If you're a new manager you've taken on a role that is both challenging and sometimes uncomfortable. In fact, some of the people who were your peers are now your direct reports and that alone makes this change difficult. How you interact with them and others and deal with the day to day dynamics of your work unit, will define you in terms of your managerial skills and abilities.
To be successful in your new role, one of the first things you have to do is see things from management's side. You need to be able to solve problems quickly, look at your world in terms of the big picture, support your organization's mission and vision, and balance your new role between being a manager and being a friend to your direct reports.
Becoming successful in this new role calls for well developed skills that help you interact effectively with your employees, other team members, supervisors and other areas in the organization. So here's some of the key, critical and core skills you'll need to develop to do your job more efficiently and effectively.
Let's start with some "Soft" skills.
Strong communication and listening skills. Using your powers of observation to help you interpret subtle cues your employees are sending about their jobs and general well being.
Ability to coach and motive others. Knowing the steps used in effective coaching meetings to change, maintain, or accelerate performance. Understanding what motivates your employees, keeping in mind it isn't always money!
Conflict resolution skills. Not being afraid of conflict but rather seeing it as a way to drive innovation and creativity. Being able to resolve conflicts quickly can help prevent lost productivity as you work to achieve organization goals.
Meeting facilitation skills. Meetings can be costly if they don't produce solid outcomes for attendees. Knowing how to run meetings and exercise strong facilitation skills will turn meetings into an asset rather than a time wasting liability.
Mentor your employees so they exhibit strong customer service skills. In a tough economy your customers, internal and external, are your life's blood. Make sure you consistently demonstrate solid customer service skills to reflect the positive aspects of your relationships with your employees, peers, and others.
Now for the "Hard" skills.
Time management. Do you really know how to manage your time effectively? If not, you'd better learn or you'll be working 24/7 without getting much done. Good time management is a balance between your work and personal life. And remember, spend some time each day doing something you really enjoy!
Project management. The ability to bring projects in on time and under budget with an effective use of resources.
Performance management. To meet your organization's goals and objectives you need to be able to manage the performance of your direct reports. This includes setting objectives, giving ongoing feedback, and delivering a fair and balanced year-end performance appraisal. Know your organization's performance management system and use the tools you have available to you to carry out an effective performance management process.
Team building. Do you know how to develop high performing teams, from Forming, through Storming, to Norming and finally, Performing. It takes real skill to manage teams through all of these stages; so, become familiar with them, make each stage work for you, and coach and motivate your people into working together as a high performing team.
Stepping into a new manager role is challenging and uncomfortable but it is also exciting. Performance Connect is in the business of expanding people's capabilities and bridging the gap between performance goals and business results. We specialize in leadership, management, employee performance, team building, communication and interpersonal skills training. Go to www.performance-connect.com to see our performance acceleration training and development offerings, DiSC Assessments and Products.
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