11 Soft Skills Every Manager Must Develop [Infographic]

Managers have a tough job. They have a lot on their plate when it comes to both

their own tasks and managing and helping employees, and their job takes a lot

of skill. So how does one become a truly effective manager?

Effectiveness as a manager cannot be achieved through hard skills alone, like

learning Excel. Becoming an effective manager requires a lot of soft skills -

learning to manage and motivate people as well as yourself, learning to resolve

problems with customers and employees in a mutually beneficial way, and more.

Here we will cover the 11 most important soft skills any manager needs to

develop. We’ve included a handy infographic with this post that you can save to

your computer and review every so often, or share with a friend or colleague

who might find it useful.

Let’s dive in!

http://blog.yournextseven.com/2016/01/essential-soft-skills-managers.html

1: Effective communication

Communication is critical to every aspect of a manager’s job. Being able to listen

carefully to employee’s and customer’s thoughts, opinions and complaints is

important in order to continue improving your business’s service. It is equally

important to learn how you can convey your own thoughts in a clear, non-

inflammatory and logical way so that your peers can understand your direction

and advice.

2: Time management

Time management is another skill that often goes unnoticed. As a manager, you

are responsible for keeping the wheels and gears of the business turning. If you

cannot manage your own time or your employees time efficiently, productivity

(and profits) will drop like a rock. Thankfully there are many tools you can use to

manage you and your employee’s time more effectively. Tools like Google

Calendar or Your Next Seven make it easy to keep everyone informed of what

needs to happen and when.

3: Control of body language

If you are in a bad mood and cannot control your body language, your

employees and customers will know it. It will make you unapproachable, cutting

off communication with the people around you and preventing you from really

understanding current problems. This adds up to you being uninformed and

incapable of performing well, thanks to not having all of the necessary

information.

4: Effective delegation

You cannot do all of the work yourself. At some point, you have to trust your

employees to do their jobs and let them take care of things for you. Learning to

delegate effectively can be difficult, especially if you are very particular about

how things are done. But learning to delegate often and well will save you a lot

of time, stress and money.

5: *Constructive* criticism

Criticism is essential to the success of any business. It is the only way

employees will ever really know to improve their performance. The important

thing here is to make criticism constructive and beneficial to the employee.

Simply berating someone because they did not do their job correctly does not

solve the problem and de-motivates them to do better next time. Instead, learn

to calmly explain why their performance is an issue, and offer suggestions on

how they could improve.

6: A results-oriented attitude

Those in a position of authority often find it difficult to yield to other’s opinions

and methods. Remember though that your end goal is to grow the business - not

to prove that you were right. Cultivating a results-oriented attitude will allow you

to focus on outcomes rather than methods. This prevents you from insisting on

doing things your way, when an employee may indeed have a better idea.

7: Willingness to learn

Assuming that you are right 100% of the time is the surest way to prove that you

are not, in fact, always right. Recognize that other people may have knowledge

that you do not possess, and be eager to learn from those with more experience.

A willingness to learn allows you to adapt and refine your management skills and

continually become a better leader for your team.

8: Willingness and desire to teach

This goes hand-in-hand with constructive criticism. Being unwilling to teach your

employees in a kind way stunts their growth and prevents your team from really

achieving success. Being eager and willing to share your knowledge with your

employees makes you more approachable, and contributes to the continued

success of your employees.

9: Unbiased critical thinking

Being able to step back and view a problem objectively is important in

management. If you constantly allow your decisions and logic to be colored by

your own emotions, you will never really be sure that you are making choices

that will provide the most benefit to the company. You may actually be making

choices that just showcase your own personality and skills, or choices that

merely cover up a mistake.

10: Proper social etiquette

Proper etiquette and common courtesy go a long way toward a healthy and

happy relationship with your customers and employees. Small, polite gestures

can make a world of difference in your customer service and management.

Being polite and kind to the individuals you come into contact with will make

people enjoy being around you more and will make you a more approachable

manager.

11: Objective and constructive self-criticism

In order to improve your management skills, you will need to be able to really

look at yourself and understand where you need improvement. At that point, you

need to look at those issues objectively and say ‘Okay, now what can I do to fix

this weakness?’ Learning to critique your own skills and personality in a

constructive and objective manner will contribute to your continued success as a

manager.