
In business, we frequently appear to place a higher premium on good management than on leadership’s glamorous and thrilling role.
On the other hand, managers are accountable for ensuring that tasks are completed appropriately. And while leaders may inspire, motivate, and challenge us, these qualities are meaningless without the efficient implementation enabled by sound management.
To be a successful manager, you must possess a broad range of abilities, from planning and delegation to communication and motivation. Due to the breadth of the skill set, it’s tempting to focus on areas of management where you’re already proficient. However, for long-term success, it’s prudent to assess your management abilities in all areas – and then challenge yourself to improve in each of these areas.
Managers should concentrate their efforts on eight critical skill areas. By covering these fundamentals, you’ll increase your chances of success as a team manager:
1. Recruiting and developing the appropriate personnel.
2. Effective delegation.
3. Motivating others.
4. Discipline management and dispute resolution.
5. Communicating.
6. Planning, decision-making, and problem-solving
7. Avoiding frequent managerial blunders.
8.Recognize team dynamics and promote positive interactions.
Let us examine each of these points in greater detail.
Recognizing Team Dynamics and Promoting Positive Relationships
Effective management requires a grasp of how teams work. It’s worth noting that teams often evolve in the following manner: forming, norming, storming, and performing. It is critical to encourage and support individuals during this process to assist your team in becoming fully functional as quickly as feasible.
Managers must strike a balance while building teams to ensure a broad range of abilities, personalities, and opinions. While managing a group of people who get along may seem easier, genuinely great teams welcome many perspectives and leverage their differences to be creative and innovative.
Your objective here is to build the skills necessary to channel those differences positively. This is why establishing a team charter and learning how to address team conflict are critical components of properly managing your team.
Effective Delegation
Having the appropriate individuals with the relevant abilities is insufficient to ensure success. Managers must also understand how to complete tasks efficiently. Delegation is critical to accomplishing this. Certain managers, particularly those promoted based on their technical expertise, attempt to do the majority of the work themselves. They believe that because they are accountable for the job, they should perform it themselves to ensure it is completed properly.
Effective managers understand that teams may accomplish far more by allocating tasks to the appropriate individuals (not simply those with the most available time) and clearly defining expectations. However, trusting people to execute the job is frequently challenging. As a manager, keep in mind that when your team members possess the necessary skills, training, and motivation, you can typically rely on them to complete the job correctly.
Motivating Individuals
Motivating others is another crucial managerial talent. Motivating oneself is one thing; motivating another is quite another. The critical point to remember is that motivation is subjective. We are all motivated differently and have varying degrees of personal motivation. Thus, getting to know your team members personally enables you to encourage them more effectively. Regular feedback is an extremely effective method for keeping you updated about the progress of individual team members.
Discipline Management and Conflict Resolution
Occasionally, despite your best efforts, individual performance issues arise. As a manager, you must address these immediately. Without discipline, you risk bad consequences for the rest of the team and your customers, as poor performance often harms customer service and is detrimental to the team and everything it has done. Working with someone who frequently fails to fulfill standards is extremely demotivating, and if you allow it, the rest of the team will almost certainly suffer. In our post, we discuss this subject in greater detail and provide examples of team management abilities.
Team performance will also suffer if disagreements between team members escalate into open conflict, and it is your responsibility as a team manager to mediate a settlement. However, competition may be beneficial when it draws attention to underlying structural problems — ensure that you understand and address the root causes of conflict, rather than simply concealing or avoiding its symptoms.
Communicating
Effective communication is a component of all of these managerial abilities. This is critical in any role, but it is essential as a manager. You must communicate with your staff and keep them informed as much as possible. Managers should hone their team briefing skills. Additionally, enhance your facilitation skills so that you can help your team toward greater knowledge and act as a moderator when appropriate.
Organizing, Problem Solving, and Making Decisions
Many managers are adept at planning, problem-solving, and decision-making, as they are frequently highly skilled specialists promoted for their expertise and analytical talents. One of the most significant challenges that managers have is that they place such a high premium on these skills when considering self-development that they neglect to enhance their people and team management abilities. Take care not to over-emphasize these abilities!
Avoiding Common Management Errors
Good communication helps you develop facilitation skills, and it also enables you to 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 defending you, and not keeping your boss informed.
Key Points
You must continually build and improve your managerial talents as your career progresses and as you encounter new administrative issues.
Whether you’re in charge of a department or a project team, it’s critical to understand how to get the job done correctly. When you’re asked to accomplish anything with the assistance of others, it isn’t very easy – and you spend a lot of time managing relationships rather than performing the task at hand. As a result, you must develop technical skills and management skills.
The critical abilities required are delegation, motivation, communication, and a grasp of team dynamics.
With those abilities, in addition to patience and a good sense of balance, you can develop into an extremely excellent manager.
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