Mastering Organizational Skill Management: The Top 5 Skills Every Manager Needs
Welcome to the messy but exciting world of management, where success is measured by how effectively you can lead your team toward achieving organizational goals. As a manager, you are responsible for ensuring that your team is not only productive but also efficient. To achieve this, you must have well-developed organizational skills that will help you keep everything on track. In this blog article, we will discuss the top five organizational skills that every manager needs to master to become successful. From strategic planning to critical thinking, we will cover it all, giving you the tools to excel in your role and take your team to new heights. So, let’s dive in and explore the world of mastering organizational skill management!
Strategic Planning Skill
According to a study by Bridges Business Consultancy, about 50% of leaders spend below 24 hours per month discussing strategy. This explains why 48% of all organizations fail to meet at least half of their strategic targets. With this, one can see how essential strategic planning is. It is, therefore, a crucial skill every manager must possess to achieve their complete strategic targets. According to Harvard Business Review, possessing strategic planning skills and engaging in the strategic planning process helps to guide one’s decision-making process.
Since the key role of managers in organizations is decision-making, strategic planning skills will help them make smart, impactful decisions to drive the organization’s growth. Managers who possess this skill will be free from making cognitive bias decisions. Instead, their decisions will be guided by data, projections, and case studies. Strategic planning is what every organization needs from its managers. The good news is that you can acquire it by taking appropriate leadership courses on platforms like eLeaP.
Communication Skill
Communication is one of the essential skills you need to succeed as a manager. Managers communicate up, down, and across the organization. One minute, they communicate with senior management, and the next minute, they speak to their peers and subordinates. Therefore, to inspire change and get results in the organization, managers must be able to influence people to listen to them. This must also be done with tact and diplomacy. Focusing on organizational skill management targeting upskilling communications skills among others, should be a no-brainer.
According to the Harvard Division of Continuing Education, the ability of a leader to communicate clearly with employees, within teams, and across the organization is one of the pillars of a successful business. Therefore, effectively communicating is a critical skill for managers. Communication facilitates the smooth running of an organization. A manager who finds it easy to communicate with their team will be able to collaborate with them, settle conflicts and resolve issues that arise. They’ll be able to seamlessly relate with employees, which in turn makes it easier to achieve the organizational goals.
Critical Thinking
As a manager, you will be tasked with predicting and solving issues daily. You should possess superior attention to detail and remain calm regardless of the pressure you feel. Managers must be able to think critically daily, making high-stakes decisions that could impact a company’s performance, reputation, and employees’ livelihoods. According to the Oxford College of Arts, Business, and Technology, critical thinking helps in problem-solving. It is one skill that can enable a manager to see things from different perspectives and allows them to make informed decisions.
For instance, regarding talent management, if an employee is underperforming, critical thinking helps the manager to put themselves in the employee’s shoes. They might give employees the benefit of the doubt and try to understand their situation. Such an employee may be undergoing personal stress, affecting their productivity. Therefore, rather than letting such talent go, they help them resolve their challenges and return to their best. In other words, the ability of a manager to step outside of themselves and think critically can improve employee welfare, reduce turnover rate, and increase work satisfaction.
Relationship Management
This is fundamental to a manager’s role. However, it is beyond relationships with peers, bosses, and employees; it extends further to external stakeholders that can hinder or help a unit or organization’s success. According to Forbes, one of the benefits of maintaining a good relationship with people at work is that it helps create a joyful atmosphere where creativity thrives. Now, think about a manager with poor relationship management skills; imagine how demotivated their employees will be and the consequences on the organization’s overall productivity. Relationship management is a critical skill every great manager must possess. While mastery requires tact, prioritizing organizational skills management, including relationship management, helps to ensure team and group cohesiveness.
Tech-savvy
You don’t want to be that old-school manager who does everything manually and encourages their team to do the same. A good manager must be up-to-date and understand the latest industry trends. For instance, the HR department doesn’t need to track employees’ training manually anymore. Technology has evolved, and the new way of doing this is by investing in tools like the eLeaP Learning Management System to not only help deliver timely training content but also to help them manage skills and competency gaps.
With the eLeaP Skills and Competency module, you can build skills and competencies databases for your organization without stress. There, you can create a database for all your employees, add appropriate courses you want them to complete, and once they finish each course, they earn a competency or skill rating. The platform also allows employees to choose and take any course of their choice. This skill module allows you to search for any skill and get a list of employees who have completed courses related to such skills. This way, you can assign appropriate assignments and offer promotions to the most qualified talents in your team. By implementing this new tech solution, your HR team can do more with less effort. This is one of the many reasons why being tech-savvy is a crucial skill for every manager. At the very least, make sure you surround yourself with people who are knowledgeable in technology and resources to help you and your team become more successful.
Final Thoughts
Mastering organizational skill management has gone beyond just a desirable trait for managers; it is necessary. The success of every organization depends heavily on the abilities and skills of its manager. Therefore, as organizations evolve, managers must keep up with the changing expectations and trends. The five skills discussed in this article are crucial for managers who want to thrive. By mastering them, you can boost your leadership capabilities, develop solid teams, and accomplish more significant outcomes. The most successful managers are those that keep learning, iterating, and improving. Invest the time needed to develop these critical skills and watch as your career skyrockets onward.