How to improve your management skills

You don’t have to be Manager to improve your management skills. They are great skills to have either in preparation for a management role, or more importantly, for managing day-to-day tasks and organising other team members effectively.

In this article, we will share seven strategies to help you improve your management skills, and improve how you oversee people, products, and projects.   

What are management skills?

Management skills refer to the attributes and abilities an executive should have to be able to fulfil certain tasks within an organisation. They are vital for the success of a business and are attributed to achieving goals and successfully completing objectives.

The World Economic Forum found that ‘people management’ ranked as one of the top 10 skills required to thrive in the workplace.  

Learn how to become a good Manager.

How to improve management skills?

There are seven core activities that you can do to improve your management skills. We explore each of these below.

Improve your decision-making skills – As a manager, this first management skill is a vital one to be successful and to build a successful team around you. Essential building blocks for a successful decision-making process are often referred to as the “three C’s”:

• Constructive Conflict – Engaging your team throughout the decision-making process.
• Consideration – Everyone involved in the decision-making process (often Stakeholders) should all feel like their thoughts, concerns, and decisions have been considered equally.
• Closure – Learn and understand what your organisation’s definition of a “completed” project is, as your senior team and Stakeholders will discuss a project’s timeframe (and any deadlines), to determine if anything is left to be completed before signed off. Everyone in the group will need to agree when a project is complete, and whether it was successful.  

Become more self-aware – Are you self-aware? If you want to become (or remain) a high-performing manager, you will need to become more self-aware. You must be honest with yourself and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses fairly. It can be beneficial for you to gain further insight into your abilities, skills, strengths, and weaknesses from members of your team, senior management, other colleagues, and family members. Most importantly, once you have discovered areas of improvement, you must plan to work towards resolving them.

Build trust – Arguably one of the most important attributes any manager and team member can have. To be trusted and to have someone’s trust is an essential part of a strong team. Employees that are part of a company where they feel trusted, typically benefit from a reduction in stress, increased energy, greater productivity, and improved engagement.

Become a better communicator – Effective communication is vital for any member of a management team, whether junior or senior. You will be required to handle complex business situations while ensuring your team has the knowledge and tools for success. During challenging times, remind your team of the plan in place and help them adhere to the plan as best as possible.  

Arrange for regular check-ins with your team – To help improve engagement and motivation within your team, try to get into the habit of regularly catching up with them, and not just at the time of their monthly or annual review. Remember to keep it all informal and focus on their progress towards the organisational goals. It’s also good to add an action plan.     

Reflect – It is beneficial to put aside time to review your work and that of your team, in preparation to provide essential feedback, so that everyone can make the necessary improvements. A good time to do this would be at the end of the day, and you could provide feedback where required, the same or the following morning.   

Consider undertaking official management training – We are believers in improving ourselves and our career prospects through education, and as such, we encourage would-be managers and current managers alike, to undertake additional study and earn industry-recognised qualifications (such as the ILM or CMI).

Learn how to become a qualified Project Management professional

How to develop team management skills

Like the points above, team management skills focus on things you can do as a manager, to help build and develop a successful and happy team.

Good team management skills include:

• Providing a positive workspace for your team.
• Nurturing and encouraging your team.
• Being transparent with your team.
• Focusing on supporting and not just managing.
• Emphasising the importance of effective and consistent communication.
• Being open to change.
• Setting boundaries.
• Never assuming that you’re always correct.

Improve your analytical skills

Benefits of becoming a better Team Manager

Having a happy and thriving team can result in great success within your organisation, not to mention providing a boost to all team members and managers.

Five benefits your organisation can receive from better team management, include:

• Effective team building
• Increase in productivity
• Promotes learning and development
• Great employee satisfaction
• Increased performance  

If you would like to train towards a new career or promotion at work, our Course Consultants are available to discuss your career goals and advise which courses would be best for your future. Contact us on +44 (0) 20 3198 7700 to get started.