The Manager with These 5 Core Skills Will Propel your Company to the Top

Thanks to the state of our economy, competition is fiercer than ever. Having a talented manager with the right aptitudes is the thing your business needs to gain a competitive advantage.

“The managerial personality is pragmatic. Without The Manager, there would be no planning, order, or predictability.” - Michael E. Gerber.

Communication Skills

The old method of a manager handing down responsibilities and orders without caring about creating an environment that fosters transparency and communication has failed repeatedly. The manager is directly responsible for creating a company culture in which employees feel comfortable speaking their minds and feel like their opinions matter, which lets the best ideas come forward and diminish communication errors, which could potentially result in massive decreases in turnover rates.

Time Management

When only 37% of managers can complete projects on time, time management is a timeless requirement for a successful manager. She needs to establish priorities, divide the tasks into manageable and meaningful chunks, and develop clear milestones with challenging deadlines.

It’s clear that, in our competitive economy, time management is clearly not simple, especially considering the tight deadlines and changing customer demands.

Knowledge

There is a reason why more than 50% of businesses don’t make it past their first three years in the economy. With the development of the cloud, machine learning, and viral marketing, a manager must be a renaissance man. Aside from knowing your business thoroughly, he needs to be an internet-savvy math wiz.

Technology is rapidly advancing, and more and more businesses buy dedicated business intelligence solutions or hire expensive firms to do machine-learning-driven research for them. If the manager can’t make use of these new techniques to keep your business prospering, sooner or later, your company will go on a downward spiral to failure. 

Coaching and Development

The lack of development is one of the primary reasons why most employees are disengaged at work. A successful manager can lead, inspire, motivate, direct, teach, and learn. She needs to create a process for integrating new employees into the company and its culture. The new employees should quickly feel welcome, understand their responsibilities, and adapt to your business’s unique culture.

The manager’s job doesn’t stop there. She doesn’t let her more experienced employees feel bored and disengaged because she knows that the cost of replacing one of her employees would be 20% of their annual salary. A manager has to learn why the employees chose that career path and what motivates and inspires them, then help them develop in a way that will let them attain it. This helps create a company where the employees are engaged, motivated, and inspired to work harder.

Strategic Thinking and Forward Planning

The manager should not be myopic and get lost in the minutiae of the business. His first and foremost goal is the long-term prosperity of your business, and he should act accordingly. An outstanding manager thinks long-term: will there be any demographic shifts, market forces that will destroy your business’s USP, or untapped niches where your company can expand? He will then develop a long-term business plan by carefully analyzing these trends. This business plan will make your company’s future less hazy and help develop short-term and long-term business strategies.