Thoughts on Leadership: Skills

Skills:

Every manager needs to have skills, that goes without saying. But the skills and competencies needed by managers are different than those of her/his employees. Managers need to have the skills to lead, inspire, organized, communicate, have a great outlook and attitude, have an internal drive to get things done, support her/his employees, and after all of that (and some I did not mention), understand the job that employees do everyday.

Organized and together: Everyday when you get to the office, you are on. When you step out of your car you have to be organized and together all day until you get back in your car and head home. You have to be prepared for any kinds of conversation no matter if they occur in your office, while walking to a meeting, or walking to the bathroom. If a manager is a full-time telecommuter, you have to be organized and together by constantly being available to your employees and you boss and being very aware of what is going on. When you go to meetings, you have to be organized and together by knowing what the meeting is fully about and how you can contribute and help your department, team, and employees contribute and be successful.

Have key technical skills, so you can help advise the team: Every manager needs to have the skills to get the job done and know what her/his employees are doing. This does not mean that you have to be the best and outperform your employees (this will never actually happen) but you have to be very capable at connecting people together. Every week as a manager, you have a dozen plus conversations with your employees and have a scope and understanding of performance trends and concerns that your employees do not have. It is your job to connect people facing challenges with those who have already solved them and to realize the need for change when an overriding performance concern arises that has not been addressed by the larger team.

Hire the right people: This one is difficult. Most of the time a manager does not have the ability to choose her/his team but inherits a pre-existing team. When the opportunity arises to hire, it is important that the ‘right person’ is hired for the job. This is a mixture of many factors including excellent skill set, great attitude, internal drive, the ability to work well with others and support peers, suitable self-awareness, potential personality compatability, et cetera. When a person is hired, it is also important that the manager focuses on constantly supporting the new employee and encouraging peers to help not only for the first month but for the first year. Like developing tenured employees, developing new employees never ends.

Assign and coordinate people well: A skill needed by all managers is to understand the skills of their employees and assign and coordinate them effectively. Why would you put an employee in charge of a report that requires quantitative analysis when they are not good at it and have poor Excel skills? You wouldn’t. Why would you assign an employee to project management if they were not supremely organized and not the best with people? You wouldn’t. You have to know the skills of your employees inside and out so you can assign and coordinate them well, ensure projects are completed on time, properly use organizational resources, and assign your people correctly so they can successfully accomplish tasks, contribute to the success of projects, and have wins of their own.

Show grace under pressure: This is one tricky. When the pressure is on, what does a manager do in meetings or when others are watching? Does a manager lose her/his temper and take it out on employees? Does a manager embarrass an employee in front of her/his’ peers to make a point or tactfully discuss the issue at hand without calling anyone out (and discussing individual issues behind closed doors)? Showing grace under pressure is unfortunately not required and although managers should have this as a strong competency, it is not always present. An excellent manager should show composure when the pressure is on, not embarrass employees in public, and always lead difficult meetings to positive outcomes.