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• February 16, 2022

Organizations need good leaders who understand their management role and act accordingly, to ensure high team performance and business goal achievement. However, based on Proaction International’s data, 62% of managers have little or very little knowledge of what their responsibilities involve and how they can leverage their role to create value for their team and company .

This means tremendous gains – in terms of both engagement and productivity – can be made simply by improving managers’ understanding of their role and leadership abilities.

Improving your leaders’ management skills means empowering your organization to reach its full potential.  Jean-Philippe Raîche, Partner, Strategy and Development, Proaction International

But how can you measure managerial skills to create leadership development plans that drive organizational performance?

Key takeaways:

• Organizations can use various KPIs, including operational , financial, and knowledge indicators , to evaluate their performance and improve their potential.
• Measuring managerial competency is crucial for assessing management skills . Key Behavioral Indicators (KBIs) are used to measure managerial behaviors that contribute to organizational performance and growth.
• Calculating the value of managers is complex but essential . Managers add value by bridging the gap between their team's current performance and its potential state. Understanding their own value can have an exponential impact on their team.
• Performance evaluations, questionnaires, peer reviews, and one-on-one meetings are some tools used to assess key management skills. Integrating performance review processes into the HR management system can help structure the approach and recommend action plans.
• Assessing managers' knowledge of their roles and responsibilities is critical . The Management Skills Index and Active Supervision Index help measure knowledge, while the Management Effectiveness Index evaluates managerial maturity. Improving management skills drives business performance and growth in various areas.

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The different types of key performance indicators

Organizations can use a wide range of key performance indicators (KPIs) , including operational, financial, and knowledge indicators, to evaluate their performance and level up to their optimal potential.

However, measuring managerial competency might not be as straightforward as measuring churns or profits, for instance. That’s why we have developed a measurement technique that uses key behavioral indicators (KBIs) .

Effective managers understand their role and responsibilities, and are better able to take ownership of best management practices and implement them within their teams. Their skill set includes great operational rigor, problem-solving capabilities, a coaching management style, and great communication skills . KBIs measure such managerial behaviors that contribute to organizations' performance and growth.

But before jumping into key behavioral indicators and how to use them to measure management skills, let’s examine the role of the manager as a creator of value for their team and organization, as well as common tools to evaluate manager performance.

The importance of defining the value of managers

Calculating an employee’s added value is usually straightforward. You compare the time spent working on “billable” activities to an attainable expected standard of speed and quality, thus obtaining an added value rate.

However, calculating the added value of managers is much more complex.

In their new management position, the employee moves from creating direct value through technical skills to creating indirect value through other people's skills (and value). This is probably the most extreme transformation in one’s career.

Managers add value by moving their team’s performance from its current state to the potential state, reducing the gaps in-between.

When managers understand their own value for the organization, the impact on their team can be exponential.

Tools and processes to evaluate managerial skills

Employee performance evaluations, or performance reviews, are a human resources management activity that assesses individual goal achievement. They are also used for raises in salary and internal promotions.

Managers, too, should be subject to these evaluations as it is also important to assess key management skills and build action plans for them to adopt the best managerial behaviors. This ensures that leaders have the competencies required to drive team performance.

Tools to assess key management skills typically include questionnaires, peer reviews, and one-on-one meetings.

However, few companies integrate performance review processes into their human resources management system. A consulting firm specializing in management skill and behavior analysis can help:

• Structure the approach.
• Gather information.
• Analyze the results.
• Recommend appropriate action plans and support their implementation.

How to measure managerial knowledge

Managers’ knowledge of their leadership role and responsibilities is often overlooked when promotions are given in an organization. Yet it is a key indicator of a manager’s decision-making ability and the quality of the leadership they provide to their team.

Management Skills Index

Here are 5 management skills you need to observe when assessing managers' knowledge of their roles and responsibilities:

• Planning skills
• Interpersonal skills (communication)
• Execution skills
• Supervision skills
• Continuous improvement skills

By assessing the level of knowledge and understanding of more than 16,000 managers, Proaction International has come to the following conclusion:

Proaction International has a team dedicated to actively monitoring management best practices, and over 15 years of experience in developing executives’ skills across North America and Europe, all industries combined (heavy industry, distribution, logistics, tertiary, construction, etc.).

On average, 38% of frontline managers have very low knowledge and understanding of management best practices. 24% have a weak grasp of it.

Only 7% of frontline managers, in all industries, say they have an excellent understanding of their management role and responsibilities.

However, this does not mean that 2 out of 3 managers do not belong in their position or have no potential. They simply need to develop their leadership skill set.

The point is that frontline managers are – most of the time – excellent field employees. For example, many companies promote their best assembly line operator or sales department representative, without training and coaching them on their managerial role and behavior.

As a result, these managers might not feel confident in their position and able to guide their team, which can lead to decreased productivity and engagement, lack of communication and trust, and costly production errors.

Measuring managerial knowledge can reveal gaps – sometimes significant – between management levels and even between members of the same supervisory team.

But the data shown above and the individual progress made at customers’ sites help us develop, implement, and adjust training and coaching plans to improve management skills for the long term.

Measuring managerial knowledge to encourage positive transformation

The data from the Management Skills Index only illustrate an initial state. Monitoring how the results evolve over time will help identify gaps in management skills and guide decision-making.

Implementing efficient training and coaching strategies allows for significant improvements in management skills. It also helps uncover high-potential managers who may not stand out.

Knowledge of management best practices is critical to management skills. However, a successful manager requires more. That’s why managers' know-how or quality of management should also be measured.

How to measure quality of management

Another key behavioral indicator is know-how on the field, i.e., the quality of daily management of frontline teams.

This management skill can be assessed from two angles:

• The amount of active supervision.
• Management effectiveness.

Active Supervision Index

Managers have to pack many tasks and priorities into limited time. They are often required to do manual work to help their staff, on top of time-consuming administrative tasks, email management, meetings, team planning, etc.

Calculating the Active Supervision Index involves recording all activities performed in a typical day and classifying them into 5 categories:

• Active supervision
• Training and coaching
• Administrative tasks
• Manual work
• Passive supervision

Calculating the percentage of time allocated to each category provides the proportion of time actually spent on active supervision .

Proaction International found that managers generally spend most of their day on administrative tasks, meetings, and emergency management. This reduces the time they can devote to value-added activities such as:

• Fostering team engagement.
• Planning and coordinating activities (active supervision).
• Developing individual skills (training and coaching).

If managers spend 30 minutes a day on active supervision, they don’t have time to go beyond basic management to invest in continuous improvement .

So measuring the quality of the manager's interventions on the field will clarify the value they create for their team and organization.

Management Effectiveness Index or Management Maturity

We have said before that the role of the manager is to capture performance gaps to guide their team in reaching its full potential.

There are all kinds of performance gaps: human, methodological, technical, organizational, etc. So we need to measure the management behaviors that enable managers to capture those gaps and create efficiency gains to improve performance.

At Proaction International, years of analysis and coaching of managers from various industries allowed us to identify 5 main managerial maturity stages. The Management Effectiveness Index assesses the level of managerial maturity which helps define the appropriate skill development plan:

• Task assignment
• Task management
• Measuring performance
• Resolving variances
• Proactive management

Level 1: Task assignment

Perhaps the first management skill a new manager learns is to assign tasks to their team to ensure everyone knows what to do. This can sound simple, but not all managers can master it without proper training and coaching (think of some roadworks sites…).

Level 2: Task management

Once managers have mastered task assignment, they need to ensure customer expectations are met. A good managerial reflex is to believe that: “We exist because of our customers, so I’ll make sure we deliver what they need on time and that they are satisfied.”

At this level, managers ensure all team members are in the right place at the right time and deliver the expected product or service on schedule, thus achieving great performance results.

Level 3: Measuring performance

Here, managers feel responsible for improving performance and ensuring the organization benefits from delivering customer value. They understand the performance criteria or objectives that make up for a “good day,” communicate them to their team, and follow up on them.

Level 4: Resolving variances

With a clear definition of what “performance” means, managers can move on to capturing discrepancies hindering operations' full potential and causing performance losses. They seek to identify what prevents teams from generating better results by capturing these variances in method, flow, velocity, etc., and find ways to rectify the situation.

This is where a manager truly starts to create added value and drive performance improvement to help the company achieve better results.

Level 5: Proactive management

The fifth and final stage that managers can reach in their career is proactive management. Not only do they notice recurring variances over time, but they strive to achieve long-term resolution by eliminating the root cause.

At this point, they have become a managerial leader . This is the leadership style of high-performing managers who fully understand their role and responsibilities, drive team engagement, and generate organizational performance day after day.

The Management Effectiveness Index is the ultimate behavioral indicator as it focuses on improving business performance.

Improving performance involves capturing the gaps between potential and reality. Managers bring reality closer to the ideal by reducing non-value-added activities in the organization.

As the managerial effectiveness or maturity  improves – from task assignment to proactive management – so does the organization's performance. This transformation can lead to tremendous gains not only financially, but also on human and strategic levels.

Here are some of the benefits related to better management skills:

• Labor cost savings
• Improved health and safety
• Better material yield
• Increased team engagement

Improving key management skills to drive performance

Using key behavioral indicators (KBIs) such as the Management Skills Index, the Management Effectiveness Index, and the Active Supervision Index allows for a more tangible assessment of leadership skills.

This is the first step towards better business performance and growth. Improving management competencies such as planning skills, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, and communication skills has a huge, positive impact on all areas of the business. It increases productivity as well as engagement, health and safety, and the quality of products and services.

FAQ on management skills 

What are the key factors to consider when evaluating management skills.

When assessing management skills, consider factors such as leadership style, communication abilities, decision-making proficiency, adaptability, and team-building expertise. These elements play a crucial role in determining the effectiveness of a manager.

How can I gauge the adaptability of a manager's skill set?

To evaluate a manager's adaptability, assess their response to change, ability to navigate challenges, and openness to new ideas. A flexible and adaptive manager can effectively lead teams through dynamic environments and evolving business landscapes.

Why is communication essential in evaluating management skills?

Effective communication is a cornerstone of successful management. Assess a manager's ability to convey ideas, provide feedback, and foster a transparent dialogue. Strong communicators enhance team cohesion and overall organizational performance.

What role does decision-making play in evaluating management skills?

Decision-making is a critical aspect of management skills evaluation. Evaluate a manager's ability to make timely and well-informed decisions, considering factors like problem-solving, risk assessment, and the impact of decisions on the team and organization.

How can I evaluate a manager's impact on team dynamics?

Assess a manager's impact on team dynamics by examining their ability to motivate, delegate tasks effectively, and create a positive work environment. Strong team-building skills contribute to increased productivity and employee satisfaction.

Drive organizational performance with stronger leadership skills

Proaction International's experts can help your teams develop their management skills to boost team and organizational performance, starting with an assessment of their management behaviors.

Proaction International

Proaction International relies on people, equipped with appropriate technology, as the driving force behind the performance and competitiveness of organizations. Proaction International's experts offer support based on coaching and training of teams, optimization of tools and processes, and digitalization of management via the UTrakk DMeS application, which promotes good management behavior.

Déli-Porc Develops an Agile, Digitalized Culture Focused on Optimization

Kefor maximizes its performance by optimizing manager skills, le goupe maurice: motivate and retain talents by focusing on the leadership development of managers.

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Managerial Skills: Types, Definition, Levels & Examples in Management

Managerial skills can be defined as certain abilities that a manager/executive should possess in order to fulfill specific tasks in an organization.

From the very beginning of the development of management thought, both management practitioners and researchers have emphasized different skills for managers.

Therefore, the list of managerial skills is very long. And various management authors and researchers have categorized managerial skills on the basis of levels of management and many other factors also. 

In this article, we have shared what are managerial skills? and the detailed discussion about the type of managerial skills with examples.

So let’s start with the definition of Managerial Skills.

Managerial Skills Definition

Managerial skills are Simply, Knowledge and expertise to fulfill some activities or tasks.

Managers must possess certain skills in order to perform management functions effectively. Skill refers to practical ability or expertness in a specific action or doing something.

This knowledge can be learned. However, it also can be acquired through practice fulfillment of these activities. Therefore, skills can be acquired through the learning and experience of individuals.

There are many definitions of skills that define it as some type of talent. Talent is something personal in an individual and represents a native gift from nature about something in that individual. All individuals cannot be artists. Usually, artists are born with the gift of art and after that, they develop their talent in quality art skills through educational systems.

Managerial Skills by Robert L. Katz

According to Robert L. Katz,

“if managers have the necessary management skills then they will probably perform well and be relatively successful.

On the other hand, if managers do not have the necessary management skills, they will probably perform poorly and be relatively unsuccessful in their careers.

There are three types of primary skills that are important for successful management performance.”

In 1955, Robert L. Katz published a book named “Skills of an Effective Administrator”. 

Managerial Skills Types

Katz has grouped various managerial skills into three broad categories in his book;

• Conceptual skills,
• Human skills,
• Technical skills.

Conceptual skills – A conceptual skills are Manager’s ability to work with ideas and concepts.

These skills enable executives to understand and better decide the actions that have to be taken in a particular field of work.

For example, managers use conceptual skills to take decisions and formulate strategies.

Human skills – This is a manager’s ability to work with people, understand and motivate them.

For example, managers use human skills to get along with people and to communicate and work within teams.

Technical skills – This is a manager’s ability to use tools, procedures, or techniques in his specialized area.

For example, using certain computer software packages (like; MS Excel or Access) is an advanced technical skill.

Must Read ➜ What is Planning?

Importance of Managerial Skills 

Managerial skills are very important in order to be an effective manager. Today’s business world is very competitive, hence it’s imperative that you possess much more skills than ever before.

Not every executive has all the skills that would make them highly effective managers. As the technological trend moves forward and the demand for grouped software and faster hardware increases, the skills that will be needed by managers will change rapidly.

In every business, there are different departments with different types of managers. With different managers come different protocols and required skills.

For example, the HR manager should have proper knowledge of how to conduct the recruitment process as well as he/she should have enough skills to select the best candidate for the vacant position. 

HR Candidate should have all three types of managerial skills to perform his duties. 

⦿ To formula policies, conceptual skills are required.

⦿ To taking interviews, human skills are required.

⦿ While filtering resumes of suitable candidates, good technical skills are required.  

If a Manager has good managerial skills then he influences and motivates his subordinates in every manner.

By developing good managerial skills, Managers will provide effective training to their employees and make proper coordination among their team. These managerial skills are equally important for all types of managers.

Let’s discuss all 3 managerial skills in detail. 

• Conceptual skills
• Human skills
• Technical skills

Conceptual Skills

Conceptual skills are related to concepts and mental conception. It is a conceptual framework intended to develop a new product and or idea.

Since conceptual skills are in the form of imagination. – chimerical, fantasy, or vision. Boulton has called these soft skills and is hardly visible in a person. 

Conceptual skills are also known as general management skills in an organization. It refers to the ability to see the whole picture to recognize significant elements in a situation.

For managers, conceptual skills are required for the following managerial job roles:

➤ Decisional Roles: Conceptual skills are required for making decisions, particularly non-programmed or strategic decisions. Non-programmed decisions are relevant for solving sudden problems in which various alternatives cannot be decided in advance.

For example, launching a new product, business expansion, and so on.

For making non-programmed decisions, various factors such as the business environment have to be taken into account. Environmental factors are quite dynamic and changes in these cannot be predicted easily.

Therefore, managers have to use their conceptual skills for broadly defining the likely change in contextual variables affecting decision-making.

➤ Entrepreneur: Conceptual skills are relevant for planning and building models. From an entrepreneurship mindset, a model is an abstraction of reality. It is a simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon.

Models are used in different fields, for example, economic models, business models, transport models, etc.

In management, models are used for difficult activities like business models. It shows how different business activities will contribute to revenue generation.

For constructing a model, information remains available partially and the gap is fulfilled by the model creator using his conceptual skills.

There are various examples of using conceptual skills in making non-programmed decisions.

Conceptual Skills Examples

In the 1980s, Hero Group of Ludhiana considered some new products in the personal transport product. They chose to add a four-stroke motorcycle which is not considered highly lucrative at that time as compared to the scooter.

Many professional people questioned the efficacy of this decision from Brij Mohan Lall (Founder of Hero Group). On this, Lall, the chairman of Hero Honda Motors replied that future personal transport will be dominated by motorcycles and not by scooters.

In the age of increasing fuel prices and speed-oriented transport, motorcycles would have an edge over scooters. 

We can see very easily how much true this perception has been. Presently, motorcycles have overtaken scooters by a big margin. And Hero Honda company has become the number one motorcycle manufacturer.

Must Read ➜ Human Resource Planning

Human Skills 

Human Skills also referred to as human relations skills or interpersonal skills.

Human Skills can be defined as one’s ability to work effectively with others on a person-to-person basis and to build up cooperative group relations to accomplish organizational objectives.

Management in process of getting things done with and through people and no manager can be effective without suitable human skills irrespective of his being technically and conceptually competent.

Human skills are required for the effective performance of the following Managerial Roles :

➤ Disseminator: Every manager disseminates and interacts on a daily basis with his superior, subordinate, and outsider. To make this communication effective, the manager must have good interpersonal skills so that he can understand others and make himself to be understood by others.

➤ Group Communication: Managers interact with others as a member of groups. Such groups may be constituted either formally by the organization in the form of various committees and workgroups.

A manager will be effective as a group member only when he has the ability to understand other group members and to make himself understood by these members.

➤ Empathy Monitoring: Every manager communicates with others frequently. These people may be from within the organization or from outside.

Every manager must have the ability to be ’empathic to understand others’ views in the right perspective as a good listener besides a good orator. This ability is very important for making communication effective.

➤ Leader: When a manager directs his subordinates, he does not only use his formal authority because of its obvious limitations but relies more on his leadership ability. By doing this he gets the willing and enthusiastic efforts of his followers for achieving organizational objectives.

Therefore, It is essential for a manager to must have emotional stability, empathy, objectivity, and the ability to influence others.

➤ Negotiator and Motivator: It is essential that managers motivate their subordinates properly, so the best result can be achieved. It is the responsibility of a manager to create such an environment in which people may have the perception that they will be able to satisfy their needs by working in the organization.

Therefore, the manager should be capable to understand the needs of his people and the way these needs may be satisfied.

➤ Disturbance Handler: Conflicts may arise in the organization between two persons, in the group, or between two groups. If such conflicts are not resolved amicably and within the given time frame, these may disturb organizational inefficiency.

Therefore, a manager must have the ability to resolve conflicts and disturbances appropriately. For this purpose, the manager must be a good compromiser, smoother and negotiator.

All the above human skills can be learned and developed by an individual or Manager by going through appropriate literature and practicing accordingly.

Must Read ➜ Management by Objective (MBO)

Technical Skills

Technical Skills are concerned with what is done, it shows an ability to use tools, procedures, or techniques in a specialized area.

These skills pertain to knowledge and proficiency in procedures, methods, and techniques which are used in doing work.

Matthew Boulton has called these skills hard skills and is easily visible in a person.

Technical skills learned by Accountants, Engineers, Managers, Operators, and other persons are developed by the actual practice on the job.

For example, the person who is responsible to maintain files and records in an organization must have technical skills relating to how files are maintained and he learns this through practice.

For managers, technical skills are required for the effective performance of the following managerial roles:

➤ Managers are responsible to maintain workflow in the organization. The workflow involves the initiation of actions, that is, who will initiate action and who will receive it.

For example, in an organization, one person gives materials to another person, initiation of action, and other people receive it. For directing workflow, managers must have technical knowledge of the work concerned.

➤ Managers are responsible to maintain order in the work system. that is there should be a place for everything and everything should be in its place. For maintaining an effective order system, the manager must have knowledge of the work systems and workflow.

Managerial Skills Summary

• Technical skills deal with things,
• Human skills deal with people, and
• Conceptual skills deal with ideas.

Every person has all these skills in varying proportions depending on the structure of his brain and the environment he lives in the case with managers.

Every manager is required to possess these skills in varying proportions depending on the nature of his functions.

Since managers at different levels perform different types of functions, as discussed earlier, managers at different levels require different skills. Generally, as one goes up higher in the organization level, one needs conceptual skills more.

Besides these three skills, various writers and researchers have provided other skillsets for various levels of management.

Top Management Skills

In the competitive world, much attention has been focused on the skills and their development in top-level management because it is the major driving force in an organization.

Osmond has identified 8 specific skills required for a top-level manager.

These are skills relating to; 

1. Balancing, 2. Integrating, 3. Setting priorities, 4. Setting and developing standards, 5. Conceptualizing, 6. Leading, 7. Matching oneself with one’s job, 8. Delegating.

A recent survey of 90 global chief executives, conducted by Anderson Consulting, a US-based consultancy firm, shows that the chief executives require 14 skills .

Accordingly, a chief executive 

1. Thinks globally, 2. Anticipates opportunity creates a sharped vision, 3. Develops and empowers people, 4. Appreciates the cultural diversity, 5. Teamwork 6. Partnership, 7. Embraces changes, 8. Technological savvy, 9. Encourage constructive challenges, 10. Ensures customer satisfaction, 11. Achieves competitive advantages, 12. Demonstrates personal mastery, 13. Shares leadership and, 14. Lives the values.

In the Indian context, one such study of 125 chief executives has identified various relevant personal skills like 

• Analytical skills,
• Creativity, sense of high achievement,
• Risk-taking aptitudes,
• Business aptitudes,
• Leadership;
• Job-related skills such as corporate perspective,
• knowledge of the external environment,
• Outside contracts,
• Planning process ,
• Accuracy in work

Middle Management Skills

In the middle management group, there may be managers at different levels placed between the top management and supervisors.

Usually, they are concerned with a particular functional area of the organization.

There is a tendency for faster movement of this group of managers.

Therefore, they require a variety of skills that must be relevant for their entire career. while at the lower end of the middle management, more technical and human skills are required.

Thus, the managers in middle management require

• Human relations skills,
• Leadership skills,
• Motivating skills, and
• Integrative skills.

Supervisory Management skills

Supervisors may also be further classified into front-line, intermediate, and senior.

Since they are directly concerned with operatives where the actual operations of the organization take place, supervisors should possess skills that help them to get things done by operatives.

Every supervisor in the organization should have sound technical knowledge of his field to provide;

• Proper instructions and guidance to operatives,
• Interpersonal skills to develop cohesive operative-management relations,
• Accuracy in work,
• Motivational skills for creating a proper work environment,
• Communication skills for interacting with higher management.

Assess Your Managerial Skills

Given below are the skills relevant for effective managers. Find out the extent to which you possess these skills. Degree of skill possession has been indicated by 3, 2, 1 for high, medium, and low respectively.

Management Skills Checklist For a Successful Manager

• Analytical Skill
• Ability to withstand pressure
• Emotional stability
• Communication skill
• Interpersonal skill
• Hardworking
• Sense of high achievement
• Risk-taking aptitude
• Business aptitude

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7 Strategies for Improving Your Management Skills

• 09 Jan 2020

Developing managerial skills is important for all professionals. According to the World Economic Forum , people management is one of the top 10 skills needed to thrive in today’s workforce. Additionally, research by Gallup shows companies with talented managers experience greater profitability, increased levels of productivity, and higher employee engagement scores—highlighting how vital management is to an organization’s culture and success.

Whether you’re an aspiring or seasoned manager, there are actions you can take to improve how you oversee and guide people, products, and projects. Here are seven ways to become a better manager and advance your career.

Access your free e-book today.

How to Improve Your Management Skills

1. strengthen your decision-making.

Sound decision-making is a crucial skill for managers. From overseeing a team to leading a critical meeting , being an effective manager requires knowing how to analyze complex business problems and implement a plan for moving forward.

In the online course Management Essentials , the following components—referred to as the “three C’s”—are presented as essential building blocks for a successful decision-making process:

• Constructive conflict: This involves engaging team members in the decision-making process. It invites diverse perspectives and debate and stimulates creative problem-solving.
• Consideration: All stakeholders involved in a decision should feel their viewpoints were fairly considered before a solution is determined. Without this sense of acknowledgment, they may be less inclined to commit to and implement the solution.
• Closure: This is a function that ensures stakeholders are aligned before proceeding. It requires defining what constitutes a project or initiative as “done” within a set period, determining if anything remains to be accomplished, and ensuring everyone agrees as to whether the outcome was a success.

By ensuring your decision-making process encompasses these qualities, you can become a key contributor at your organization and influence the context in which decisions get made.

2. Cultivate Self-Awareness

A high level of self-awareness is critical for managers, and it’s what separates high-performers from their peers in the workplace.

This core tenet of emotional intelligence requires introspection and an honest evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses. Through engaging in self-assessment and turning to trusted colleagues to gain insight into your managerial tendencies, you can chart a path for your professional development that hones in on areas where you need to improve, enabling you to bring out the best in yourself and others.

Related: Emotional Intelligence Skills: What They Are & How to Develop Them

3. Build Trust

Trust reaps numerous benefits in the workplace. According to research outlined in the Harvard Business Review , employees at high-trust companies report:

• Less stress
• More energy at work
• Higher productivity
• Greater engagement

Forge deeper connections with your colleagues by engaging in small talk before meetings and learning more about their lives outside the scope of their work. In addition, encourage inclusive dialogue about personal and professional differences, and be open to diverse viewpoints in discussions.

Doing so can cultivate empathy among your team , leading to a greater sense of camaraderie, belonging, and motivation.

Related: 6 Tips for Managing Global Teams

4. Be a Better Communicator

Strong communication skills are a hallmark of any successful manager. Being in a managerial role involves tackling complex business situations and ensuring your team has the information and tools required to succeed.

When facing challenges like navigating organizational change , be transparent about tasks at hand and instill your team with a shared vision of how your company can benefit from the impending transition. Continually provide updates and reiterate the plan for moving forward to ensure your employees are aligned and understand how their work factors into larger corporate objectives. By developing communication and other interpersonal skills, you’ll set your team up for success.

5. Establish Regular Check-ins

Make it a habit to regularly check in with your employees outside of their annual performance reviews. According to research by Gallup , team members whose managers provide weekly feedback are over:

• Five times more likely to strongly agree they receive meaningful feedback
• Three times more likely to strongly agree they’re motivated to do outstanding work
• Two times more likely to be engaged at work

Keep the conversation informal when delivering feedback , and focus on the person’s progress toward organizational goals rather than their personality. In addition, help them chart a plan for moving forward, and affirm your role as a trusted advisor as they tackle next steps.

6. Carve Out Time for Reflection

Beyond regular check-ins, set a consistent cadence for reflecting on and reviewing your team’s work. In one study by Harvard Business School professors Francesca Gino and Gary Pisano, it was found that call center employees who spent 15 minutes reflecting at the end of the workday performed 23 percent better after 10 days than those who did not.

In a video interview for Management Essentials , HBS Professor Amy Edmondson says reflection is crucial to learning.

“If we don’t have the time and space to reflect on what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, we can’t learn,” Edmondson says. “In so many organizations today, people just feel overly busy. They’re going 24/7 and think, ‘I don’t have time to reflect.’ That’s a huge mistake, because if you don’t have time to reflect, you don’t have time to learn. You’re going to quickly be obsolete. People need the self-discipline and the collective discipline to make time to reflect.”

Schedule reflection sessions shortly after the completion of an initiative or project and invite all members of your team to participate, encouraging candor and debate. Hone in on problems and issues that can be fixed, and plot a corrective action plan so that you don’t encounter the same pitfalls in your upcoming undertakings.

7. Complete Management Training

Beyond your daily work, furthering your education can be an effective way to bolster your management skills.

Through additional training , such as an online management course , you can learn new techniques and tools that enable you to shape organizational processes to your advantage. You can also gain exposure to a network of peers with various backgrounds and perspectives who inform your managerial approach and help you grow professionally.

For Raymond Porch , a manager of diversity programs at Boston Public Schools who took Management Essentials , engaging with fellow learners was the highlight of his HBS Online experience .

“My favorite part of the program was interacting with my cohort members,” Porch says. “I received valuable shared experiences and feedback and was able to be a thought partner around strategies and best practices in varying scenarios.”

Related: 5 Key Benefits of Enrolling in a Management Training Course

How Managers Become Great Leaders

While the terms “management” and “leadership” are often used interchangeably, they encompass different skill sets and goals . Yet, some of the most effective managers also exhibit essential leadership characteristics.

Characteristics of a great leader include:

• Exemplary leadership: Strong leaders often consider themselves as part of the team they manage. They’re concerned with the greater good of their organization and use delegation skills to effectively assign tasks to the appropriate team members. Just as they must provide feedback to their team, great leaders must accept others’ constructive feedback to improve their leadership style.
• Goal-oriented: It’s crucial for leaders to deeply understand their organization’s business goals. Knowing its overall mission allows them to strategically prioritize initiatives and align their team with a common vision.
• Self-motivated: It’s vital that leaders are self-motivated and use time management skills to reach their goals. They must accomplish difficult tasks while inspiring their team to follow suit.

By bolstering your leadership skills , you can strengthen your relationship with your team and empower them to do their best work, ultimately complementing your managerial skills.

Elevating Your Management Skills

Managing people and implementing projects on time and on budget is a business skill that all professionals should strive to master. Through sharpening your soft skills, building self-awareness, and continuing your education, you can gain the skills needed to excel as a manager and lead both your team and organization to success.

Do you want to become a more effective leader and manager? Explore our online leadership and management courses to learn how you can take charge of your professional development and accelerate your career. To find the right course for you, download the free flowchart .

This post was updated on September 2, 2022. It was originally published on January 9, 2020.

About the Author

Management Skills Application Exercises

• During this and your other courses, there will likely be products of your and team-based assignments that can illustrate specific competencies such as the ability to prepare a spreadsheet application, write programming code, or show your communication abilities that demonstrate your skills in a video. It is a good practice to catalog and save these artifacts in a portfolio that will be a useful in demonstrating your skills in future job interviews.
• Time management is an important skill that will impact your future as a manager. You can categorize the time that you spend as either required or discretionary. You can assess your time management skills by keeping track of your time using a schedule calendar and breaking down the time devoted to each activity over a week. After a week of logging the activity, note whether each activity was required or discretionary and whether the time was used productively or unproductively using a 10-point scale in which 10 is very productive and 1 is completely unproductive. Now write up a plan on how to manage your time by coming up with a list of what to start doing and stop doing and what you can do to manage your discretionary time more productively.

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• Book title: Principles of Management
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What are management skills?

Types of management skills, what are the top managerial skills to develop, 12 fundamental management skills, how to develop your management skills.

Management has always been a demanding and evolving profession. And developing the right management skills is key to a thriving professional ecosystem – not to mention the makings of a great manager.

Whether you’re new to a management position, looking to brush up your skills, or wanting to invest in your team –– this guide can help. We’ll look at practical manager skills and different ways managers can develop in these areas.

In short, management skills are competencies that help managers better lead, motivate, organize, schedule, plan, budget, and problem-solve. Whether setting team goals that ladder into organizational goals or making a case for a new hire, managers leverage a handful of essential skills to accomplish each aspect of their job.

You can apply management skills to a wide range of careers and industries outside of people management . So many of the skills needed are transferable between these various roles. From middle management to entrepreneurs, management skills are a valuable asset to most professionals

Though there are many essential skills that managers should develop, they tend to fall into three primary categories:

Technical skills : Technical skills are the hard skills needed to meet their objectives. As well as understanding relevant tools and software, technical skills also include techniques and strategies required to complete projects and meet their goals.

Conceptual skills : This big-picture thinking is critical for managers to understand their tasks and build an effective action plan. Managers should be able to develop ideas and problem-solving initiatives that support their department.

People management skills : People are often the primary drivers of goal-oriented action. Managers should have strong interpersonal skills to help motivate, lead, and work well with others.

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As you may have gathered, there’s a lengthy list of beneficial hard and soft skills for top managers to embrace. When it comes to adding the most value, however, we can bucket these into four distinct categories: 

Interpersonal skills : learning and growth, teamwork, establishing trust , and cognitive agility

Problem-solving and decision-making skills : financial planning, business acumen , and customer focus

Team management and professional development skills : influence , motivation, communication, team building, and coaching

Organizational skills : strategic thinking, time management skills , sensemaking, or trends and pattern recognition

Communication and leadership skills : motivating, updating, and collaborating

In addition to these traditional skills, it’s good to remember that managers should constantly learn new skill sets in this rapidly evolving world. These skills include technology savviness, agile management , data-driven decision-making, and purpose-driven leadership.

The most common management skills that you will want to develop fall under 12 essential functions of management:

Coordination

Giving direction, organization, clear communication, accountability and ownership, time management, collaboration, active listening, problem-solving.

One key role of managers is to develop functional, cohesive teams. Ideally, these teams work independently, and the manager ensures that they have the resources and skills needed to achieve their goals.

If a team isn’t aware of a resource they need, or another department they should collaborate with, for example, they could struggle to complete their projects.

Directing is likely where most people’s minds go when they think of managers. And it is a vital part of a managerial role. Directing can be in the form of delegating or reviewing work, acting as a form of quality control, or managing timelines.

Good communication is at the core of directing, and emotional intelligence helps develop trust throughout the process.

Not all managers are natural leaders , so it’s important for managers to work on their leadership abilities. Influential leaders inspire and motivate others through their behavior. They set the tone for the team, reach out for feedback, acknowledge their team’s efforts, and delegate strategically.

These actions are all vital for influential people and project management.

As we mentioned, being a manager is a challenging role. Managers are often overseeing multiple projects with varied timelines and deadlines. So having stellar organizational skills helps managers stay efficient, meet deadlines, and reduce stress.

One significant responsibility of a managerial role is to meet objectives. These can be for a company or at the individual level. Some managers are part of the objective-planning process, and some are not. Either way, a manager must develop a plan to meet these goals. Seeing the bigger picture and how different elements funnel into one another is a helpful skill for managers to hone while planning.

Knowing how to clearly communicate thoughts , plans, feedback, and strategies is an important skill for any management role. Your employees can thrive when they know what is expected of them and how it ties back to overall objectives.

Just as direct reports and individual contributors are held accountable for their work, so are managers. Seeing yourself as an owner of your work and your team’s contributions will go a long way in building trust and integrity across your team .

Coaching is a great way to share your knowledge and support your team’s growth. Whether you are coaching them on more technical hard skills, or interpersonal skills, your input builds confidence and intellectual capital .

It goes without saying that good managers and great leaders know how to manage their time and their energy effectively. It becomes even more important when you couple it with other skills such as giving direction and owning your work. If you understand your limitations and make conscious commitments when taking on more work, your team will thank you for it. You will have a clear head during 1:1 check-ins, be an active participant in meetings, and complete you work more comfortably.

Teamwork and collaboration are the backbone of many organizations . Companies tend to function better when departments step outside of their silos and individuals work together. The same can be said for leaders. It is a leader’s responsibility to facilitate collaborative working environments and to be strong collaborators themselves.

To better develop your communication skills and empathy toward others, be an active listener. “Seek first to understand before being understood.” Active listening means being engaged and acting on what you listen to, not just hearing others. Active listening also creates empathy .

Most individuals in a leadership role will have to tackle some form of problem-solving. A successful manager can tactfully look at an issue from all sites, garner feedback, and prioritize based on the information they receive. They leverage effective communication skills to learn from their teams and make informed decisions.

Though there are many ways to develop your skills as a manager, the key is participation. Whether you sign up for a public speaking course or volunteer to lead a new initiative, participating is the first step in improving these essential skills.

Here are some ideas for how to get started and where to put your energy:

Take time to reflect

Before taking a single step forward, pause to consider where you are. You can talk to a friend or family member outside of work, write down your thoughts or simply keep them to yourself. Regardless of your method, reflect on what you’ve accomplished, where you want to go next, and what you see as your biggest hurdles to being a better manager and leader.

Seek out feedback

Once you know where you see yourself and what your long and short-term goals are, you can seek out external feedback . Talk to your manager about your goals and get their input on the skills you can improve upon first as well as what you’re really good at. You may not realize that you are already making strides as a strong communicator, for example. So getting this outside perspective can provide perspective.

Your manager can also help devise a plan of action and help you find ways to work on these management skills. They can also suggest management training if your company offers it .

Volunteer to lead an initiative or project

If you see an opportunity to make an impact, raise your hand and put your ideas forward. Or if you see a chance to improve a process, let your manager or your team know. Showing that you have initiative and are willing to share your ideas is often appreciated. Taking it a step further and practicing your leadership skills by spearheading a project can also be a strong move to show you’re committed to developing these skills.

Find opportunities to coach your peers

This could get tricky, so talk to your manager about the best way to start peer-to-peer coaching within your team. When done well, this is a great way to develop interpersonal skills and flex your technical skills. Perhaps there’s an opportunity for a peer or direct report to support in an area they already have an interest in. You can help them explore a new area while also developing your coaching skills .

Celebrate your peers’ wins

Did a team member go out of their way to contribute to the team’s goals? Or did a coworker pitch in to help your wrap up a project on time? Showing your appreciation for others’ accomplishments and hard work is a great way to develop your management skills. 

Tune in and participate in meetings

If you’re in endless hours of meetings, it can be challenging to engage in every one. But try to remain present, listen actively, and pose thoughtful questions when they come up. Staying in the room, so to speak is a stand-out skill –– especially during meeting-heavy days.

Look to mentors and leaders you admire

Think about the leaders, managers, and mentors that motivate and inspire you. Consider their strengths and the ways they present themselves. How do they communicate and share their ideas? What strategies do they use to offer feedback and pushback? Taking note of these things will give you something to aspire to as you develop your management skills.

Developing management skills for future-ready leaders

Management is a challenging job with ever-increasing demands in a fluid and unpredictable environment. To be a good manager today, you need to develop various skill sets. But it is probably wise to concentrate on mastering a few essential skills that would serve you as a solid base platform to grow from. If you’d like more personalized guidance for how to develop your leadership skills, BetterUp can help. We offer leadership coaching to help you inspire and influence your team in a way that resonates.

Ignacio Fernandez Morodo

BetterUp Fellow Coach

What does the future of management look like?

Essential remote management skills and tips for success, unlock your team’s superpowers with effective team management, 7 management skills to guide teams through turbulent times, why soft management skills are necessary for any leader, how new manager coaching sets you up for success in your next role, 6 steps to create a management development program that works, leadership versus management: how they benefit teams, leader vs. manager: what's the difference, similar articles, 9 soft skills for leadership and employees to hone, what is people management, what are professional skills, and which should you add to your resume, the secret to developing managers that help your business thrive, 10+ interpersonal skills at work and ways to develop them, 7 types of meetings (and how to get them right), stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

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Self-Assessment • 15 min read

How Good Are Your Management Skills?

By the Mind Tools Content Team

In business, we often seem to focus less on good management, and more on the glamorous and exciting work of leadership.

However, managers are responsible for making sure that things are done properly. And while leaders may bring us vision, inspiration and challenge, these things count for nothing without the efficient implementation brought about by good management.

To be a great manager, you must have an extensive set of skills – from planning and delegation to communication and motivation. Because the skill set is so wide, it's tempting to build skills in the areas of management that you're already comfortable with. But, for your long-term success, it's wise to analyze your skills in all areas of management – and then to challenge yourself to improve in all of these areas.

This quiz helps you to quickly identify your areas of strength and weakness, so that you can capitalize on the former and manage the latter. We then direct you to resources that you can use to develop your skills further.

To learn more about leadership and to assess your leadership skills, complete our quiz, How Good Are Your Leadership Skills?

Instructions

For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you. Please answer questions as you actually are (rather than how you think you should be), and don't worry if some questions seem to score in the "wrong direction." When you are finished, please click the "Calculate My Total" button at the bottom of the test.

Effective management requires a wide range of skills, and each of these skills complements the others. Your goal should be to develop and maintain all of these skills, so that you can help your team accomplish its objectives efficiently and effectively. Read on for ideas and resources that you can use to do this.

A Model of Effective Management

Our quiz is based on eight essential skill areas where managers should focus their efforts. By covering these basics, you'll enjoy more success as a team manager:

• Understanding team dynamics and encouraging good relationships.
• Selecting and developing the right people.
• Delegating effectively.
• Motivating people.
• Managing discipline and dealing with conflict.
• Communicating.
• Planning, making decisions, and problem solving.
• Avoiding common managerial mistakes.

We'll explore each of these in more detail.

Understanding Team Dynamics and Encouraging Good Relationships (Questions 5, 15, 17)

Good management means understanding how teams operate. It's worth remembering that teams usually follow a certain pattern of development: forming, norming, storming, and performing . It's important to encourage and support people through this process, so that you can help your team become fully effective as quickly as possible.

When forming teams, managers must create a balance so that there's a diverse set of skills, personalities, and perspectives. You may think it's easier to manage a group of people who are likely to get along, but truly effective teams invite many viewpoints and use their differences to be creative and innovative.

Here, your task is to develop the skills needed to steer those differences in a positive direction. This is why introducing a team charter and knowing how to resolve team conflict are so useful for managing your team effectively.

Selecting and Developing The Right People (Questions 11, 17)

Finding great new team members, and developing the skills needed for your team's success is another important part of team formation.

You can improve your recruiting skills with our Recruiting Skills Skillbook, and with out articles on Hiring People: Questions to Ask , Inbox Assessments , Using Recruitment Tests , and Aptitude Testing .

And you can develop people's skills with our articles on, among others, Successful Inductions , Understanding Developmental Needs , Training Needs Assessment , and the GROW Model . You'll also find our Skillbook on Mentoring Skills useful.

Delegating Effectively (Questions 2, 18)

Having the right people with the right skills isn't sufficient for a team's success. Managers must also know how to get the job done efficiently. Delegation is the key to this. Some managers, especially those who earned their positions based on their technical expertise, try to do most of the work themselves. They think that, because they're responsible for the work, they should do it themselves to make sure it's done right.

Effective managers recognize that by assigning work to the right people (not just those with the most time available), and clearly outlining expectations, teams can accomplish much more. But it's often difficult to trust others to do the job. As a manager, remember that when your team members have the right skills, training and motivation, you can usually trust them to get the work done right.

Find out your strengths and weaknesses related to delegation by taking our quiz, How Well Do You Delegate?

Motivating People (Questions 13, 19)

Another necessary management skill is motivating others. It's one thing to motivate yourself, but it's quite another to motivate someone else. The key thing to remember is that motivation is personal. We're all motivated by different things, and we all have different levels of personal motivation. So, getting to know your team members on a personal level allows you to motivate your people better. Providing feedback on a regular basis is a very powerful strategy to help you stay informed about what's happening with individual team members. You can test your motivation skills with our quiz, and use your answers to develop your skills further.

Managing Discipline and Dealing With Conflict (Questions 3, 6, 12)

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, there are problems with individual performance. As a manager, you have to deal with these promptly. If you don't discipline, you risk negative impacts on the rest of the team as well as your customers, as poor performance typically impacts customer service, and it hurts the team and everything that the team has accomplished. It's very demotivating to work beside someone who consistently fails to meet expectations, so if you tolerate it, the rest of the team will likely suffer. In our article on team management skills , we explore this issue in further detail and give you some examples.

Team performance will also suffer when differences between individual team members turn into outright conflict, and it's your job as team manager to facilitate a resolution. Read our article on Resolving Team Conflict for a three-step process for doing this. However, conflict can be positive when it highlights underlying structural problems – make sure that you recognize conflict and deal with its causes, rather than just suppressing its symptoms or avoiding it.

Communicating (Questions 8, 9, 16, 20)

An element that's common to all of these management skills is effective communication. This is critical to any position you hold, but as a manager, it's especially important (you can test your communication skills with our quiz, How Good Are Your Communication Skills? ). You need to let your team know what's happening and keep them informed as much as possible. Team briefing is a specific communication skill that managers should improve. Also, develop the ability to facilitate effectively, so that you can guide your team to a better understanding and serve as a moderator when necessary.

Planning, Problem Solving and Decision Making (Questions 4, 10)

Many managers are very comfortable with planning, problem solving and decision making, given that they're often skilled specialists who've been promoted because of their knowledge and analytical abilities. As such, one of the most important issues that managers experience is that they focus so intensely on these skills when they think about self-development that they fail to develop their people skills and team management skills. Make sure that you don't focus on these skills too much!

However, if you need to develop these skills, see our major sections on Problem Solving, Decision-Making, and Project Management. You'll find many rich skills improvement resources in these areas.

Avoiding Common Managerial Mistakes (Questions 1, 7, 14)

Good communication helps you develop facilitation skills, and it also helps you avoid some of the most common problems for managers. Some of these common mistakes are thinking that you can rely on your technical skills alone, asking your boss to solve your problems, putting your boss in the awkward position of having to defend you, and not keeping your boss informed. Our article on Team Management Skills highlights what to do to avoid these, and other managerial problems that you should be aware of.

Key Points:

You need to develop and improve your managerial skills on an ongoing basis as your career develops and as you meet new managerial challenges.

Whether you manage a department or a project team, it's important to know how to get the work done right. When you're asked to achieve something with the help of others, it's complex – and you spend much of your time managing relationships instead of doing the actual work. So, you must develop not only your technical skills, but your management skills as well.

Delegating, motivating, communicating, and understanding team dynamics are some of the key skills needed. With those skills, along with patience and a strong sense of balance, you can become a very effective manager.

This assessment has not been validated and is intended for illustrative purposes only. It is just one of many that help you evaluate your abilities in a wide range of important career skills.

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Comments (1)

Kimberly Buchanan

doesn't tell me what areas I need to improve. It just gives me an overal score of 84

about 1 year

Diana Castellanos

You have to keep scrolling down and merge some of the questions within their given category in the article breakdown below.

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Managerial Competencies: Core Skills, Importance & Examples

Kate williams.

12 November 2022

Table Of Contents

What Is Managerial Competency?

6 managerial competencies for rockstar managers, importance of managerial competency, 3 shining examples of managerial competencies.

Managers. It’s a helluva tough job, make no mistake, requiring specific skills, or in a more corporate jargon way, managerial competencies.

The word may be jargon, but it is crucial for any organization, big or small. The overall growth of everyone, including the organization, rests on the shoulders of competent managers. They are the glue keeping the bond between decision-makers and the rest of the employees strong. Some responsibility, eh?

How to acquire such manager skills and competencies, then? Well, that’s what this article is all about! And it’s time we start. So enjoy the read with a good cuppa. You’ll thank us later!

In this blog, we’ll cover:

• What is Managerial Competency?
• 6 Managerial Competencies
• Importance of Managerial Competency
• Managerial Competency Examples

Smooth business functioning requires competent people, from top to bottom. People with the mettle for taking responsibilities and performing or delegating efficiently.

Managerial competencies and skills are defined on similar lines. They are the skills, habits, motives, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for managers to have or inculcate for successful management.

A few managers naturally have all or most core managerial competencies. Thus, leading a team comes naturally to them. For the rest, it’s about developing them with time and effort.

But once done, managerial competencies promote better leadership and sustained business success. There are 6 such competency skills, and we’re talking about the next;

Managerial competencies are the knowledge and skills that contribute to productivity in the workplace. Organizations choosing to evaluate managers or recruit them based on these skills will find growth easy to come by.

SurveySparrow is an excellent tool for evaluating manager skills and competencies. Here’s why:

• You can automate your manager evaluations.
• Seamlessly verify and validate their competencies.
• Hyper-personalize L&D plans based on their strengths, hidden strengths, blind spots and areas of improvement.

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Below, we list the 6 core managerial competencies we’ve found to bring the best out of a manager in recent times.

• Powerful Communicator
• High Emotional Intelligence
• Effective Problem Solver
• Surreal Optimist
• Ultimate Team Player
• Visionary, In Every Sense

#1. Powerful Communicator

According to the International Data Corporation research , companies with a collaborative work environment see 30% less employee turnover, 30% higher productivity, and generate 30% more revenue than competitors. But what’s integral for a good collaborative environment at the workplace? Proper communication. And it starts with the manager or team leader.

Being a powerful, written and in-person, communicator, is essential for managers. A manager’s profile requires them to explain upcoming tasks, goals, and KPIs to team members. Once that is done, a manager should delegate tasks and give responsibilities. Then, they have to review all work and talk about the changes required, if any. And lastly, a manager should appreciate and recognize team members for their quality work. What’s the shared skill for all this? Effective communication.

See, planning and strategizing are crucial. But without communicating that effectively, how will the work happen? That is why organizations select managers keeping clear and powerful communication as one of the first managerial competencies.

#2. High Emotional Intelligence

This might be new to you, even though emotional intelligence is a crucial managerial skill. What is it exactly? It’s the capacity to be aware and in control of emotions when expressing at work to handle workplace relationships judiciously and empathetically. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report , emotional intelligence is in the top 10 job skills for 2020 and beyond, and rightly so.

Without high EQ, managers will act as bosses when they should communicate and work as a leader. It was a shock to see a global ignorance toward emotional intelligence before the pandemic. But now, in the post-covid world, employees only wish to work under managers who understand their problems and are empathetic towards them.

SurveySparrow’s employee 360-degree assessment solution lets you conduct feedback for managers. Based on the results, they can start working on their EQ levels. Smart work, what say?

#3. Effective Problem Solver

Officers in the armed forces are the best examples here. They have a special knack for working under immense pressure and solving problems one by one. Even when bullets are flying, they can rally troops to take decisive action.

Asking a manager to emulate the same skill would be too much. But it’s also a fact that all leaders solve problems consistently. So taking inspiration to be a decisive and proactive problem-solver like an officer will not harm. Effective problem-solving managers take proactive measures to address issues and avert conflicts. They organize teams to best tackle a task and trust them with specific goals.

An aspect that will clearly show if a manager is a competent problem solver for an issue is how they strategize for it? Looking at answers to these four questions will reveal that;

• Are they strategizing for every possible outcome?
• How have they planned to deal with the unexpected?
• Does their strategy involve every team member’s strengths?
• Is the manager willing to lead from the front or delegate most of the task?

#4. Surreal Optimist

Each person is motivated differently, which makes being an optimist one of the most important managerial competencies for a leader. The team members grasp what they see in their manager, and if he is pessimistic, the entire team will be the same.

Great managers get people together to take on a daunting challenge with a smile. They truly are surreal optimists who believe that if you think you can, you can!

You want such managers in your organization, and this core skill should be high on your managerial competency list.

#5. Ultimate Team Player

“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie

Carnegie said this over a century ago, but it applies today also. For any company to succeed and achieve the unimaginable, teamwork is key. And the foundation for it is laid by the manager.

A well-oiled and loyal team is still worth its weight in gold! And it’s the manager who stems the importance of teamwork for everyone. He explains how everyone can achieve what they’ve longed for through teamwork? The growth, success, money, everything!

It takes time for its results to show, and patience is the key here. But believe us, it eventually shows up… in a grand manner!

#6. Visionary, In Every Sense!

Visionary, in every sense. What sort of a core managerial competency is this? We get your confusion, but hear us out.

Having a vision means your manager can outline a clear and vivid plan to accomplish objectives. It also means he’s open to creative ideas and innovation, questioning the status quo and implementing new processes when required.

A visionary manager is also the one who acknowledges how essential diversity is in the workplace? He works towards building a diversified workforce that values inclusivity and a shared culture.

So, one of the core managerial competencies to not miss out on is looking for a visionary manager. Someone who can take risks for the next level of growth.

The heading says it all about why you should not skip this section! Let’s begin, then;

1. Quality Recruitment

Let’s use an example here:

You are a part of a fantastic college rock band that’s doing wonders. Suddenly, your lead singer leaves. What do you do, then? Look for a new lead singer based on the competencies defined for him. Here they are:

• Remarkable showmanship
• Full of energy
• Great vocal range
• Clear and clever writing
• Ability to add visual excitement through dance moves

The benefit of using these competencies means recruiting a new singer would be a lot easier and more fruitful. Now, apply the same to your managerial recruitment. Set up the list of competencies to look for, and then begin the process. You’ll likely hit a jackpot with the perfect candidate!

2. Defined Expectations

One of the best things about defining your organization’s managerial competencies is how easy the goal-setting process becomes. You have a clear idea of how competent a manager is. With this knowledge, expectations become much more realistic to achieve for them.

Yes, the goals and targets should have challenges to develop their skills, but all-in-all, managers are satisfied with their organization’s expectations of them, and they have all the motivation to deliver.

3. Way Better Assessment

When the recruitment and expectations are on the lines of core skills, why would quarterly or yearly assessments be any different?

And when defined managerial competencies access and evaluate a manager, the process and the result are much, much better!

4. More Cohesive Culture

Diversity and inclusion are what every competent manager works to build the team around. That builds an environment where respect for different ethnicities and backgrounds flows naturally from the top to the entry-level employees.

That creates a more cohesive culture that stands together when things get shaky. And it all starts with a manager’s will to promote a diverse and inclusive workforce.

5. Enhanced Employee Satisfaction

Competent managers are god’s answer to your employee satisfaction woes. These managers know exactly how to get the best out of a team member while challenging him enough. They know when to give comfort and let employees play on their strengths and when to give complex work.

A competent manager is the first to help when an employee needs it and the last to take any recognition. With them around, the culture is such that everyone grows and gets recognized. And that enhances employee satisfaction multi-fold.

6. Spectacular Productivity

One of the core managerial competencies is strategy building and smart planning. Competent managers are masters at that. They strategize and plan so well that productive work becomes normal.

They give tasks based on a team member’s strength while challenging their skill set with something new and complex. If they can’t perform a task fully, these managers are there to help without letting the overall productivity dwindle. Pure class!

7. Consistent, Scalable Growth

What do you like more – A wave or a uniformly ascending line?

You might say wave here, but what if it’s your company’s growth trajectory?

No, nada, never. Even in the wildest dreams, nobody would want that. But organizations, knowingly or unknowingly, work towards this only! The primary reason – low managerial competencies. Either they hire without knowing the skills they want in their managers, or they don’t focus on training them for their shortcomings.

To get consistent, scalable growth, do the exact opposite. Hire and train with all the managerial competencies in mind. You’ll be in awe of the results after that!

8. Soaring Brand Image

What happens when your brand is consistently scaling new heights with a culture led by competent managers?

You’ll attract more customers and talented employees. This has been the norm in the post-pandemic world. People, both potential customers and employees, want to work with a brand that’s growing while valuing employee growth and satisfaction, too.

Managers with the right skills and competencies are to be thanked for this image, as they continuously promote teams to take on new challenges and training that drives them and the company forward while keeping an infectiously positive culture. That is what attracts people.

9. Future Ready!

The pandemic quickly showed that most organizations aren’t ready to face the unexpected. They might claim they are but aren’t in a way they should be. Staying future-ready is part of the workplace culture that stems directly from decision-makers, as they have the incentives to do that. But it continues and comes into practice with managers.

Proactive managers know how pivotal future readiness is for their company. In most cases, such managers don’t even wait for the leader’s nod to get started. They already have succession planning strategies, personalized training programs, and funds to test new tech and innovations.

We’ve kept this pointer at last when it could’ve come right at the top in demonstrating why managerial competencies are absolutely crucial for a business to thrive and in tough times, survive!

Before we wrap up here, it makes total sense to talk about the companies that benefit hugely from setting their core managerial competencies. These 3 organizations and there are many more, have developed crucial business functions around these skills and are reaping the rewards now. Here they are;

Of the 3 we have here, Nike is the oldest, but it has always been a frontrunner in adapting to new technologies and ways of working.

However, Phil Knight, the founder, always gave due importance to hiring managers that match Nike’s philosophy and core skills. Even the initial employees were hired keeping that in mind.

The result is that with time, Nike has grown to become one of the most trusted sports shoes and apparel brands.

The distinctive competencies of its managers that led to Nike’s success were:

• Focus on innovative design and durable products
• Consumer-first approach
• Open to diverse and vibrant teams with one goal
• No haste in decision-making
• Emphasis on research before production
• Quality manufacturing standards

Apple’s managerial competencies have always revolved around giving the best experience and services to customers. From the product design to after-sales support, Apple’s managers make sure the customer experience is never faltered.

So when consumers invest in its products, they are investing in a brand that never compromises customer experience, support, and benefits. The other managerial competencies of this iconic behemoth are:

• Acceptance of new tech
• Focus on experimentation
• No conflict decision making
• Merit-based recognition system
• The customer is always right’ mindset
• Start-to-end roadmap for new products

Amazon is the first choice of consumers for almost all kinds of online purchasing. From electronic gadgets to kitchen essentials, they have everything in their marketplace. And then there’s Amazon’s cloud computing service arm AWS, which is a market leader in its segment.

It won’t be wrong to say that Amazon has thrived in every field it has entered, and they continue to do so. Its managers and team leaders have been and are at the forefront of all this success. Here are the core competencies they possess;

• Hyperfocus on brand-consumer relation
• The knack for finding innovative ways for processes
• Self-sufficiency
• Premier customer service
• Quick conflict/issue resolution
• Utilizing individual strong areas to the fullest

Ending Note

Being a manager requires the right skills. Period.

That is pretty much clear. But can’t you train for these managerial competencies? Of course. But as a decision-maker, you first need to know where exactly your managers are lacking.

Enters SurveySparrow. Its employee 360-degree assessment solution is the answer. You can conduct self-assessment or peer and leader reviews for managers to find what exact skill they need training for. Designing an effective training program then becomes a cakewalk.

Apart from this, talk to them. We’re sure your managers are doing their best to help the organization grow. As such, it’s normal for them to miss out or ignore one or more of these six core skills. But when you have a candid discussion about that, they’ll make changes in no time. Changes that will deliver results!

With that, we’re wrapping up here and encouraging you to leave a comment under the article and start a discussion. For any help, find us here 24/7. Ciao.

Content Marketer at SurveySparrow

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