Within a company, the team leader must be organized, have solid management knowledge, and be able to communicate clearly and transparently. But these managerial skills are not the only ones to work on to progress within a company! To guide you, we've created this comprehensive article on the subject. Let's go!
What is managerial competence?
A few years ago, technical skills were the most emphasized within a company and in the recruitment processes. Today, interpersonal skills are a must to any manager.
So, what is managerial competence in all of this? A managerial competence is a Competence necessary for any manager to manage and supervise his team. It refers to the ability to federate, communicate your ideas, make decisions, and bring his team to a common objective.
They are essential to successfully carry out the company's projects and to make its team want to work for the challenges of your organization. To put it simply: without managerial skills, your employees will not want to follow you. And good news: these skills can be acquired through vocational training !
Hard skills vs. soft skills: what skills do you need to be a good manager?
Both! To be a successful manager, it is essential to master the subjects you talk about. For this, hard skills are very important. On the other hand, to get your message across or develop cohesion in your teams, you will have to use your soft skills.
Hard skills, or technical skills
Hard skills are purely technical skills. They are often referred to as “know-how”. When we talk about hard skills, we think of mastering software, a web language, or marketing concepts. Far from being overlooked by companies, they are on the contrary put at the forefront in all recruitment processes or in most training plans. And for good reason! They are easy to assess and more “concrete”. For team leaders, these managerial skills constitute a real managerial advantage: they understand the topics raised by employees, and they are in a position to assess the deliverables.
But hard skills are not enough: they must be complemented by other interpersonal skills (”Soft Skills”) essential.
Soft skills, or interpersonal skills
In addition to the technical skills required for any job, we have the famous”soft skills”. They refer to behavioral skills, at the crossroads of personality traits And cognitive skills of a person. It may be the ability to organize, adaptability, autonomy... But which ones should the manager focus on in order to be an outstanding team leader?
The 4 key skills of a team manager
1. Leadership
A good manager is not only the one who gives tasks and who leads his teams. He must also have leadership skills, inseparable from his profession. And this is reflected in numerous significant elements:
- Know how to delegate
- managing conflicts
- Make sure your team has everything they need
- maintaining the good motivation of its employees.
Good news! Leadership can be learned (in reality, it is rarely innate). To improve your leadership, stay tuned for feedback of your employees and train yourself in management throughout your career.
2. Team Management
Managing a team is not always easy: all personalities are different! And then you too are human. So you have to know Take a step back from situations to deal with them rationally. Listen to your teams, learn to understand their needs, and resolve conflicts between two employees.
To facilitate the management of a team, many routines exist: daily meetings, weekly meetings with each member individually or activities to strengthen team cohesion. On a daily basis, you can also:
- be as transparent as possible: to do this, do not hesitate to communicate all the progress, to manage your projects on tools open to all or to talk about the results of the actions taken.
- focus on teamwork: working with peers means creating a sense of belonging and synergy, which is essential for the good management of the team.
- giving and receiving advice: Being a manager does not only mean giving instructions, but it also means learning to receive feedback from your employees in order to improve yourself continuously.
- give an example: demanding certain things from your teams without applying them yourself means being certain not to federate them and to run into the wall. Apply your guidelines, and the trust of your employees will automatically increase.
- find a balance for your employees: Nobody wants a member of their team to be overworked and leave the ship. So, prevent this by staying attentive and adapting the workload to each employee.
- give a global vision and take a step back: nothing better to motivate your teams than to give them a direction to stay on track, and a complete vision of the project. Nobody likes to sail by sight, and this more global objective keeps you motivated.
Why is team management important? Good team management will certainly help you reach your business goals, but it will also allow your employees to feel better within the company. This involves better motivation And a increased productivity.
3. Adaptability
Adaptability is also a key managerial skill for any good leader. The manager must in fact adapt quickly to his work environment and to the members of his team. As a manager, your days are never the same: good and bad situations can happen, and it's up to you to deal with them in the best possible way. For this, there are 3 types of adaptability:
- cognitive adaptability, or be able to think about several potential patterns and predict the outcomes.
- emotional adaptability, or be able to adapt to each type of person and sensitivity, and to put yourself in the shoes of individuals.
- personality adaptability, or to be able to change one's perception and reactions according to a specific event. This type of adaptability is the rarest and the most difficult to apply!
Having 1, 2, or even 3 types of adaptability will make you a team leader more likely to manage complex situations. It will also give you the ability to react appropriately to any problem encountered.
4. Interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication refers to interacting properly with peers. For a leader, It is a managerial skill indispensable to help you communicate with your team members! The interpersonal communication of a team leader is expressed in three ways:
- The verbal: the message transmitted and the words chosen.
- The paraverbal: The tone used, the intonation of the voice, the volume or the speed of speech are all elements of your interpersonal communication.
- The non-verbal: anything that is not related to your “voice” as such (gestures, posture, breaks, rictus...).
These are all elements to keep in mind when you lead meetings, teambuildings or progress reports. And more surprisingly: it is also very important to Ensure interpersonal communication in your email responses or Slack! Even if the non-verbal does not apply in this specific case, paraverbal can definitely be taken into account. Capital letters, punctuation or emojis are all ways to transmit “paraverbal”!
3 emotional and relational managerial skills
Being an accomplished team leader isn't just limited to these four essential skills. Our aim here is to present a comprehensive overview of the skills needed to excel as a manager. So here are emotional and relational skills keys to be developed as a team leader.
1. Importance of emotional intelligence
For a very long time, business and emotion did not mix. Managers were asked to leave their feelings in their personal lives and to act only through a 100% professional lens. But today it is over. A good team leader must be caring, understand his peers and leave the “reactive” aside. Amélie Motte, Chief Happiness Officer at Spinoza confirms this to the Harvard Business Review:”You have to stop seeing emotions as necessarily negative. Working on the positive, rather than trying to solve what is wrong, is a powerful motivator.”.
2. Resilience and stress management
Resilience refers to the ability to overcome a “traumatic shock.” In the context of a business, this means continue to perform, despite conflict, failure or significant change. Moreover, this skill goes hand in hand with stress management. And for a team leader, these two qualities are essential! No two days are the same, and you may face a lot of changes or failures. Your resilience will be your best weapon to keep your head above water in times of challenge.
3. Constructive feedback
We have already mentioned the importance of interpersonal communication (with the verbal, the paraverbal and the non-verbal). Donate constructive feedback to its employees is part of your ability to communicate correctly and are essential for the proper functioning of your team! To do this, give detailed feedback, explain the reason for this return and give concrete areas for improvement.
How to develop your managerial skills?
Now you know all the main qualities of a good team manager. Maybe you have all these skills, and if so: congratulations! Otherwise, it is not inevitable. These skills can be worked on, and some courses even allow them to be developed more quickly.
Management and leadership: what are the differences?
Management and leadership are often confused. Of course, these two skills go hand in hand, but they don't serve the same purpose. A manager will try to achieve specific goals and results. The leader, on the other hand, will transmit a vision and perspectives for the company and its employees. Generally, teams are happy to follow the leader they trust.
To put it simply: there are a lot of managers, but few leaders. This is why it is essential to determine your type of leadership and to work on it through one (or more) training!
Identify your leadership “style”
Before seeking to develop the qualities that are inherent in a good leader, try to determine your leadership “style.” According to Kurt Lewin, an American psychologist who is an expert in interpersonal relationships, there are 3 leadership styles:
- authoritarian leadership
The team leader gives orders and instructions to his employees, and “punishes” behavior that he considers bad. Here, only the manager is the authority figure, and the teams have no right to question the decisions he makes.
- democratic leadership
This type of management, unlike authoritarian leadership, gives employees a voice and encourages them to propose new ideas. Here, the team leader is more “a facilitator” than a manager whose instructions are not discussed.
- permissive leadership (or “letting go”)
Finally, permissive leadership is the total opposite of authoritarian leadership because it lets team members do what they want. Employees then do their own tests and errors, and the manager's role is to monitor “from afar” without interfering in their actions.
Kurt Lewin believes that democratic leadership would be the most “effective” and would give better results. A good leader would therefore focus on the skills and knowledge of each employee. He would listen to all ideas and encourage teamwork.
Leadership training
Fortunately: leadership can be learned! There are numerous courses available to develop leadership skills throughout your career. Face-to-face or remotely, many training organizations offer modules to follow to develop your managerial skills.
And with the growing demand for this type of training, many companies are offering new formats to facilitate learning, while having a full-time job. For example, we are talking about microlearning, to learn in very short modules, or Mobile learning, to learn on your phone, anywhere and anytime.
In short, the solutions are numerous, but the main thing is above all to find the training that suits YOU!
