6 Fundamental Management Skills

6 Fundamental management skills

There is a set of six fundamental management skills: These are skills that are needed by everyone who wants to succeed in their role as a manager or team leader.

Many managers and team leaders evolve into their role over time.

For example: Sam joined the organisation years ago in a particular role, in a certain department. As the time passed, the organisation grew and so did the department. It used to be just two people in the department and now there are ten people in the same department.

These ten people need a team leader manager and Sam seems to be the best choice for the job. So now Sam is expected to manage and lead the team, but Sam has never had any training relating to how to be an effective leader manager.

Maybe you are in the same position as Sam.

You may need specialised training in fundamental management skills

You don't need an MBA. You don't want to go to college. You just want some practical guidance on how to manage the team on a day to day basis, in order to get the best performance from the team.

You just want a framework of fundamental, basic, practical ideas that will serve as a mental guide to successful action as a leader manager.

What are the fundamental management skills?

There are six major categories of management skills.

Here they are:

1. Setting and achieving specific goals.
2. Good communication skills; with an emphasis on the accurate use of language.
3. Good planning skills; with an emphasis on proper prioritisation and delegation.
4. Good conflict management skills; with an emphasis on how to manage performance issues.
5. Good self-management skills; with an emphasis on the development of self-motivation and self-confidence.
6. Good leadership skills; with an emphasis on the ability to inspire people to give their best efforts and to cooperate together as a team.

Each of these six fundamental management skills has numerous subsets.

Each of these topics is a study in itself. But every manager needs to know fundamental skills corresponding to each of the six. If you have any one of these six skills as a weakness, or flaw, in your management performance, then you are risking failure.

You must know all six. If you have gaps in your knowledge and are missing any one of the six, then you may fail.

1. Setting and achieving specific goals

Question. What would happen to the manager who did NOT set specific goals, but rather, set vague, generalised and open ended non-specific-goals?
Answer: He would fail to achieve his targets and would therefore fail, as a manager.

If you are a manager, you need to know how to set and achieve specific goals.

2. Good communication skills; with an emphasis on the accurate use of language

Question. What would happen to the manager who did not use specific language, but instead used vague ambiguous and unclear language?
Answer: Her messages would be misinterpreted and this would cause errors in performance. She would fail as a manager.

If you are a manager, you need to know how to speak and write clearly.

3. Good planning skills with an emphasis on prioritisation, and delegation

Question. What would happen to the manager who did not plan ahead very well, or did not prioritise well or did not delegate well?
Answer: He would soon be in a perpetual state of crisis and chaos. He would fail as a manager.

If you are a manager, you need to know how to plan ahead, prioritise and delegate effectively.

4. Good conflict management skills with an emphasis on how to manage poor performance issues

Question. What would happen to the manager who did NOT handle poor performance and conflict issues very well? He either did not say anything, or he went in with all guns blazing.
Answer: The ineffective conflict manager would make a bad situation even worse. Because mishandling conflict causes an increase in bad feeling in the team and would put the team into a state of crisis. He would therefore fail.

If you are a manager, you need to know how to handle conflict according to logical principles, not by emotion.

5. Good self-management with an emphasis on the development of self-motivation and self-confidence

Question. What would happen to the manager who did not have a sufficient degree of self-confidence or self-motivation?
Answer: Such a person would have no chance whatsoever of motivating the others. If you cannot even motivate yourself, then you won't be able to motivate other people.

If you are a manager, you need to know how to develop a sufficient degree of self-control and self-motivation.

6. Good leadership skills; with an emphasis on the ability to inspire other people to give their best efforts and to cooperate together as a team

Question. What would happen to the manager who had no ability to inspire others to give their best efforts or who could NOT induce the team to work cooperatively together to achieve their goals?
Answer: Such a person would have no chance whatever of succeeding as a manager or team leader, because the essence of management is the ability to inspire the best performance from the team.

If you are a manager, you need to know how to induce the team to work cooperatively together to achieve their goals.

Summary of fundamental management skills:

1. Goals setting.
2. Accurate language.
3. Proper planning.
4. Conflict management.
5. Self-motivation.
6. The inspiration of co-operative effort.

If you want to attend a two day course that covers all six issues, please follow this link.

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Definition: Fundamental management skills

In business, fundamental management skills are the core skill set every manager needs. They include the ability to set clear, measurable goals; speak and write with precise, plain words; plan work, set priority and hand tasks to others; and lead the team so people cooperate and give their best.

Article Summary

New managers thrive when they master six fundamental management skills: clear goals, plain words, sound plans, calm conflict moves, strong self-drive and inspiring leadership. Practise each skill daily to turn a mixed group into a high-performing team.

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About the Author: Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years' experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.

Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.

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