How to Develop Management Skills

Note: For purposes of this article, a manager must have hiring, firing and performance review responsibilities.
Many workers get thrust into supervisory or management positions with little training. That's a shame. Nothing can help a work group succeed like a good leader. Nothing can destroy good workers like a poor one.
So, whether it's a lifelong calling or an unsought title, management is a noble profession. It deserves your attention. It needs your focus. It needs your skills.

Instructions

1. Practice Listening. When you're in management, everyone talks to you. Your employees come to you with ideas and gripes. Your boss tells you what he wants. And your peers talk about their issues. The biggest gift you can give them, especially your employees, is the gift of being there. You need to listen in the moment.
   How many times has someone come in your office to discuss something and found you inattentive? You're typing on the keyboard, looking at caller I.D. or glancing at people walking by instead of fully listening. Learning to listen in the moment means total focus on the speaker. You will notice body language, the richness of the tone of voice, inflection. You'll receive the true message. This will cause you to make the best response. Mastering listening in the moment will give you a quantum leap in your managerial skills.

2. Take at least one conflict management seminar. Anyone can manage when times are good. True managerial mettle gets tested when things sour. Usually, when that happens, it's because of a people issue. If you do nothing else and even if you have to pay for it out of pocket, take a conflict management seminar for your development. Why? Most of us aren't any good at it. We don't learn it in school. No one teaches that techniques exist that can guide you through these potential landmines. Yet mishandling these situations, which usually occur unexpectedly, can derail the most promising managerial career. Responding to Conflict: Strategies for Improved Communication from the American Management Association and Conflict Management Workshops and Crucial Conversations are all excellent sources to obtain this needed skill

3. Manage by walking around. This means get out of your cage and visit, glad-hand, ask questions, say happy birthday, eat the goodies out there, check the work, etc. It may be tough because the office can be an embracing cocoon. However, if you're visible to your people they will recognize you as part of the group instead of the hobo that stays in the office. But the best thing is that you'll develop a feel for what's going on and be able to respond on the spot, if necessary. This sharpens your skills, defines your style and provides cutting edge material for your decisions.

4. Be a management observer. A place to look for this is the news. For example, there are many great examples of management in the sports pages of the Chicago Tribune. Ozzie Gullien of the White Sox, Lou Piniella of the Cubs and Lovie Smith of the Bears provide great managerial fodder.
   For example: Ozzie Guillen, the White Sox manager, did one of his "questions or second guesses of myself" when he questioned his own spring training policy of having his position players play in more "B" games than regularly scheduled exhibition games. Guillen pondered that if he switched his policy next spring, that the regulars would begin playing together as a unit sooner, which could prove beneficial to the future cohesiveness of the team. It demonstrates that Guillen was secure enough as a manager to allow his second guessing to be quoted, but it shows the constant review of policies that good managers do to improve their operations.
   Once you begin observing for management behavior, you'll see it all around you. Let the managerial life become part of your training. Movies can be a great source of management in action. I'll suggest three:
   "Remember the Titans," a Denzel Washington movie, captures great managerial moves from start to finish.
   In "Gettysburg," the Jeff Daniels character at Little Round Top provides excellent insight into effective management on the fly.
   In "Shattered Glass," the editor (acted by Peter Sarsgaard) shows the due diligence necessary for a manager to terminate someone.

5. Find a Mentor. Mentoring, what is it and how can it help you? A mentor is one who takes a non-agenda-driven, non-judgmental interest in your development. A mentor increases your skills, is there when you need her and provides angles you may not have To know your managerial effectiveness, here's the question you want to ask yourself: Is the area you're managing better for you having been there? Work to make sure the answer to that question is yes.