The Management Blog
Tips & advice to help you improve your performance
The answer to the question above is of course no but I like to think of management training as a bit like wearing leathers and a helmet when riding a motorbike.
They won’t stop you crashing but they will offer a level of protection far greater than not wearing them at all! Learn More
Collins English Dictionary describes ‘soft skills’ as ‘desirable qualities for certain forms of employment that do not depend on acquired knowledge: they include common sense, the ability to deal with people, and a positive flexible attitude’.
Certainly, the connotation is that someone who has common sense and a positive attitude is thought of as having good ‘soft skills’. But it can and does go deeper.
You’ve decided that two candidates for an important role in the department should be invited back for a further interview. Both have similar experience and backgrounds…both would fit in well with your team. Here are some questions that might help you differentiate between them.
“You need to convince me you’re the right person for the job. What can you tell me that would make me say ‘yes’?”
Being able to communicate effectively is one of the key components that make up the great manager’s portfolio.
Without excellent communication, even a good manager will fail to progress the business because of the need to keep momentum through communicating the vision and objectives.
VUCA is an acronym that stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, which characterise the nature of some difficult conditions and situations.
Born in the 1990’s in the military world of the American military, it originally described the conditions the world faced after the cold war.
There’s a very interesting TEDx talk by RosaBeth Moss Kanter on leading positive change, and I’ve noted six keys to change that she mentions, along with my thoughts as to their application in the world of business and leadership:
You’re sure to have come across different coaching models at work that help you achieve goals with your team, and allow you to get more involvement from people in making decisions and solving problems.
A famous one is, of course, the GROW model, where we set Goals, check Reality, look at Options and establish a Way Forward.
Many managers face the dilemma at times of what to focus their valuable time on when it appears that everything is urgent, everything is important and nothing can be delegated to anyone else.
This predicament can have many repercussions on managers’ time and effort, as they switch from issue to issue, prepared to fight fires at every corner.
