Micromanagement

micromanagement is a management style whereby a manager closely observes and/or controls the work of his/her subordinates or employees. Micromanagement is generally considered to have a negative connotation, mainly due to the fact that it shows a lack of freedom in the workplace.

• micromanagement as "manage[ment] especially with excessive control or attention on details.
• manage[ment] or control with excessive attention to minor details

• Rather than giving general instructions on smaller tasks and then devoting time to supervising larger concerns, the micromanager monitors and assesses every step of a business process and avoids delegation of decisions.
• Micromanagers are usually irritated when a subordinate makes decisions without consulting them, even if the decisions are within the subordinate's level of authority. 
• Micromanagement also frequently involves requests for unnecessary and overly detailed reports ("reportomania")
  A micromanager tends to require constant and detailed performance feedback and to focus excessively on procedural trivia (often in detail greater than they can actually process) rather than on overall performance, quality and results.
  This focus on "low-level" trivia often delays decisions, clouds overall goals and objectives, restricts the flow of information between employees, and guides the various aspects of a project in different and often opposed directions.
  Many micromanagers accept such inefficiencies as less important than their retention of control or of the appearance of control.
  It is common for micromanagers, especially those who exhibit narcissistic tendencies and/or micromanage deliberately and for strategic reasons, to delegate work to subordinates and then micromanage those subordinates' performance, enabling the micromanagers in question to both take credit for positive results and shift the blame for negative results to their subordinates.
  
  These micromanagers thereby delegate accountability for failure but not the authority to take alternative actions that would have led to success or at least to the mitigation of that failure.
  
  
  

  The Signs of Micromanagement

   

  Micro-managers lack personal leadership and tend to:
  
• Resist delegating work
• Immerse themselves in the work assigned to others
• Look at the detail instead of the big picture
• Discourage others from making decisions
• Get involved in the work of others without consulting them
• Monitor what’s least important and expect regular reports on miscellany
• Push aside the experience and knowledge of colleagues
• Loose loyalty and commitment
• Focus on the wrong priorities
• Have a de-motivated team

Coping With Micromanagers

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out. – Ronald Reagan

So, how do you cope with a micromanager?
Changing their behaviour isn’t easy but it is possible in time and with great patience and resilience!
Here’s my advice …

1. Assess your behaviour

Are you doing anything that could give your manager cause for concern? Are you giving the job your full attention?
Perhaps your manager is a stickler for good timekeeping and you take a more relaxed approach. Try and match up to their values and beliefs.

2. Understand your manager

Learn to see things from their point of view.
By understanding the signs of micromanagement — knowing what they are trying to achieve — you may find that you can help them realise their goals.
Pursuing a common goal will help build trust and this will give you more freedom.

3. Challenge your manager

Insist on having regular 1:1 supervision sessions.
At these meetings agree to do something that helps them meet their goals.
And, challenge your manager when they interfere. Remind them of the agreement and their part in the bargain. Always ask your manager for the opportunity to do something on your own.

4. Frequent communication

Good communication and results is the best way to deal with the micromanager. Therefore give them an update on progress at every opportunity.

Summary

Because micromanagers rarely recognise their behaviour and the impact it has on the team it is worthwhile pointing this out to them once you have gained some trust.
They may be open to working with you. But then again, don’t expect too much — sooner or later they will revert to type. Sometimes it’s you who has to move on!

15 Ways To Get Your Boss To Stop Micromanaging You

 Although it's common for newer managers to struggle with delegation, it's ultimately a bad habit that will lead to a negative work environment with an unhappy team and an unhappy boss. If you approach the situation professionally and tactfully, you can bring this issue up to your manager and help them see that you're capable of doing the job you were hired to do.

 Understand And Reduce Their Insecurities
Micromanaging is an outgrowth of insecurity. Insecurities occur for various reasons, but it's your responsibility to discover the root cause and mitigate the issue. Often times, overcommunicating your project status, weekly progress and outcomes of meetings will alleviate the issue. Have frequent one-on-ones with your manager and get to understand concerns are so you can set them at ease.

2. Find Small Ways To Prove Your Credibility
Your manager may need a coach because they feel they cannot let go and delegate. It is often not your responsibility or place to suggest this kind of thing because it may embarrass them or hurt your career; however, you can find ways to talk to them about how you can be trusted with something small. Work to gain small wins of credibility in this area and they may release you.

3. Conduct An Interaction Audit
Inexperienced leaders generally micromanage as a way to feel in control. If you're the employee and you need to get your new leader to stop micromanaging you, take one week and make a list of all the interactions you have with the manager. Then, meet with them and share ideas on how you can improve interactions. Communicate how you can save them time based on specifics from your list.

4. Help Your Boss Delegate To You More Effectively
Take on work or projects that you're confident you'll be good at. Help your boss to delegate to you more effectively by encouraging them to share information you need in advance. Then make sure you communicate progress to your boss regularly. This will start to increase not only your confidence, but their delegation skills.

5. Ask What You Can Do To Build Trust And Independence
Schedule a meeting with your boss and explain that you've noticed their level of involvement. Then, positively note that having greater trust in your capabilities will enable you to achieve even better results. Ask how you can, together, deepen trust and independence. Does your boss need more frequent updates? Do you need to better show your abilities? Talk it through; collaborate on a plan.

6. Create More Space For Awareness
In this kind of situation, it is important to broaden awareness by having a gentle and honest conversation. Spell it out: "When you do X, I feel that I am being micromanaged, and it leaves me reacting like Y." In this way, you can pinpoint certain behaviors and communicate how they land on you. This might lead to big shifts! Or it might not, but at least you tried in good faith.

7. Mirror Your Manager
Communicate precisely what you are doing with your work, when you will be delivering it, and deliver on time (or warn the leader about delays and explain what's happening). When you deliver work, mirror some of your leader's communication style – the way they gesture, their work pace, even words they use. They will feel that your work is thorough and "just the way they would do it."

8. Ask For Feedback Instead Of Permission
We often invite our leaders to micromanage us. By asking for permission to move forward on decisions or next steps, you make your leader question your decision-making skills and credibility. Instead, keep your leader informed along the way. And, if you need feedback or coaching on an issue, approach your leader with your thought-through plan, and ask for feedback in the areas you're uncertain.
9. Put Yourself In Your Manager's Shoes
As humans, we have a tendency to overcomplicate everything. Try to put yourself in their shoes and consider why they are micromanaging. Is it insecurity? Fear? In any case, keep the lines of communication open and clarify expectations, goals and boundaries. Work will be easier with an understanding and open communication. Meet regularly to discuss, provide updates, and/ or collaborate.

10. Bridge The Gap Between Intentions And Performance
No matter if you have a concern or if the leader has a reason for micromanaging, the first thing that needs to happen is the space. Take time to talk about how you feel about your work, and how it is affecting your performance. Using that space, try to understand the intent of the leader – nearly everyone has a positive intent, so try to understand that and bridge the gap.

11. Invite Open Communication
The best way to talk about micromanaging is an open conversation, not a fight. If you are feeling that your leader is micromanaging you, you can start off by being specific: "I would like to handle X on my own, and then check with you after for feedback." If they continue to micromanage, say, "I feel like you don't trust me to complete X correctly, and I want to try. Can we talk after?" Be open!

12. Clarify Expectations
Hard conversations make us feel vulnerable and exposed to potential fallout. It's also what makes us authentic and helps build strong connections. Have a conversation about your leader's expectations of you. This will help ensure you are both on the same page. Ask if your leader is available for questions should you have any. Then schedule a daily check-in to give updates and realign expectations.

13. Don't Blame Your Manager – Work To Earn Their Trust
When we work with leaders who micromanage their teams, it’s crucially important to remember that the leader isn’t the only one at fault for their behavior. Yes, they bear a large chunk of the burden in how they lead, but let’s not forget that the team being managed has the responsibility to earn the trust required for the leader to let go. Trust is a two-way street, and that trust must be earned.

14. Implement A Transparency And Accountability System
A lot of time micromanaging is born out of lack of clear communication. Implement a tool or use technology to show your leader what projects you are working on, and how you are tracking progress. Once they know they can check up on you at any time via this tool, the need to micromanage disappears.

15. Understand The Big Picture
Your contribution is part of a big picture project that your leader is managing. Getting all the small pieces of the big picture in place, accurately and on time, can be like herding cats and lead to what is labeled as "micromanagement." Coach up. Ask your leader to take some time to share the big picture, then reassure them that you understand how your contribution affects the process.

Unit of business

Pink Slip

• It is a notice of redundancy issued to an employee
• notice to an employee of termination of employment
• A less severe form of involuntary termination is often referred to as a layoff 

Pink slip refers to the American practice, by a human resources department, of including a discharge notice in an employee's pay envelope to notify the worker of their termination of employment or layoff.


Firing carries a stigma in many cultures, and may hinder the jobseeker's chances of finding new employment, particularly if they have been terminated from a previous job.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Termination_of_employment
 
  A layoff is usually not strictly related to personal performance, but instead due to economic cycles or the company's need to restructure itself, the firm itself going out of business or a change in the function of the employer (for example, a certain type of product or service is no longer offered by the company and therefore jobs related to that product or service are no longer needed). One type of layoff is the aggressive layoff^{[citation needed]}; in such a situation, the employee is laid off, but not replaced as the job is eliminated.

Promote internal vs lateral hire

Advantages of promoting internally:
 
I’m a huge advocate of promoting internally; after all, internal promotions have got me to where I am today. I personally prefer this method because it means I can walk into the new role feeling fully competent and confident about the company structure and processes. However there are many more benefits to this method of team building:

• Better business understanding
• Rewarding loyalty -  Rewarding high-performing employees from within your business demonstrates that you care about their career progression. They are, as a result, likely to remain loyal to the business for a while yet. In fact, a recent study has found that those promoted externally are 21% more likely to leave the business compared to the more loyal, internal hires.
• Cost and time effective

Advantages of hiring externally
Perhaps the biggest benefit of recruiting externally is all the new and varied perspectives

By hiring externally you are giving yourself access to a far larger talent pool, which is particularly important if you are looking for specific skills. A popular approach is to first look within the business for employees with the relevant skills and then, failing that, to broaden your search to include people outside of the company.

•  New perspectives and ideas - Perhaps the biggest benefit of recruiting externally is all the new and varied perspectives that you are bringing into your business. Each new hire will have accrued a particular set of skills and expertise from their previous employer, and it’s by combining all of these that you can repeatedly come to the best and most efficient practices.   
• A competitive advantage -   Following on from the first point, hiring team members from competitors helps to provide you with some perspective on how effective your strategy really is. It’s easy in a familiar team to become insular, believing that, as a market-leader, you have nothing to learn from your rivals. You may find, however, that someone else has a smarter and more cost-effective means of doing something. And if they don’t, it’s reaffirming to know that your business processes are the most efficient and streamlined out there.
• Increased diversity - The multiple benefits of increased diversity is something that Hays recognises and is passionate about. If you’re unfamiliar with the business benefits of diversity then have a read of this Viewpoint blog. Diversity can strengthen a business from both within (e.g. gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform their less diverse counterparts) and externally (mirroring the diversity of your customer base helps you to better understand and meet their needs).

Why are we motivated to act fast in few cases but not all?

strategies to motivate those unwilling “laggards”:

• Motivation #1: Comparative Metrics
• Motivation #2: Give them a Nudge
• Motivation #3: Remove the Excuse – Divide and Conquer
• Motivation #4: Ask them Participate in Frequent Release Process
•  

4 Ways To Get Slow Workers Moving Faster

• Limit their options
• When you give an employee less choices on how to proceed, the easier it is for that person to proceed. If you only give one option, you have more of a dictatorship. This can actually cause an employee to intentionally slow down to retaliate. A good rule of thumb is to stick with three options. This will give them enough freedom of choice to motivate them, but it will also limit their options to something manageable, which will help them make a quick decision.
• Give interim deadlines
• If the project is due in the final state in a month, for example, break it up into four smaller deadlines. When you do this, asking for a quarter of the project each week, it will bring the employee a greater sense of immediacy, and that gets people moving.
• Set clear expectations
• We all aspire to the expectations (both good and bad) that are set for us. When assigning this to the employee, explain your expectation with absolute clarity and that you have confidence in them. When they fully understand what is expected of them, and that you believe in their abilities, they will strive to please you.
• Slow going
• There is another issue that is worth bringing up here. If you have an employee that once seemed like a good candidate (come on, you hired them, after all), and now they are slow and unmotivated, try to determine why that is. Sometimes people may act like this if they don’t have all the tools they need to complete a task, are not getting clear instructions, or may even have personal problems that are draining their brain (and ultimately your time). But if you can get to the bottom of it and understand where the problem is coming from, you may be able to be more effective at addressing it.
  Businesses run off productivity. You know that, but at times your employees may need a gentle reminder of this. Before it gets too out of hand, and they fall into a pattern of producing the minimal amount it takes to hang on to their job, address the problem. By speeding things up, you will be motivating them, teaching them more about business, and you will likely be meeting your customer demand more efficiently
•  

https://medium.com/leadership-motivation-and-impact/what-i-learned-from-thinking-fast-and-slow-a4a47cf8b5d5
https://www.plutora.com/blog/4-ways-to-motivate-the-laggards-managing-slow-releases-to-move-faster
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/4-ways-to-get-slow-workers-moving-faster/

Image & Brand

Brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room.

The term branding refers to the process of equipping the products and services with brand power, to create a line of demarcation between company’s product and other products in the market.

Brand identity is how the brand owner defines his brand, brand image determines how the ultimate consumer perceives the brand.

Brand Identity is how you want the consumer to perceive your product or brand. It helps to shape the personality of the product, service or company. It’s the voice you give your product or service.

Brand Image is the perception of your product or brand by consumers. It’s what they hear.

In other words, the brand identity can be the logo, slogan or tagline, style and tone whereas brand image can be the basic impression, belief of the existing and potential customer regarding the brand.

So many factors combine to create a brand image – some of which you have no control over. This increases the importance of the factors within your control, the strategic choices you make regarding your brand and marketing efforts.

The strongest voice you can give your product is a well-defined and consistently communicated brand identity. Teachers use this when they repeat an important concept for emphasis, and then really let it sink in. Have you given your brand a strong voice? Do you know what your next marketing initiative should be? If you’d like to know more about what your clients hear, give our marketing team a call.

	Brand Identity	Brand Image
1	Brand identity develops from the source or the company.	Brand image is perceived by the receiver or the consumer.
2	Brand message is tied together in terms of brand identity.	Brand message is untied by the consumer in the form of brand image.
3	The general meaning of brand identity is “who you really are?”	The general meaning of brand image is “How market perceives you?”
4	It’s nature is that it is substance oriented or strategic.	It’s nature is that it is appearance oriented or tactical.
5	Brand identity symbolizes firms’ reality.	Brand image symbolizes perception of consumers
6	Brand identity represents “your desire”.	Brand image represents “others view”
7	It is enduring.	It is superficial.
8	Identity is looking ahead.	Image is looking back.
9	Identity is active.	Image is passive.
10	It signifies “where you want to be”.	It signifies “what you have got”.
11	It is total promise that a company makes to consumers.	It is total consumers’ perception about the brand.

Brand personality is the way a brand speaks and behaves. It means assigning human personality traits/characteristics to a brand so as to achieve differentiation. These characteristics signify brand behaviour through both individuals representing the brand (i.e. it’s employees) as well as through advertising, packaging, etc. When brand image or brand identity is expressed in terms of human traits, it is called brand personality. For instance - Allen Solley brand speaks the personality and makes the individual who wears it stand apart from the crowd. Infosys represents uniqueness, value, and intellectualism.
Brand personality is nothing but personification of brand. A brand is expressed either as a personality who embodies these personality traits (For instance - Shahrukh Khan and Airtel, John Abraham and Castrol) or distinct personality traits (For instance - Dove as honest, feminist and optimist; Hewlett Packard brand represents accomplishment, competency and influence). Brand personality is the result of all the consumer’s experiences with the brand. It is unique and long lasting.

Brand personality must be differentiated from brand image, in sense that, while brand image denote the tangible (physical and functional) benefits and attributes of a brand, brand personality indicates emotional associations of the brand. If brand image is comprehensive brand according to consumers’ opinion, brand personality is that aspect of comprehensive brand which generates it’s emotional character and associations in consumers’ mind. Brand personality develops brand equity. It sets the brand attitude. It is a key input into the look and feel of any communication or marketing activity by the brand. It helps in gaining thorough knowledge of customers feelings about the brand. Brand personality differentiates among brands specifically when they are alike in many attributes. For instance - Sony versus Panasonic. Brand personality is used to make the brand strategy lively, i.e, to implement brand strategy. Brand personality indicates the kind of relationship a customer has with the brand. It is a means by which a customer communicates his own identity.

Brand Identity vs Brand Personality

‘Your identity is your most valuable possession and it needs to be protected.’
Similarly, a brand has an identity too – something that a consumer instantly recognizes the brand with.
For instance, what comes to your mind when you read the phrase ‘Just do it!’? You instantly think of the sports brand, Nike. That is the brand’s identity.
A brand identity is conveyed through various aspects of a brand. The brand’s logo, tagline, fonts, color all act towards creating a brand’s identity.

A brand identity is the face of your company or a product.
It represents the company’s values, mission and services.
It is something that your customers know you for. A brand identity is important because:

• An identity sets you apart from your competitors
• A strong brand identity creates a strong brand awareness
• It establishes a connection in the minds of the customers
• When the identity is strong, it creates a strong brand recall
• A strong brand identity leads to credibility and trust among customers

personality of your Brand?

No, it’s not a trick question. Your brand is as human as you are.
It has a personality that has been built through years of development of the brand. While the brand identity can change as the brand passes through phases in the brand life cycle, a brand personality will mostly remain the same.
Brand personality is something that a brand portrays if your brand was a human being. Imagine your brand to be alive at this moment, the qualities that you give your brand, is the brand personality. It is as if ‘giving life to your brand.’

Examples of Brand Image

• Coca-cola is a brand known for happiness, joy, and good experience. It is the ‘original cola’ and has a ‘unique taste’.
• Woodland Shoes are solid and are an ideal choice for outdoors. They last very long.

This image of a brand is ultimately a deciding factor that determines the product sales. The brand image is very important, as it is an accumulation of beliefs and views about that particular brand. The character and value of the brand is portrayed by its image, as it is the main component in the scheme of things.


For example, Colgate is a brand name known in every Indian household. The brand has been able to create an image that defines trust, hope and belief. The consumer is convinced that the usage of Colgate products will give satisfactory results.

Other brands with strong brand image are

1. Apple
2. Google
3. Adidas and many others

Lose control of your brand(usefully)
 Reputations are volatile & loyalties are fickle. Companies are losing control of their employees and customers.

• Give people more control. Collaborate with them on ideas, knowledge, designs and product. 
• This will give sense of ownership. This makes employee more happier and productive. Let employee set their own schedule 
• Less control to Juniors
• This is to counter abundance of choice and make them happier.
• Beyond control
• Hyper connectivity and transparency expose behavior in broad day light. Saying true to their true selves is the only sustainable value proposition.

Management Skills

Business management is more than simply telling employees what to do. Managers must understand business organization, finance, and communication, as well as have a thorough understanding of their particular market and relevant technologies and policies.

While managers are not necessarily the most important people in the organization, their work is critical to helping everyone else work together seamlessly.

Management vs. Leadership Skills

Management skills overlap with leadership skills, as both involve problem-solving, decision-making, planning, delegation, communication, and time management. Good managers are often good leaders. And yet the two roles are distinct.

Management focus on the technical “how” of accomplishing tasks. Leaders, in contrast, focus on the “why,” motivating and inspiring their subordinates.

The critical role of a manager is to ensure that a company’s many moving parts are all working properly together. Without this integration, problems can arise and issues can “fall through the cracks.”

Management Skills

Most management skills are related to five basic, fundamental functions: planning, organizing, coordinating, directing, and oversight.

Planning
Individual managers may or may not be personally involved in drafting company policy and strategy, but even those who aren’t still must be able to plan. You might be given certain objectives and then be responsible for developing ways to meet those objectives. You may need to adjust someone else’s plan to new circumstances. In either case, you’ll have to understand what your resources are, develop time tables and budgets, and assign tasks and areas of responsibility.

Organizing
Organizing generally means creating structures to support or accomplish a plan. This might involve creating a new system of who reports to whom, designing a new layout for the office, or building strategy and planning around how to move through a project, how to move toward deadlines, and how to measure milestones.

Aspects of organization could also mean helping leaders under your guidance manage their subordinates well. Organization is about planning and foresight, and requires an ability to comprehend the big picture.

Coordinating
Managers must know what is happening, what needs to happen, and who and what are available to accomplish assigned tasks. If someone is miscommunicating, if someone needs help, if a problem is being overlooked or a resource underutilized, a manager needs to notice and correct the issue. Coordinating is the skill that lets the organization act as a unified whole.

Directing/Delegating
Directing is the part where you take charge and tell people what to do, otherwise known as delegating, giving orders, and making decisions. Someone has to do it, and that someone could be you.

Oversight
Oversight means keeping track of what’s going on and setting right anything that gets out of place. It might include anything from reviewing business models and checking for inefficiencies to checking to make sure a project is on time and on budget. Oversight is the maintenance phase of management.

Interpersonal skills

Management jobs are all about people and being able to build successful relationships is integral. If you want to lead a team you'll first need to earn the respect of your colleagues and to do this you need to know how to effectively deal with other people.
Setting time aside to get to know your team members on both a personal and professional level, perhaps through social activities or team-building training, while still maintaining professional boundaries, will go a long way to earning their respect.
You need to demonstrate your managerial qualities and authority while maintaining the ability to play your part as a member of a team.

Forward planning and strategic thinking

It's a manager's job to think of the big picture, so as well as focusing on today's tasks and responsibilities you need to plan for the future. This means setting priorities in line with company goals, reviewing systems and policies, and attending training and managing the CPD activities of your team. As a strategic thinker you'll encourage innovation and change in order to make your team and the organisation as a whole more productive and profitable.

Communication and motivation

Effective leaders must master all forms of communication including written, verbal and listening skills. As a team manager you're the line of communication between frontline staff and senior management, so you'll need to be able to communicate with a variety of people from entry-level employees to heads of departments and CEOs in a number of different ways such as via email and social media, over the phone and in presentations, meetings and one-to-ones.
As a leader you'll need to establish a trusting relationship with your employees so they feel comfortable sharing information with you and vice versa. To ensure that lines of communication remain open you'll need to make yourself readily available and accessible to your employees to discuss any issues or concerns that arise. Putting in place an open door policy or weekly or monthly team meetings should facilitate this. When communicating let your staff know that they matter by keeping eye contact, smiling and listening attentively.
Projecting an open, positive attitude at work goes a long way to creating a happy and healthy work environment. Don't shut yourself off or put yourself on a pedestal. Simple things such as active encouragement, recognising achievements and taking an interest in the lives of your employees boosts morale and ensures that staff feel valued by the company. If people are a product of their environment, a positive workplace creates happy, motivated employees.

Organisation and delegation

On a day-to-day basis a manager must juggle multiple responsibilities so excellent organisational skills are vital. You will need to manage your own workload, oversee the work of other employees, attend meetings and training sessions, carry out appraisals and review company policies. Sloppy working practices, tardiness and a general lack of organisational ability will not be tolerated at this level and could set a bad example to your staff. Effective organisational skills reduce stress, save time and ensure that important deadlines are met.
Many managers ease their own busy workload by delegating tasks to colleagues. To do this effectively you need to analyse and identify the skills of your employees and assign duties to each depending on their skillset. Delegation is far from a sign of weakness and can in fact multiply the amount of work that a manager can accomplish, while developing an employee's confidence and skills.

Forward planning and strategic thinking

It's a manager's job to think of the big picture, so as well as focusing on today's tasks and responsibilities you need to plan for the future. This means setting priorities in line with company goals, reviewing systems and policies, and attending training and managing the CPD activities of your team. As a strategic thinker you'll encourage innovation and change in order to make your team and the organisation as a whole more productive and profitable.

Problem solving and decision-making

As a manager you'll be tasked with spotting and solving problems on daily basis. This requires outstanding attention to detail and the ability to remain calm under pressure. To ensure that your team is productive and that the workflow runs smoothly you'll have to think on your feet when problems arise. Creative thinking will help you to come up with innovative solutions that minimise the impact on your team and the business as a whole.
Thinking on your feet also comes in useful when you have to make a snap decision about how to successfully complete a task or meet a business goal. Being able to quickly weigh up the pros and cons of a situation and make an informed decision is essential.

Problem solving and decision-making

As a manager you'll be tasked with spotting and solving problems on daily basis. This requires outstanding attention to detail and the ability to remain calm under pressure. To ensure that your team is productive and that the workflow runs smoothly you'll have to think on your feet when problems arise. Creative thinking will help you to come up with innovative solutions that minimise the impact on your team and the business as a whole.
Thinking on your feet also comes in useful when you have to make a snap decision about how to successfully complete a task or meet a business goal. Being able to quickly weigh up the pros and cons of a situation and make an informed decision is essential.

Mentoring

As well as being business-focused decision-makers, managers also need to play a supportive role. If you've reached this senior level you have proven experience, knowledge and skills and it's your job to pass this knowledge along and share your skills with other colleagues.
This involves training and advising staff and building their confidence and skills. In a management position you're charged with overseeing the continued professional development of all employees and will be the driving force behind the progression of team members.

Let's face it—In Management, the one thing you can be certain of is constant change, added responsibilities and rising expectations. The most successful managers are those who learn to increase their flexibility, expand their managerial skills and close gaps. You need to become a multidimensional manager. In short, you must be willing to invest in yourself and your people.
The top 6 skills that make a great manager are:

1. Leadership
2. Communication
3. Collaboration
4. Critical Thinking
5. Finance
6. Project Management 

Three Types of Managerial Skills

Robert Katz identifies three types of skills that are essential for a successful management process:

• Technical skills,
• Conceptual skills and
• Human or interpersonal management skills.

Technical Skills as One Part of Management Skills

As the name of these skills tells us, they give the manager’s knowledge and ability to use different techniques to achieve what they want to achieve. Technical skills are not related only for machines, production tools or other equipment, but also they are skills that will be required to increase sales, design different types of products and services, market the products and services, etc.
For example, let’s take an individual who works in the sales department and has highly developed sales skills achieved through education and experience in his department or the same departments in different organizations. Because of these skills that he possesses, this person can be a perfect solution to become a sales manager. This is the best solution because he has excellent technical skills related to the sales department.
On the other hand, the person who becomes sales manager will start to build his next type of required skills. It is because if his task until now was only to work with the customers as a sales representative, now he will need to work with employees in the sales department in addition to the work with customers.
Technical skills are most important for the first-level managers. Whet it comes to the top managers, these skills are not something with high significance level. As we go through a hierarchy from the bottom to higher levels, the technical skills lose their importance.

Conceptual skills present knowledge or ability of a manager for more abstract thinking. That means he can easily see the whole through analysis and diagnosis of different states. In such a way they can predict the future of the business or department as a whole.
As a first, a company includes more business elements or functions as selling, marketing, finance, production, etc. All these business elements have different goals even completely opposed goals. Think about marketing and production as a business function and their specific goals. You’ll see the essential difference. The conceptual skills will help managers to look outside their department’s goals. So, they will make decisions that will satisfy overall business goals.
Conceptual skills are vital for top managers, less critical for mid-level managers, and not required for first-level managers. As we go from a bottom of the managerial hierarchy to the top, the importance of these skills will rise.

Human or Interpersonal Managerial Skills

Human or interpersonal management skills present a manager’s knowledge and ability to work with people. One of the most critical management tasks is to work with people. Without people, there will not be a need for the existence of management and managers.
These skills will enable managers to become leaders and motivate employees for better accomplishments. Also, they will help them to make more effective use of human potential in the company. Simply, they are the essential skills for managers.
Interpersonal management skills are essential for all hierarchical levels in the company.


How to avoid power centers?

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