Top 5 Leadership Skills For Managers Top 5 Leadership Skills For Managers
share 7

The growth of any organization, company, or institution depends on the availability of human resources and physical resources such as buildings, computers, desk offices, and printers. Having the resources without having the right person to manage them, makes the organization in the risk of lessening productivity and even revenues in business. It is very important to have leaders who manage the resources to ensure the goals and visions of the organizations are reached with a high degree of efficiency. Leadership as one of the top skills for leaders who manage resources within the organization is highly required for all the managers in any institution. The following five skills are highly important for managers;

Decision-making

Being a manager comes with a lot of problems and challenges from internal stakeholders who are mainly employees and external stakeholders such as suppliers, clients, and partners. It is the responsibility of the manager to tackle the problems and make the right decisions for the benefit of the organization. The decisions are not to be "just right" but informed decisions. An informed decision is a technique to make decisions based on the information at hand. A manager must create a system that enables him or her to have all the information from all the departments.Having the right information at the right time helps the manager to make the right decision with high efficiency and, maximum output.

Innovation

Villanova University mentions innovation as one of the top five skills required for managers in the twenty-first century. Innovation is among the top strengths for organizations to excel further." You either innovate or die", those were the words from Bernie Meyerian who is a chief innovation officer of IBM. Understanding the role of innovation in the growth of the organization is very important for managers. Managers are responsible to create an innovation culture within the organization by having an innovation space and accepting ideas from the employees. Innovation involves the flexibility of the manager to adapt their management styles to the diverse needs within their team. Motivating employees to submit their innovative ideas make them feel like part of the organization and bring a sense of inclusion and self-motivation to employees. A manager should be able to listen to other employees, filter the right ideas, and work on them to raise the performance of the organization. A technique of awarding the bestideas can also motivate employees to give their strengths, talents, and knowledge for the betterment of the organization or company.

Communication

One of the important skills of a manager is the ability to effectively communicate with the stakeholders of the organization, institution, or company. The responsibility of a good manager is to ensure all the employees understand their roles and what is expected from them. Creating a link between the manager and the employees makes the employees aware of the important issues concerning the organization. Transparency and creation of clear communication methods between the employer and the manager make the bond strong among the members of the organization. For instance, managers need to listen to their employees as it makes them feel valued and appreciated. Managers need to give feedback when communicating with employees. Failure of the manager to give feedback at the right time and with the right communication approach may negatively affect the performance of the organization.

Emotional Intelligence

Having crucial technical skills such as sales, digital marketing, and computer-related skills is important but having emotional intelligence skills is even more important. Emotional intelligence is a key skill that is a must for every manager to have. Emotionally fit managers can positively work with different kind s of employees and clients. Emotional intelligence also helps managers to manage their stress levels when dealing with their stakeholders. Managers must understand that technical skills make a work done but emotional intelligence skill such as empathy inspires work to be done more efficiently and with a high degree of self-motivation.

Team building

Managers need to have the ability to pick the right people to work on their teams. This is important as it enables the manager to select the right people who can later be delegated to work on other tasks within the organization. This can be done by allocating some of the tasks to the employees and track their progress and results of the task. This approach helps the manager to spot the right people for creating a team. A manager should critically understand the strengths and weaknesses of every employee to understand what needs to be improved to skyrocket the performance of the organization. Team building goes hand in hand with the power to delegate tasks to other employees or teams. Managers need to take a step back, figure out who the best person is for the job, and then trust him or her to get it done.

share 7

Justine Massaba
Written by

Justine Massaba

Justine Massaba loves to learn, write and share various insights on areas of leadership and management. His mission is to empower companies and businesses to utilize the power of leadership in maximizing productivity and efficiency in the workplace.

Join #TheMovement Now

Empower helps millions of job seekers and employers find the right fit every day. Start hiring now on Africa’s #1 job site.*

Become a Mover

What People Say About Us