How Good Are Your Management Skills?

Research shows that good managers hold the key to making work more meaningful, purposeful, interesting and productive for everyone – including themselves.

But how do you know if you are a great manager?

We’ve created a free management skills assessment to help you to find out, it only takes five minutes to complete and you get your own personalised report. Click here to try it out.

Many people are initially excited when they are promoted into a management role, then realise that they are quickly overwhelmed by all of their new responsibilities. This is hardly surprising when a 2018 study revealed that nearly 60 percent of new managers have not received any management training at all.

The best managers attract, develop and retain the best talent

Here at Workovate, we analysed years of management theory and numerous academic studies on management performance to develop a simple and effective model to support new managers in focusing on the areas that will drive the most impact in the 21st century.

Our research shows that the skills that managers need to succeed in their roles today fall into three main areas:

The Workovate ACT Framework™

The Workovate ACT Framework™ (Align – Coach – Thrive), is made up of 12 key management skills that you will need to develop to become successful as a manager.

Align

1. Strategic Planning:

Strategic planning involves creating your vision and strategy and developing a plan of action to achieve them. As a manager of a team, it’s important to involve team members and other key stakeholders in the planning process to ensure buy-in and alignment with the overall vision.

2. Setting Goals

Goal setting is the process of defining individual goals or OKRs with your team in support of your overall strategy. As a manager of a team, it is important to co-design specific, measurable and time-bound goals with your employees to ensure their buy-in and motivation to achieve them. You should regularly check progress with your employees and revisit goals quarterly.

3. Motivating

Motivating employees is essential to the success of any team. As a manager, it is important to recognise the individual needs and strengths of each team member in order to create a supportive and productive work environment. Research has shown that areas such as meaning, autonomy, mastery and purpose are the most motivating factors for employees.

4. Communicating

As a manager of a team, effective communication is key. This includes running productive meetings, providing regular updates, and maintaining an environment of openness and transparency to ensure employees feel heard and valued.

Coach

5. Giving Feedback

Giving feedback is an essential part of managing a team. It involves providing praise and constructive criticism to help employees improve their skills and achieve their goals. Feedback is also a 2-way street, good managers are always open to receiving feedback from their team.

6. Managing Results

As a manager of a team, managing results and performance involves monitoring progress towards goals, recognising and rewarding achievements, and addressing any performance issues in a timely and constructive manner. By effectively managing results and performance, managers can ensure that their team is productive, engaged, and aligned with the team’s strategic objectives.

7. Career Development

As a manager, it is your responsibility to support your team members in their career development by providing them with opportunities for growth and development. This can include training, mentoring, and other resources that can help them acquire new skills and knowledge. By regularly discussing and investing in your team members’ career development, you will increase their job satisfaction, engagement and productivity.

8. 1:1 Coaching

Regular 1:1 meetings are an essential tool for managers to provide personalised support and guidance to their team members. It helps to improve communication, build trust, and identify any areas for development. Good managers spend most of their time in 1:1s covering what is top of mind for their employees and show genuine concern for their health and wellbeing.

Thrive

9. Building Trust

As a manager, by fostering trust and psychological safety, you can create an environment where team members feel comfortable speaking up, sharing ideas and taking calculated risks. Building trust and psychological safety can lead to reduced turnover and absenteeism, as employees are more likely to feel committed to the team and the organisation as a whole.

10. Delegating

By delegating tasks and avoiding micromanagement, managers can ensure that team members have the opportunity to develop new skills, feel more empowered, and take ownership of their work. This allows managers to focus on more strategic tasks and creates a culture of innovation and autonomy in the team.

11. Influencing

Influencing skills are essential for successful managers to build stronger relationships with their team, gain support externally for their initiatives, and improve their chances of achieving their goals. By building rapport with your manager and key stakeholders, you are more likely to gain support for budget and resources when you need them.

12. Hiring

As a manager, learning how to hire effectively will enable you to identify and attract top talent that will help your team achieve its goals and drive business results. Effective hiring will lead to improved team dynamics, as you are able to onboard individuals who are not only qualified for the job but also fit well with your team’s culture and values. A great manager is able to consistently attract and retain high performing talent.

In addition to the key skills highlighted above, there is one other skill that all managers need to focus on, and it is one where you are already ahead of the curve, simply by reading this post…

A great manager understands that they’ll never have the answer to everything and that humility and self-awareness is key to success.

All managers must recognise that learning is a lifelong process, that you should constantly seek new knowledge to improve your skills and management style, and always be open to feedback.

We’ve created several resources to help you on your learning journey as a manager:

1. Take our free “Are you a great manager?” assessment, and learn how you score against the 12 key management skills
2. Download our free New Manager Playbook to get the ultimate guide to being a manager and learn how you can develop your skills as a manager further
3. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch our micro learning training videos for managers and get started with your upskilling journey today