Question # 2

Describe The Managerial Skills You Need To Develop To Be An Effective

Ans : 8 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR MANAGERIAL SKILLS

Each year, thousands of people make the switch from staff engineer or scientist to manager.

And, although many of us look forward to the change, we find it frustrating once we get there.

When we were engineers, we were rewarded for our technical skills

But now, as a manager, our success is measured not by our own output hut by the output and
productivity of the people we supervise. And that sense of not being in direct control can be a
frustrating feeling.

Fortunately, working with others and getting them to give you their best can be just as rewarding
as technical accomplishments . . . once you get the hang of it. Here are eight tips that will help
you to manage and to guide your people more effectively.

The Human Touch

The most valuable qualities you can develop within yourself are patience, kindness, and
consideration for other people. Although machines and chemicals don't care whether you scream
and curse at them, people do.

Your subordinates are not just engineers, scientists, administrators, clerks, and programmers
they're people, first and foremost. People with families and friends, likes and dislikes. People
with feelings. Respect them as people and you'll get their respect and loyalty in return. But treat
them coldly and impersonally and they will lose motivation to perform for you.

Corny as it sounds, the Golden Rule "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you'' -is a
sound, proven management principle. The next time you're about to discipline a worker or voice
your displeasure, ask yourself, "Would I like to be spoken to the way I'm thinking of speaking to
him or her?'' Give your people the same kindness and consideration that you would want to
receive if you were in their place.
 

Don’t Be Overly Critical

As a manager, it's part of your job to keep your people on the right track. And that involves
pointing out errors and telling them where they've gone wrong.

But some managers are overly critical. They're not happy unless they are criticizing. They rarely
accomplish much or take on anything new themselves, but they are only too happy to tell others
where they went wrong, why they're doing it incorrectly, and why they could do the job better.

Don't be this type of person. Chances are, you have more knowledge and experience in your field
than a good many of the people you supervise. But that's why the company made you the boss!
Your job is to guide and teach these people not to yell or nit-pick or show them how dumb they
are compared to you.

Mary Kay Ash, founder and director of Mary Kay Cosmetics, says that successful managers
encourage their people instead of criticizing them. " Forget their mistakes," she advises, "and
zero in on one small thing they do right. Praise them and they'll do more things right and
discover talents and abilities they never realized they had."

Let Them Fail

Of course, to follow through on Mary Kay's advice, you've got to let your people make some
mistakes.

Does this shock you? I'm not surprised. Most workers expect to be punished for every mistake.
Most managers think it's a "black eye" on their record when an employee goofs.

But successful managers know that the best way for their people to learn and grow is through
experience and that means taking chances and making errors.

Give your people the chance to try new skills or tasks without a supervisor looking over their
shoulders but only on smaller, less crucial projects. That way, mistakes won't hurt the company
and can quickly and easily be corrected. On major projects, where performance is critical, you'll
want to give as much supervision as is needed to ensure successful completion of the task.

 
Be Available

Have you ever been enthusiastic about a project, only to find yourself stuck, unable to continue,
while you waited for someone higher up to check your work before giving the go ahead for the
next phase?

Few things dampen employee motivation more than management inattention. As a manager, you
have a million things to worry about besides the report sitting in your mailbox, waiting for your
approval. But to the person who wrote that report, each day's delay causes frustration, anger,
worry, and insecurity.

So, although you've got a lot to do, give your first attention to approving, reviewing, and okaying
projects in progress. If employees stop by to ask a question or discuss a project, invite them to sit
down for a few minutes. If you're pressed for time, set up an appointment for later that day, and
keep it. This will let your people know you are genuinely interested in them. And that's
something they'll really appreciate.

Improve the Workplace

People are most productive when they have the right tools and work in pleasant, comfortable
surroundings. According to a study by the Buffalo Organization, a comfortable office
environment creates an extra $1600 of productivity annually for professionals and managers.

Having the right equipment is equally important. One of my clients recently hired a full-time
technical writer at a salary of $25,000, but was reluctant to invest $2500 in a word processor for
him to use.

I explained that, in my experience, a word processor can easily double the productivity of a
writer. Therefore, if the writer was expected to produce $25,000 worth of work with a typewriter,
he could produce $50,000 with a word processor an extra $25,000 a year in productivity for a
$2500 investment! The client bought the computer. Both the company and the writer were
delighted with the results.

Be aware that you may not be the best judge of what your employees need to do their jobs
effectively. Even if you've done the job yourself, someone else may work best with a different
set of tools, or in a different setup because each person is different.

If your people complain about work conditions, listen. These complaints are usually not made for
selfgain, but stem from each worker's desire to do the best job possible. And by providing the
right equipment or work space, you can achieve enormous increases in output . . . open with a
minimal investment.

A Personal Interest in People

When is the last time you asked your secretary how her son was doing in Little League or how
she enjoyed her vacation?

Good salespeople know that relating to the customer on a person-to-person level is the fastest
way to win friends and sales. Yet many technical managers remain aloof and avoid conversation
that does not relate directly to business. Why? Perhaps it's because engineers are more
comfortable with equations and inanimate objects than with people, and feel uncomfortable in
social situations.

But just as a salesperson wants to get to know his customer, you can benefit by showing a little
personal interest in your people their problems, family life, health, and hobbies. This doesn't
have to be insincere or overdone just the type of routine conversation that should naturally pass
between people who work closely.

If you've been ignoring your employees, get into the habit of taking a few minutes every week
(or every day) to say "hello" and chat for a minute or two If an employee has a personal problem
affecting his mood or performance, try to find out what it is and how you might help. Send a card
or small gift on important occasions and holidays, such as a 10th anniversary with the firm or a
birthday. Often, it is the little things we do for people (such as letting workers with long
commutes leave early on a snowy day, or springing for dinner when overtime is required) that
determine their loyally to you.

Be Open to Ideas

You may think the sign of a good manager is to have a department where everybody is busy at
work on their assigned tasks. But if your people are merely "doing their jobs," they're only
working at about half their potential. A truly productive department is one in which every
employee is actively thinking of better, more efficient methods of working ways in which to
produce a higher quality product. in less time, at lower cost.

To get this kind of innovation from your people, you have to be receptive to new ideas; what's
more, you have to encourage your people to produce new ideas. Incentives are one way you can
offer a cash bonus, time off, a gift. But a more poÂtent form of motivation is simply the
employee's knowing that management does listen and does put employee suggestions and ideas
to work. Quality Circles, used by Westinghouse and other major firms, are one way of putting
this into action... The old standby, the suggestion box. is another time tested method.

And when you listen to new ideas, be open minded. Don't shoot down a suggestion before you've
heard it in full. Many of us are too quick, too eager, to show off our own experience and
knowledge and say that something won't work because “we've tried it before” or “we
don't do it that way.”  Well, maybe you did try it before, but that doesn't mean it won't work
now. And having done things a certain way in the past doesn't mean you've necessarily been
doing them the best way. A good manager is open-minded and receptive to new ideas.

Give Your People a Place to Go

If a worker doesn't have a place to go a position to aspire to, a promotion to work toward then his
job is a dead end. And dead-end workers are usually bored, unhappy, and unproductive.
Organize your department so that everyone has opportunity for advancement, so that there is a
logical progression up the ladder in terms of title, responsibility, status, and pay. If this isn't
possible because your department is too small, perhaps that progression must inevitably lead to
jobs outside the department. If so, don't hold people back; instead, encourage them to aim for
these goals so that they will put forth their best efforts during all the years they are with you

A manager's job is varied and complex. Managers need certain skills to perform the duties and
activities associated with being a manager. What type of skills does a manager need? Research
by Robert L. Katz found that managers needed three essential skills. These are technical skills,
human skills and conceptual skills. Technical skills include knowledge of and proficiency in a
certain specialized field, such as engineering, computers, financial and managerial accounting, or
manufacturing. These skills are more important at lower levels of management since these
managers are dealing directly with employees doing the organization's work. Human skills
involve the ability to work well with other people both individually and in a group. Because
managers deal directly with people, this skill is crucial! Managers with good human skills are
able to get the best out of their people. They know how to communicate, motivate, lead, and
inspire enthusiasm and trust. These skills are equally important at all levels of management.
Finally conceptual skills are the skills managers must have to think and conceptualize about
abstract and complex situations. Using these skills managers must be able to see the organization
as a whole, understand the relationship among various subunits, and visualize how the
organization fits into its broader environment. These skills are most important at top level
management.A professional association of practicing managers, the American Management
Association, has identified important skills for managers that encompass conceptual,
communication, effectiveness, and interpersonal aspects. These are briefly described below:
Conceptual Skills: Ability to use information to solve business problems, identification of
opportunities for innovation, recognizing problem areas and implementing solutions, selecting
critical information from masses of data, understanding the business uses of technology,
understanding the organization's business model.

Communication Skills: Ability to transform ideas into words and actions, credibility among
colleagues, peers, and subordinates, listening and asking questions, presentation skills and
spoken format, presentation skills; written and graphic formats

Effectiveness Skills: Contributing to corporate mission/departmental objectives, customer focus,

Interpersonal Skills: Coaching and mentoring skills, diversity skills; working with diverse
people and culture, networking within the organization, networking outside the organization,
working in teams; cooperation and commitment.

In today's demanding and dynamic workplace, employees who are invaluable to an organization
must be willing to constantly upgrade their skills and take on extra work outside their own
specific job areas. There is no doubt that skills will continue to be an important way of
describing what a manager does.