The importance of managers in a company’s success cannot be overstated, especially when it comes to employee satisfaction and retention. Indeed, when employees don’t feel their work is recognized, they look for new opportunities elsewhere: 21.5% of employees who said they don’t feel recognized when they do great work have interviewed for a job in the last three months, compared to 12.4% of those who do.
Unfortunately, many managers aren’t as well-prepared for the job as one might think — at least without extensive training. Most people who are promoted to management positions excel in their current non-management positions. That means, in many cases, they have no managerial experience and will need to learn quickly or risk having their team’s morale suffer.
Despite these facts, management training is surprisingly rare: many new managers are simply thrown into the deep end with little guidance. It goes without saying that this is a blunder.
If you want to avoid these pitfalls, here are the ten essential management skills your leadership team should be training for in 2023.
Ten Essential Management Skills your Leadership Team Should be Training for in 2023
1. Communication
Communication is essential for team management. Companies and organizations that communicate effectively have a much better chance of retaining their best employees. While some people are born with this ability, most people require training to advance their communication skills to management level.
While face-to-face communication is essential, work scheduling tools like ZoomShift can help you make your communication as effective and non-disruptive as possible. Effective communication in 2023 entails being tech-savvy and communicating with team members, many of whom are now digital natives, in ways that they are comfortable and familiar with.
2. Decision Making
One of the most significant differences between non-management and management positions is the increase in decision-making power. Previously, an employee’s decisions affected only their own work, but now their decisions affect their team, budgets, and the bottom line of the company.
It’s not just about making a decision in 2023; it’s about using the available data to make the right decision. Let’s face it: making gut decisions no longer works when competitors use data to get it right every time. This is why data-driven decision making will be such an important skill for managers to have in 2023.
3. Collaboration
The management style of “do what I say, not what I do” is becoming obsolete. Collaboration allows you to leverage your team’s diverse skills and perspectives and combine them with your management expertise to achieve the best results. Failure to do so can have a negative impact on your team’s workflow.
Indeed, as a manager, you must manage collaboration within your team as well as collaborate with it.
4. Learning and Development
Learning and development used to be something that companies did only when they felt their employees needed to improve their skills. However, because employees are moving on more quickly – rather than the old “job for life” adage – it is critical that managers be L&D oriented. Consider this: one out of every three people quits their job within the first year. This high churn rate costs businesses a lot of money, and the solution could be in L&D.
Failure to upskill team members at the desired rate may result in poor employee retention rates, not to mention falling behind the rest of the industry in terms of skills. Training does not always come naturally to managers, no matter how skilled they are at the task at hand, which is why L&D training is essential.
5. Remote Management
There are two types of management: local management and remote management. While there is some overlap between the two concepts, managing someone in front of you for eight hours a day and managing someone you rarely see are two distinct skill sets.
Remote work has grown in popularity in recent years, and the trend is expected to continue. Managers who have remote workers on their team must effectively monitor user activity while also improving their communication and technology skills to ensure those employees remain engaged and part of a dedicated team.
6. Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and inclusion knowledge and skills are required for managers in 2023. Managers who don’t cater to everyone on their team risk alienating talented employees and missing out on long-term results as teams become more diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, and age.
However, this is not an easy task. It’s not just about knowing your company’s D&I policy from cover to cover; it’s also about knowing how to manage employees from backgrounds other than your own. This means that emotional intelligence is essential in this situation.
Related Post: https://strengthscape.com/first-time-manager/
7. Feedback
While this one falls under the category of “communication,” it is so critical that it deserves special attention. Did you know that companies that implement regular feedback have higher employee satisfaction levels and 14.9% lower turnover rates than employees who do not receive feedback? There are numerous methods for providing feedback, ranging from annual appraisals to development meetings to awards to informal pats on the back.
The important thing is that the manager understands the most effective ways to provide feedback and that a consistent feedback structure is in place that the team is aware of and satisfied with.
8. Project Management
Team leaders nowadays frequently need to be proficient in project management. While some teams will have separate project managers, this is not always the case; regardless, project management will frequently bleed into the remit of a team manager.
These skills are critical for any manager worth their salt as corporate culture has shifted toward agile principles and we work in a much more project-based manner than in the past. Managers can prepare by becoming acquainted with project management software and processes.
9. Integrity
In 2023, a brand’s social value proposition – or corporate social responsibility – is huge. Not only is it important for customers, but it also influences job seekers’ decisions, particularly among younger demographics. While “integrity” is not a skill in and of itself, it is critical that team leaders work with their brand’s social value proposition at its core.
In order for the social value proposition to have the intended positive effect, these values must be genuinely felt throughout the organization.
10. Leadership
This may seem obvious, but many businesses do not provide leadership training. Although 83% of businesses believe it is critical to develop leaders at all levels, 63% of Millennials believe their leadership skills are not being fully developed. While some people are born with natural leadership abilities, assisting managers in becoming the best leaders they can be will always necessitate some training.
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