8 Key Skills To Help You Become A Better Manager

Good management skills can help you get further in your career and make life easier for everybody at work when you are able to communicate effectively and reduce conflict in the workplace. Managers who are dedicated to improvement when it comes to their skills are often able to build better relationships with their co-workers, contribute more to efficiency in the workplace and become a better candidate for promotions. Learning about these skills and what you can do to improve them can be the best first step to take if you want to become a better current or future manager.

What Are Good Management Skills?

Good management skills refer to a specific skillset that managers can utilise to lead a team that is functional, productive, and independent. There are three different main areas when it comes to management skills. These include relational skills, which managers use to communicate with, motivate, and encourage their employees; technical skills, which managers use to complete work, manage their team, and understand tasks; and reasoning skills, that are used by managers to help their team achieve larger projects and challenges. You can learn more about management skills and get the chance to practice developing yours with a master’s in business management from Aston University. Some of the most important skills that a manager can have include:

Independence

Independence refers to the desire and ability to complete tasks as an individual. An independent manager is able to make decisions without the need to get approval from their own supervisor, which can help them be more effective in the work that they do. Along with this, an independent manager will also often be better able to trust the team that they manage, since they have a clear and solid understanding of how the work at their company is done and they trust employees to complete tasks without the need to check in frequently.

Adaptability

Adaptability means that somebody can change their behaviour based on updated standards, feedback, or new information. A manager who is adaptable is not only able to easily adjust themselves to any changes in the workplace but can also be there to help their team adapt to various changes in different parts of their work. Managers who have this skill can easily modify their behaviour or even their management style when working with different team members, or when they experience new requirements, environments, or standards in the workplace.

Advocacy

Advocacy is the ability and willingness to stand up for rights, resources, accommodations, and fair compensation on the behalf of others. Skilled and successful managers are often the biggest advocates for their teams, and team member know that their manager has got their back. Good managers are skilled at advocacy to ensure that the people they are working with have everything that they need to not only successfully complete their work but also be satisfied with their job.

Resourcefulness

A resourceful manager is somebody who is able to find the answer to questions or challenges by consulting the right people or conducting the right research. A good manager is somebody who knows that they do not always have all the answers to everything, and they use their resourcefulness skills to find the correct answers to employees’ questions. Resourcefulness can also tie in with creativity, and good managers often use this quality to help them find and develop new ideas or methods for completing tasks or projects on time and as expected.

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Conflict Resolution

For many managers, working with people means that they need to improve their conflict resolution skills. Conflict resolution refers to the skill of being able to find the best solution to a conflict. Good managers can use this whether they are personally experiencing a conflict with a member of their team or whether they are mediating. They can help others understand the situation and provide an environment and support that makes it easier for the people who are involved to work through the conflict and move past it in a healthy way. Good managers use this skill within their team to encourage people to collaborate with one another more effectively and help everybody understand each other better.

Empathy

Empathy is not a skill; it is rather a humanistic quality. However, anybody can work on improving this and becoming more empathetic in the workplace and beyond. Empathy refers to the ability to understand what others are experiencing or feeling and see situations from their point of view. Even if you have not personally been in that exact situation before, empathy gives you the ability to understand how somebody else is experiencing something and you can use it coupled with active listening skills to get a better understanding. A manager with empathy is likely to make a better impact in the workplace since they will have a better understanding of what their employees need, treat them with kindness, particularly during difficult times, and create a work environment that is more welcoming to everybody.

Patience

A good manager will soon find out that they need to have a lot of patience to work successfully in this role. Patience refers to the ability to tolerate mistakes, delays, or miscommunications without an angry or emotional response. Patience is a crucial trait for managers, as they will need to use it when explaining new things to current employees or training new employees, since people learn and pick up new things at different rates. When a manager is patient, employees tend to thrive better since they are in an environment where they know that their learning and growth is supported.

Emotional Maturity

Emotional maturity or emotional intelligence refers to the ability to moderate counterproductive or unpleasant emotions like anger, fear, or closed-mindedness. Managers who are skilled in this area are better able to react calmly even when under pressure, respond to setbacks and challenges in a way that is positive and encouraging, and tend to be better able to communicate with and empathise with their employees.

Whether you’re currently working as a manager or hope to become a manager in the future, working on these key skills will help you build a better relationship with your team and achieve better results.

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