The Top 15 Management Skills Revisited

“Employees tend to be promoted until they reach their level of incompetence.”  - Laurence J. Peter

Laurence Peter and his writing partner Raymond Hull coined what’s become known as “The Peter Principle” in their book by the same name. Over 50 years later, we still see this play out over and over again in organizations big and small. 
 
“You’re an excellent engineer/IT professional/accountant/[choose your own adventure]…we’re going to reward you by promoting you to a management role. Congratulations! Welcome to management. Good luck!” 
 
Do you see the assumptions made here? The first is that the skills that made you a great engineer/IT professional/accountant are the exact same skills required for you to be an effective manager (which is not the case). The second is that there really aren’t any specialized skills related to being a good manager. It’s all just intuitive common sense stuff that anyone can step into without learning any new skills. Again, untrue.  
 
There are two important concepts we communicate to our clients as we’re working together to train their leaders and managers: 

1. Managing others well really does involve a specific set of best-practice, tried-and-true management skills. We’ve narrowed them down to what we call “The Top 15 Management Skills.” These skills are based on our years of observing successful (and otherwise) managers and our review of the research that’s been done on this.

2. Managing others well is REALLY important, for the simple reason that employees who are getting their needs met are so much more likely to, as Steven Covey suggested, “volunteer their hearts and their minds” as opposed to just “giving their backs and their hands.” In short, skilled managers tend to elicit that magical thing we’re always hoping for: Employee engagement. And, of course, employee engagement leads to all that great stuff you can’t pay for and you can’t punish for. This includes extra effort and higher productivity, attention to detail, fewer “junior high behaviors” like cliques and gossip and recreational negativity, excellent customer service, creativity and problem-solving, and so much more.   

So what are these “Top 15 Management Skills,” and why do they matter? Let’s take them one at a time:

1. Show caring and respect
When you find yourself in a relationship with someone who has some control over your life (like your manager), you do what you need to do to keep yourself “safe,” both consciously and unconsciously. And if you sense that this person – the one who has some control over your tasks, hours, reputation, morale, and much more – doesn’t have your best interests at heart, you will be on high alert. Your energies will go toward self-protection, which will drain away your desire and ability to be creative, engaged, proactive, and effective. Therefore managers must find ways to demonstrate that they care about their employees as human beings and not just for what they contribute. And regarding respect: Remember that every employee needs exactly what you need in terms of being treated with dignity and respect. Check out this podcast episode (#24) on showing caring and respect.

2. Advocate for your team
This doesn’t mean that your team is always right or should get everything they want. But it does mean that they trust you to do whatever you can to remove their roadblocks to success. 

3. Communicate!
We’ve found that many managers don’t view themselves as responsible for making sure that their employees know what’s up concerning their job, the company, the future, what’s on your plate, what other departments are up to, etc. We spend a fair amount of time in our five-day workshop focusing on how managers can become “information curators” and why this matters so much. Helpful hint: Ask your employees, both individually and as a group, what they want more of or less of from you in terms of information distribution. Also, work to improve meetings, shore up email gaps, engage in regularly scheduled one-on-one meetings with employees, develop shared communication expectations, and more. The lack of communication is the root of a large percentage of morale-related angst in organizations. For more on communication (especially in the remote work environment), check out episode 25.

4. Be fair and equitable
Actual and perceived favoritism, unconscious (and conscious) bias, and inconsistency tend to trigger human beings into a “fight, flight or freeze” reactionary mode that shuts down engagement and breeds mistrust. Learning more about your own biases, checking in on your employees’ experiences and perceptions in the workplace, and asking for feedback will help to create a culture of equity and fairness. 

5. Involve others in decisions
We’ve recently podcasted on this topic, and it’s one that we spend a fair amount of time on with clients. Employees need to have a voice, feel heard, and have influence in order for them to feel free to give their hearts and minds at work. Listen to our podcast #28 on this here.

6. Give autonomy and trust
Do your employees know which parts of their jobs (decisions, problem-solving, etc.) are truly theirs (they don’t need to check first or report to you afterward), which parts are mostly theirs (take care of the issue or make that decision, but then FYI me afterward), which parts are partly theirs (consult with me first before you take care of that or decide) and which things really aren’t theirs at all? It might surprise you how often we find that managers and employees aren’t on the same page regarding task/responsibility clarity – which leads to people feeling micromanaged and not trusted.

7. Ask for (and be open to) feedback
Do you notice how many times “asking for feedback” has already been mentioned or implied in this list? And we’re only on number 7! Managers who ask for feedback and then take that feedback seriously and non-defensively are, unfortunately, a rare breed. They are also, in our opinion, among the most effective managers out there. Try: “What would you like to see more of or less of from me as a manager?” “How would you run staff meetings if you were the facilitator?” “What kinds of information would you like to see me bring to the team?” “In what ways was I helpful during last month’s project, and in what ways did I get in the way?” Listen to episode #6 for more on this crucial topic.

8. Deal with and fix problems
This might seem obvious, but managers need to be action-oriented and willing to do what they can to remove obstacles, help repair relationships, improve processes, address unhelpful employee behaviors, and fix systemic issues. One of the main reasons for workplace negativity, at least in our experience, is managers who appear to be laissez-faire in the face of employee concerns. 

9. Be approachable
Any time you’re in relationship with someone “above you” in the reporting chain, there exists what we have termed a “power differential.” It’s not a bad thing – it’s just a thing. But it can seriously get in the way of authenticity, trust, and effective working relationships between managers and employees if managers don’t effectively manage this dynamic. The goal is not to eliminate the power differential (“let’s just be buddies!”), and it’s not to exaggerate the power differential (“do what I say because I’m the boss!”), but to mitigate the power differential so that managers are approachable and “safe.” See more on the power differential here.

10. Give recognition, appreciation, and thanks
Human beings have an innate need to be appreciated, acknowledged, and, yes, even at times, rewarded. A person who errs toward the mentality in marriage of “Honey, I told you I loved you when I married you…I’ll let you know if I change my mind,” will likely bring that same lack of awareness of this legitimate human need to the people they manage at work. Catch people doing things right, show appreciation for their positive character traits, and honor good ideas, positive attitudes, consistency, teamwork, quality, and oh so much more.  Remember: dogs, dolphins and human beings tend to repeat behaviors that get rewarded. Also – it’s just the right thing to do.

11. Hold people accountable
In our 5-day workshop, we spend more than 30% of our total time helping equip managers to get the best out of employees through coaching, relationship building, engaging in crucial conversations, giving feedback, and knowing which behaviors to address and how to go about it. One of our foundational phrases in the area of accountability is: "What you allow, you teach." What makes this an art, of course, is the ability to address unhelpful behaviors with humility and respect while also being clear and consistent. 
 
12. Be available and responsive
Answer your emails, return employees’ phone calls, have an actual “open-door policy” (which, by the way, has nothing to do with doors), be generally accessible – in short, be there for your team.

13. Follow through and follow up
One of the quickest ways to lose trust with your team is to over-promise and under-deliver. When my boss says she’ll get back to me tomorrow with the information I need, then fails to do so - with no mitigating communication – I feel disrespected and start questioning whether or not I’m even on her radar. Write things down, follow up on meeting minutes, use “by-whens” (see our blog post for more on this), ask “what do I still owe you – what are you waiting on from me,” apologize when you forget, and generally do what you can to be someone your employees can depend on.
 
14. Make your expectation clear
One of the main reasons that managers end up micro-managing is a lack of clearly communicated and mutually negotiated and agreed upon expectations. This includes having conversations about what successful project/task completion looks like, due dates, check points, etc. Also, onboarding is really important! Let your new employees know what behaviors are expected in order for your department to be healthy, positive and productive. 
 
15. Provide resources and training
Do this. 
 

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Of course, it’s the very rare manager who is firing on all 15 cylinders at all times, nor is that expected. However, moving someone into a management role without providing practical training in how to demonstrate these behaviors is an all-too-common mistake that will have a trickle-down impact on things like morale, team culture, productivity, quality, safety, customer service, and bottom-line financial performance. If you focus on creating a skilled management team, you will see an exponentially positive impact on everything you care about in your organization.