Ideally, managers should know between 90 and 120 individual skills, according to James Manktelow, founder and CEO of MindTools. com, and Julian Birkinshaw, deputy dean for programs at London Business School. Together, they surveyed 15,242 managers and professionals worldwide. The coauthors of “Mind Tools for Managers: 100 Ways to Be a Better Boss” (Wiley, April 2018) suggest working on the most crucial skills first—the ones managers worldwide value and recommend, including:
Skill #10: Developing emotional intelligence.
Skill #9: Building trust within your team.
Skill #8: Understanding and developing your relationship with your customer.
Skill #7: Developing new ideas through an empathetic understanding of customers’ problems.
Skill #6: Bringing people together to solve problems.
Skill #5: Understanding the needs of different stakeholders and communicating with them appropriately.
Skill #4: Understanding the key principles of good communication.
Skill #3: Considering many factors, such as opportunities, risks, reactions, and ethics, in decision-making.
Skill #2: Prioritizing tasks effectively for yourself and your team.
Skill #1: Building good working relationships with people at all levels.
