Top 10 Management Skills According To 15,242 Managers

Being a manager is a tough job, but being a great one is even tougher. Just consider the knowledge and skills it takes to deal with various people, tasks and business needs. I'll be giving you a rundown of the top 10 highest-ranked management skills, according to Manktelow, founder and CEO of MindTools.com, and Birkinshaw, deputy dean for programs at London Business School. Their study surveyed 15,242 managers worldwide to identify the most critical competencies and management skills. 

As managers, we've only really got one job, and that is to motivate and train the team members around us. I think a lot about the concept of servant leadership. What does servant leadership look like? It means leading by example so that you can delegate and elevate your team.

#10 Understand And Implement Emotional Intelligence 

72.1% of the managers surveyed talked about understanding and implementing emotional intelligence. My advice is to think about the emotion wheel. You'll see the labels of all the emotions. Once you can understand a label for all the emotions, you can then begin to identify them in the people around you. Think about what you can do to help them improve or enhance their situation.

#9 Build Trust Within Your Team

73.3% of managers encourage building trust within your team. Your role as a manager is to be thinking about how to build trust in your team members. I've focused a lot on trying to be emotionally stable and resilient. So, if I've got personal things going on, I'm not bringing them to work and reacting negatively. The leader sets the tone. Take frequent breaks between meetings and go for a short walk or take a couple of deep breaths to ground yourself. This will help you enhance your team, so you remain a battery charger, not a battery drainer.

#8 Cultivate Relationships With Customers

73.6% of managers encourage cultivating relationships with customers. It's important to be thinking about the customer experience and consistently educating them. In my Wednesday marketing meeting with the team, I shared my experience with a discussion I had with a customer and some insights. This has the team consistently thinking about how they can improve the customers' experience.

#7 Develop New Ideas To Solve Customer Problems

74.4% of managers recommend developing new ideas to solve customer problems. I'm going to expand this to be developing new ideas to solve stakeholders' problems. As a team leader or a supervisor, engaging your team in the solutions process is important. Make sure your solution comes from the group, not one individual. Pose the customer's problem to the team, speak last, and discuss how to solve it whilst mediating discussion. 

#6 Bring People Together To Solve Problems

75% of managers surveyed recommended bringing people together to solve problems. I jumped the gun on that one. But that's really your goal in terms of managing your team or seeking high performance. If you put the problem in your own mind, you're trying to solve it. However, if you can figure out a way to put the problem in your team members' minds, you're going to come up with something great because you've got more context and feedback.

#5 Understand The Needs Of Different Stakeholders And Communicate With Them Appropriately

 75.8% of managers surveyed encourage understanding the needs of different stakeholders and communicating with them appropriately. It's not a one-size-fits-all communication style. You do need to be speaking to different people differently. Think about how you can get people's

attention, influence them effectively and onboard them. I'm pretty tough on some people because I can see that they may need a bit of a push to remain productive. In other situations, I've got to be gentle with people. You must always approach a person with love and empathy. 

#4 Know The Key Principles Of Good Communication

One of the ten key management skills is knowing the key principles of good communication and 77.7% of managers agree.

Look at the seven C's of communication... 

1. Clear
2. Concise
3. Concrete
4. Correct 
5. Coherent 
6. Complete
7. Courteous 

The busier someone is, and the higher up they are in the hierarchy will influence how you communicate with them effectively. 

#3 Consider Many Factors In Decision Making

77.8% of managers surveyed encourages you to consider the many factors in decision making. 

Consider the following before making a decision: 

• Opportunities
• Risks 
• Alternatives 
• Improvements
• Past experience 
• Analysis 
• People
• Alignment
• Ethics 

A weakness of mine is making decisions too fast. I've got a high sense of urgency and don't often deliberate over decisions long enough. Do your due diligence by collecting data to help you make decisions. 

An excellent book recommendation is High Output Management by Andrew Grove. Andrew was the CEO of Intel, the Intel processors that are in most of your devices. Andrew grove talks about managers collecting data and making decisions. Be aware and avoid analysis paralysis. 

#2 Prioritise Tasks Effectively For Yourself And Your Team 

 79.5% of managers surveyed encourage prioritising effectively for yourself and your team. I write everything down I need to do and make myself a checklist. As I complete those items, I tick them off. I sit down on a Sunday before the week starts and make my plan for the week. Constantly ask yourself what's the most important thing. I ask all managers to ensure that all of their team members have a to-do list and work through their priorities. If they're unsure of their priorities, then the managers will help them. This technique is the best way a manager can effectively delegate.

#1 Build Good Relationships With People At All Levels 

79.9% of managers surveyed encourage building good working relationships with people at all levels. I talk a lot about love languages and try to figure out or ask people their five love languages. You need to connect with your team on their level, so it's meaningful. So, you can all work more effectively and achieve more without friction between members. Furthermore, catch up with your team with short and sweet one-on-ones regularly. 

Parallel Competencies

I want you to think about what your parallel competencies are out of the top ten management skills and what you could improve on. What skills are you deliberately practicing that you can improve on? Many people think they need to improve on their weaknesses. But, I highly recommend focusing on your strengths. Play to your strengths, look at your gaps and find people whose strength is your weakness. 

Keep learning, 

Kobi Simmat - Director & CEO of the Best Practice Group.