, better communication, decision-making skills, motivation skills and stress tolerance skills. In addition, managers also need to inculcate skills of the future outlined by the World Economic Forum.
How to develop managerial skills
Here some key managerial skills are given and ways to develop these skills are also elaborated.
1. Decision Making
The ability to make right decisions is an attribute of a quality manager. For planning day-to-day business activities managers have to make multiple decisions that set the tone of business operations. Hence, if you want to hire a manager or promote an employee, an account of his decision-making skills needs to be maintained. The individuals who seek promotion as manger have to sharpen their management skills. Decision-making skills can be enhanced by analyzing the decisions of immediate boss. Help can also be sought from case studies. Also, individual foresight can be developed through discussions and learning from others’ experiences.
2. Communication and expressing skills
No manager can survive in modern without having effective communication and expressive language skills. A manager is the main line of communication between staff and higher management, he communicates one to one, via telephone, emails, presentations and in meetings. Hence, good communication skills comprise an integral part of his job. Listing skills, body language, and verbal and written communication are part of communication skills. To develop all such managerial skills young managers need participation, practice argumentation, and develop listening and expressing skills. A manager’s self-awareness can also help to develop techniques for effective communication.
3. Leadership and motivation
If a manager cannot inspire his team, he will be unable to get the desired tasks done. Motivation is a positive way to get the desired behavior from subordinates. The other way is negative i.e., reprimanding subordinates and warnings for layoffs. Actually, a manager’s leadership skills enable him to motivate his subordinates. However, whatever motivation technique is adopted by a manager must be according to the organization’s culture and employees’ disposition. Leadership and motivation skills can also be enhanced by learning from existing managers, reading about business leaders and listening to motivational speeches.
4. Creative problem solving
Resources are scarce and problems unforeseen so what an entrepreneur can do who is also entangled in multiple other tasks. Surely, he will need a person with sufficient intellect to come up with out of box solutions for issues his business is facing. Managers need to develop creative problem-solving skills. Brainstorming and developing a strategic framework can help in developing creative problem skills.
5. Resilience and stress tolerance
Modern managerial job demands a high level of resilience. The domain of a manager’s task is diverse and there is uncertainty in the business market which is marred by the COVID 19 Pandemic. In this backdrop meeting deadlines of tasks, absenteeism, turnover and psychological condition of subordinate staff can increase the woes of a manager. Hence, managers need to be proactive in handling these scenarios and have to develop techniques to manage stress if such a situation may develop. Communicating issues with higher management, taking breaks and participating in programs to enhance personal and psychological wellbeing can be useful to develop stress tolerance.
6. Technical skills
Technology i.e., IT Gadgets, social media, ERP systems and cloud technology are part and parcel of any kind of business. Apart from this, techniques for the development of business operations like product development, launching marketing campaigns, employee evaluation & talent management comprise the part of technical skills. A manager can take a real-time account of all these techniques if he actually knows the work processes.
7. Work delegation
Delegation of tasks to subordinates and getting them done within the required time are essential skills for all managers. Here, managers’ interpersonal skills come into action. Interpersonal skills include the ability to interact with people effectively and use human potential for better organizational outcomes. For delegation of tasks, managers need to develop influence over their subordinates, every individual should also be held responsible for the tasks to be done.
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