Five Management Skills To Track Your Career - MCI Institute

If you want to fast-track your career, these are the management skills that will get you to where you need to go: 

Table of Contents

1. Self-management
2. Decision making
3. Planning
4. Delegation
5. Communication

1. Self-management

The best employees, and managers, are those who are experts at managing themselves. It takes time to hone these skills, and importantly, you need to be accountable to yourself. There are thousands of free resources to help you, from podcasts and webinars to ebooks and online courses.

2. 2. Decision making

A great manager can make confident, informed decisions. As with self-management, this management skill requires practice: the more you do it, the easier it becomes. To help you make better decisions, practice the following:

Don’t react, act; focus on the facts; remove your ego and emotional bias from the equation; ask for help from a mentor.

3. 3. Planning

This management skill helps you to reduce stress and improve your performance by giving you a crystal clear picture of what needs to be done, when. Set a dedicated time slot for daily and weekly planning, and use a diary or digital planner to make a note of everything that needs to be done. Update it regularly and have it within reach at all times so that as soon as you’re notified of a task or change in schedule, you can add it to your to-do list.

4. 4. Delegation

This is one of the most important, yet difficult management skills.To delegate successfully, identify the jobs you’re able to do yourself and those you need to delegate, match the right person to the task at hand, and then trust the person responsible for getting the job done.

5. 5. Communication

Great communicators are listeners first, and talkers second. Start noticing body language, and think before you speak. Aim for objectivity and clarity: keep what you want to say short and to the point. Every word should count, so focus on the facts and resist the urge to jump into every conversation.

Honing the management skills outlined above is an important part of upskilling yourself. For more helpful tips about advancing in your career, download our free ebook on Personal Growth and Improvement.