Do Your Managers Have These 10 Essential Skills?

Posted on by Gabriella

When I speak with colleagues and clients about developing leaders, we don’t get too far into the conversation before one of us asks, “what, exactly does leadership development mean?” In part, this is because a laundry list of skills are associated with being a good leader.

So what skills do leaders really need?  Here’s a quick summary of the Ten Skills Every Manager Needs — But 90% Of Managers Lack as published in a recent Forbes article.

  1. Ability to ask for and accept feedback from employees.
  2. View situations from different perspectives and the employee’s vantage point.
  3. Understand how the department’s work fits into the organization, the industry, and even the world!
  4. Greater self-awareness of strengths, tendencies, and typical reactions.
  5. How to reinforce behaviours; and turn mistakes into learning opportunities.
  6. Ramp up leadership behaviours that shift supervising into truly leading.
  7. Manage personal career plans in addition to managing the department.
  8. Embrace diversity to be open to different people, perspectives, and possibilities.
  9. Achieve results by building a sense of trust and community at work.
  10. Be human – access behaviours that eliminate the need for fear based management tactics.

By coincidence or by design? My team and management development program builds skills across these ten areas!

  • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®): Optimizing Individual and Team Performance can help to build related to points 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
  • Management Skills 101: Performance Management and Development can help to build skills related to points 1, 5, 9, and 10.
  • Foundations of Leadership: Leading and Managing Well can help to build skills related to points 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, and 10.
  • Leading and Managing Change: Ensuring Operational Readiness can help to build skills related to points 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10.

So, what does leadership development mean in your organization? What leadership skills do you value; and how do you support all of your employees to develop these skills so that they can lead your organization towards a successful future?