The skills you need to be a great manager

Most people would agree that the perfect combination of experience, education, knowledge and communication skills are what makes a great manager. While these are all great attributes to have, there are also many softer personality and behavioural skills that play a vital role in successful leadership.

Whether you’re aiming to get promoted, you’re new to the position or you’ve been in a leadership role for some time now, below we’ve highlighted four skills you need in order to be a great manager.

1) Trust

Trust has been cited as the number one influencing factor that determines the relationship between a manager and their employees.

Hopefully your employees already trust you but if you’re unsure about this, it can be built in a number of ways. The most obvious is being honest and transparent with your staff. Communication, being willing to assist, not being critical or condescending, reliability, loyalty, fairness and supporting employees in their growth and development also go a long way when it comes to building trust.

2) People skills

Do you have the ability to relate to and connect with your employees on an emotional level? Can you understand and support different cultural and generational differences within the business? Do you have the ability to resolve conflicts, build morale, motivate people, coach those who need it and acknowledge a job well done?

All of these skills have an incredible power to influence and impact the emotions, motivation, inspiration, engagement and willingness of employees to consistently perform at their best.

3) The ability to delegate

When you’re very passionate about your job, it can be difficult to pass control to others. Being able to delegate is however crucial to the growth of the business and your team’s faith in you as a manager.

The key to delegation is identifying the individual strengths of your team and utilising them the best you can. Find out what each team member enjoys doing the most because chances are, if they find a task enjoyable, they’re likely to put much more thought and effort into it.

4) A sense of humour

Yes, people need to respect you as a manager but they also need to be able to relate to you as a human being.

Having a sense of humour is a crucial part of managing a happy and successful team. Morale is linked to productivity and it’s your job as a leader to install a positive energy even through the difficult times.

If you can encourage your team to learn from but not beat themselves up about mistakes, it helps keep productivity levels high and morale even higher.

If you need help with any of your recruitment needs, please feel free to contact Choralis Consulting and we will be more than happy to help.