Top Tips on How to Be an Effective Manager
Management Skills
- Leadership skills
- Ability to delegate
- Ability to get along well with others
- Ability to deal with problem employees
- Ability to conduct training
- Ability to evaluate employees
- Ability to troubleshoot
- Time management skills
- Sense of humor
- Ability to handle stress
More than just a (not so) pretty face
A manager is one who controls the direction of a business, institution, etc. A manager can control people or resources. You may find that you are (or have been) a manager in some capacity. Perhaps you were class president. Maybe you are a parent. You may just be the oldest of your siblings and are given responsibilities in the household. Do you have a piggy bank? I'm going to be so bold as to say we've all be managers in some capacity.
But what makes a good manager?
Managers come in all shapes and sizes. We each have our own managerial style. However, some good qualities that you should aim to bring to the table in a professional environment include:
Leadership Skills: We all have leadership skills. Some of us just don't realize it. We get nervous when we are called upon to take charge. Making speeches and organizing a strategy may seem stressful, but a manager must be able to do these things to be successful.
Ability to delegate: Unless you are managing our piggy bank, you can not do it all by yourself (depending on the size of your piggy bank). So, you are going to have to consult with others to help you get the job done. In order to do this you will need a number of skills:
How long have you had your management position?
Ability to get along with others : If people hate you, they are not going to want to work with you. In fact, they may begin to sabotage you. So, people skills is important.
-Ability to deal with problem employees : Nobody likes to be the bad guy, but if someone is holding back the team, you're going to have to get touch with them. Read books on how to be a good manager so that you know how to fire or penalize trouble makers.
-Ability to conduct training : This may be something you delegate to Human Resources, but you may be called to do this yourself if you are working with certain companies. It is usually a matter of following along with preset instructions in the employee manual.
-Ability to evaluate employees : Again, this may be delegated to Human Resources, but in some cases you are going to have to evaluate employees. You may want to get to know them by name so that you will know who is deserving of recognition and who is a problem employee.
Ability to troubleshoot: This was partially dealt with in the item where we talked about problem employees, but you also need to know your product i.e. what you are managing. If you are managing computer sales, you should know how it works so you can find out if there is the chink in the chain of operation.
Time management skills: In this day and age, everything is based around the clock. You need to know what time shipments are going to come in, when is the deadline for projects, etc. In order to juggle these, you need impeccable time management skills. I would recommend you get a calendar or a day planner so that you can have all your important dates jotted down.
5 Manager Must-Haves!
Sense of humor: A lot of stuff is going to happen. Things that are going to make you want to break down and cry some days...that is to say, if you don't laugh about it. You need to find little things through out your day that make you smile. Don't take everything too seriously or you're just going to fall apart!
Ability to handle stress: That's where the sense of humor comes in handy. Also, time management skills will be helpful for this. You can't be someone who gets depressed or suicidal under a lot of stress. If you're a manager, stress is inevitable. It's how you deal with it that makes all the difference!
Other skills may include:
- Communication
- Project management
- Feedback
- Good teaching skills
- Good motivational skills
- Know how to have fun
