Without a doubt, the possession of strong leadership capabilities is essential for an individual to perform competently in a management role. To be a good manager, you need to be able to lead by example and act as somewhat of a role model to the staff who are in your charge.
Despite this, however, leadership is not the only skill required to be a competent manager. If you aspire to reach an upper management position, there are several other critically important attributes, capabilities, and personal characteristics you will need to acquire and develop to be able to lead your team to success.
To learn more about what these skills are, as well as how to obtain them, just keep reading!
Being a Good Leader: Leading by Example
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels
Alongside strong leadership skills, being a good leader involves possessing specific attributes and personal characteristics. Importantly, not everyone is born a leader. The good news, if you aspire to develop the skills and capabilities that are required for a role in management, a budding leader can complete a variety of accredited tertiary project management courses online. By completing these types of higher education qualifications, the leadership skills you can expect to acquire during your tertiary studies can include:
Strong Problem-solving and Analytical Skills
Problem-solving skills and analytical thinking are extremely important when aspiring to be a leader. As a team leader, you will be tasked with solving any issues or problems that arise for your staff. This is often known as having issues ‘escalated to management’. Importantly, lower-rung employees will rarely be asked to solve problems that are ‘above their pay grade’! That is why you will be paid the big bucks as a manager! You will, for want of another phrase, have bigger fish to fry – especially when compared to the responsibilities of less senior staff.
Strategic Decision-making Capabilities
If you want to become the strongest possible leader you can, you need to develop strategic decision-making skills. The ability to make strategic decisions is central to sound business management, as it helps you to see the bigger picture when overseeing and managing projects. This is essential when aiming to meet, achieve and exceed company end goals and final objectives.
Task Delegation Techniques, Processes and Methods
As a leader, you will need to be able to assign, allocate and delegate tasks to team members. Importantly, your staff will look to you for direction and will require you to be able to structure, review and monitor their workloads. As such, you need to be able to assign tasks to employees within their capabilities and also to provide guidance when they need assistance. To help you do this, there are specific project management programs designed to ease the pressure of allocating, managing and monitoring tasks. Some of the most popular of these programs include Asana and Monday.com.
Other Essential Skills, Capabilities and Attributes A Competent Manager Needs to Develop
Although strong leadership skills are central to being a competent manager, there are also other attributes and characteristics a good leader must possess. Some of these include:
Excellent Communication Skills
Having strong communication skills is a no-brainer for any great leader. You need to be able to effectively communicate with your team to lead them! Of course, your staff also need to feel that they can communicate openly with you. By fostering a transparent, open forum in which employees can speak honestly both with you and with their teammates, you will earn the respect of your staff. It will also enable a collaborative, cooperative working environment in which your employees can thrive.
Empathy, Understanding and Approachability
Another key element to being a good leader is being approachable. As such, you need to have empathy and understanding for the staff in your charge. Being understanding takes more than just listening to the concerns of your staff. It also means taking your employees under your wing, enabling them to feel included, appreciated and valued, and helping them to feel supported in their work. Indeed, a supportive manager is of high value in any workplace and is also central to the development of high employee morale. A sense of camaraderie as encouraged by a team leader can also go far. Who says going to work can’t be fun?
Time Management, Planning and Organisation Skills
Finally, overseeing team projects takes a great deal of time management, planning and organisation. In addition to developing these skills for yourself, you can utilise the project management tools and programs mentioned earlier to assist you in your planning, as well as overseeing the progress of projects and tasks at hand.
Being a good manager takes more than just strong leadership skills. It also involves having empathy and understanding for your employees. Open communication and approachability will also get you far as a leader who is respected, valued and appreciated by your staff. After all, earning the respect and appreciation of your team is perhaps the most important aspect of being a competent manager!
Top image: Sora Shimazaki / Pexels
This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Web Oracle
