Here are our 5 Essential Skills for New Managers
Now that you have been promoted, you will need to develop a whole new set of skills. Whether you manage 5 or 50 employees, you will now need skills to not only manage employees’ work, but their relationships and performance levels as well. Depending on others to perform their duties to the best of their ability and keeping everyone happy at the same time can be a challenge to any manager, but there are techniques and methodologies you can use to meet these challenges.
Delegate Effectively. Delegation is the most difficult skill to learn as a new manager. New managers believe since they are responsible for the work performed, that they should just do the work themselves to make sure it is done properly. The other problem may be that they micromanage every aspect of their staff’s job. Both of these actions are a waste of time and resources. Provide your employees with all the details of the task you want them to complete or the job you want done. Encourage them to ask questions and confirm they have a complete understanding of what is expected of them and how they will accomplish it. Give your staff authority to make decisions and to maintain a dialog with their co-workers to complete the task to the best of their ability.
Evaluate Staffing. Making sure you have the right people on your team is extremely important. Making sure you have the right people in the right positions, is an even bigger factor. As you get to know your staff, get to know their individual strengths and skills. You may need to do some restructuring after your observations and reviewing performances. However, you just may experience better results after some reorganization.
Communicate. This is the most important of all things to remember as a manager—to communicate with your staff. Lack of communication is usually the first and foremost complaint by employees. However, if you maintain clear and frequent information, your staff will have better skills to complete their jobs in a more timely and efficient manner.
Set Goals. Most employees work best when they are working towards a comprehensive goal or objective as it provides purpose and direction for their work. Setting measurable goals and providing them with an overall picture of the end product will help keep them on task.
Motivate. Motivating your staff with positive reinforcement of achievements will also help keep employees engaged. Different things motivate different people, therefore encouraging your staff as a team and what motivates them collectively, can produce a powerful strategy to maintain a cohesive work environment.
Delegating, communicating and motivating are the skills of a productive manager. Choosing the right team and setting goals along with patience and a sense of balance are among the 5 essential skills for new managers. Combining these skills and elements are the formula for a successful and accomplished manager.
