Top Ten Management Competencies

Top Ten Management Competencies  

If you are already a manager, I am sure that you are competent in all these areas. If you are not a Manager, does your Manager have these competencies? I genuinely hope so. If you are a Leader, do your managers possess these qualities? Let's see.

Please be aware that as this subject is complex, each of these competencies deserves to be studied in more detail. And of course, these ten competencies will be the base for leadership competencies which I will cover in another newsletter.

1. Confidence 

Managers are confident in what they do, infusing that confidence in the people they manage. It all starts from self-confidence in who you are, what you do, how you do it, the people you deal with, and the results you create.  

2. Relationships

Managers are responsible for internal and external relationships. They are competent in creating relationships with their employees, managers, and employees from across teams, human resource professionals, vendors, external partners, organizational leaders, and everyone else within and outside the Organization. 

3. Team Member Development 

The Manager's Manager's job is to develop a plan for each direct report and help them grow. The development plan needs to be continuously revised and updated as you review the team member's performance.  

4. The Performance Review

Although it is usually done once or twice a year, performance needs to be continuously done almost weekly. Good managers have weekly 1x1 with their direct reports to discuss tasks, projects, and timelines and, even more importantly, cover any team member issue and help them in the continuous improvement effort.  

5. Team member Engagement

It is the Manager's job to assure team member engagement. There are many ways to engage employees, from challenging still, not impossible tasks to creating a friendly, open environment where everyone can provide feedback. The Manager needs to help employees balance work and life challenges and establish an environment where employees feel valued. One thing good managers do not do is micromanage.  

6. Team member and team motivation

Managers can motivate employees and the team by showing what behavior they want to see in the team members.  

Communicating directly to employees and the team and giving them up-to-date, valuable information about the company, team, projects, goals, and the overall company status is essential. Simple communication via email or newsletter is not enough. The Manager has to be involved in the communication. Employees need to "see" the Manager is part of the team because she is.  

7. Empowering employees 

Empowering employees to make a decision is another way to motivate them. New Managers need to work on this as it is not easy to "let go." Employees also have to feel comfortable that a better job is waiting for them while developing new skills.  

8. Giving and receiving feedback

Giving and receiving feedback is another management competency. The input has to be given positively and constructively. A positive doesn't mean that ManagerManager will only say the good things. It means that it will be provided positively even when describing something that team member has to do better. 

 Instead of giving feedback, the feed-forward is the term I prefer. Focus on the future, not the past. This way, the team members can perform even better on the upcoming projects, rather than focusing on not-so-great performance in the past. 

9. Facilitating team meetings 

The Manager is responsible for facilitating team meetings, project meetings, and cross-functional meetings. Competency includes always starting and ending your meetings on time, having agenda ready, being prepared to deal with difficult situations, not letting people over-take your session, re-cap up action items at the end of the meeting, publishing the meeting minutes, and so on.  

The Manager must be competent in starting, running, and successfully ending new projects and large organization programs that include many different related or not related projects. Basic requirements are finishing a project on time and on or under budget and being flexible in resolving any issues during a project timeline. And last but not least  

10. Goals Settings

The Manager is responsible for employees and team performance. The Manager has to set clear and concise goals for his employees and team, which must be measurable. Plans have to be reviewed continuously, and feedback and feed-forward have to be given to employees all the time, so that is no surprise at the year-end performance review.

Braco Pobric is an Internationally Recognized Positive Psychology Expert, Executive Coach, and Corporate Trainer. He is the bestselling author of Habits and Happiness: How to Become Happier and Improve Your Wellbeing by Changing Your Habits. Braco is a founding member and Chief Happiness Officer of the Life Success Academy, Certified Positive Psychology Master Trainer, and former globally Certified Trainer and Business Coach for Dale Carnegie Training. He trained over 60,000 Students in 172 countries.