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What are the skills, talents and characteristics of a great manager? Does your manager have these?

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Question added by Anita Viherpuro , Consultant , Presentte Oy
Date Posted: 2013/07/04

Strangely this is a tough question.
As someone who suffered under ineffective managers for years I always thought that I could do a better job if I was given their position, you know those silly passing thoughts that go through one's mind.
Or when you watch someone in another department really mess things up and you egotistically think to yourself how was that person put in charge.
Well as someone who was suddenly thrust into the position of management of at one time a department and at another a whole company.
Its hard.
The first thing that pops out is that you have to become a psychiatrist trying to help people with their problems so that you can effectively get the best performance out of them.
This might mean that you will have to do any one of these things:1.
Encourage2.
Praise3.
Warn4.
Entice5.
Inspire6.
Shame And believe it or not these different tactics can yield excellent results in improving your employee morale and in getting the best performance out of them.
It might seem illogical to say that you can use shame someone into better performance.
But the truth is some people are under achieving and they know it.
So if you (subtly of course) nudge them by implying that they could be so much more if it weren't for their fear (yes calling them out on their shameful behavior or their fear can get them to move forward).
that they would become a department manager or be promoted.
One of the things that I used to do, as a manager, is that during an interview I would ask the person how much they wanted to earn (and joke that obviously I can't pay you the millions you want ...
but the more realistic salary for that job).
Obviously before the interview I ask department managers what the salary range for that position is and that also gives me a way to make that potential employee leave the interview pleased.
So I basically try to avoid making them lie about their salary (because lets face it about90% of potential new employees are unhappy with their original salaries which is why they want to switch jobs) then during the interview I ask them how much they wanted to earn...
and if they said a number lower than the one in my head (and lower than that department average) I would say how about I give you a higher number.
That never went down badly and if its only a little bit higher than what they ask they are still grateful.
So to answer your question, which I haven't until now,1.
What skills must they have? The ability to listen and to make logical and quick decisions based on informed and realistic parameters.2.
What Talents must they have? The ability to read people and manipulate their underlings in a manner that is not insidious or Machiavellian but rather to both the benefit of the company and the employees themselves (sometimes positive manipulation can push / nudge someone in the right direction).3.
What Characteristics? Patient, Smart, Quick thinking and empathetic as well as no-nonsense and willing to take tough decisions like letting someone go if they are negatively effecting the rest of the team.
Phew!

abdanaser alnaser
by abdanaser alnaser , محاضر في كلية الأقتصاد , جامعة الفرات

Should be enjoyed by the Director qualities figure to become director of a great and successful most important psychological balance, social and personal strength and breadth of knowledge and communication skill has a sense of justice and accuracy of judging things as well as Ajbon has the management skills such as good organization vision prospective follow-up, the accuracy of the analysis, hard work, knowledge of the precise details of the institution, extensive relationships with customers and competitors .........

The most important qualities of a successful manager of leadership and personal understanding and solving business problems and staff, unfortunately managers in the organization that I work does not have these qualities

SAHL HIJAZI
by SAHL HIJAZI , Purchasing Manager , BINZAFRAH GROUP

talents and characteristics .Great Communication .Problem-Solving and Decision-Making .A Set of Skills .Ability to Guide .Building a Great Team .Team building .
.Knowledge It is very, very important that a manager keep himself constantly updated about the workings of his field.
This is necessary so that he can use the knowledge and make positive contributions to the goal.
.Possessing Goals A good manager should also have a visionary sight for the benefit of the company.
He/she should plan the future steps for the growth of the company.
-Other Skills .Even in a crisis, a person with good managerial skills should be able to perform well.
He/she should be .mentally tough to handle any kind of situation and tackle a trying period with ease.
.He/she should also be responsible enough to maintain a good office atmosphere.
A manager should be .sensitive towards others in the workplace.
A happy atmosphere would only lead to more productivity for the company.
.Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-are-the-skills-needed-to-be-a-good-manager.html

“The best boss I ever had.” That’s a phrase most of us have said or heard at some point, but what does it mean? What sets the great boss apart from the average boss? The literature is rife with provocative writing about the qualities of managers and leaders and whether the two differ, but little has been said about what happens in the thousands of daily interactions and decisions that allows managers to get the best out of their people and win their devotion.
What do great managers actually do? In my research, beginning with a survey of80,000 managers conducted by the Gallup Organization and continuing during the past two years with in-depth studies of a few top performers, I’ve found that while there are as many styles of management as there are managers, there is one quality that sets truly great managers apart from the rest: They discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it.
Average managers play checkers, while great managers play chess.
The difference? In checkers, all the pieces are uniform and move in the same way; they are interchangeable.
You need to plan and coordinate their movements, certainly, but they all move at the same pace, on parallel paths.
In chess, each type of piece moves in a different way, and you can’t play if you don’t know how each piece moves.
More important, you won’t win if you don’t think carefully about how you move the pieces.
Great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the eccentricities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack.
The Research This is the exact opposite of what great leaders do.
Great leaders discover what is universal and capitalize on it.
Their job is to rally people toward a better future.
Leaders can succeed in this only when they can cut through differences of race, sex, age, nationality, and personality and, using stories and celebrating heroes, tap into those very few needs we all share.
The job of a manager, meanwhile, is to turn one person’s particular talent into performance.
Managers will succeed only when they can identify and deploy the differences among people, challenging each employee to excel in his or her own way.
This doesn’t mean a leader can’t be a manager or vice versa.
But to excel at one or both, you must be aware of the very different skills each role requires.

In my opinion, the most important skills, talents and characteristics of a great manager are the ones that relate to intera-personal intelligence.
As when one can dissociate from personal emotions, presuppositions and biases, it becomes easy to take right decisions based on facts and right justifications.
Unfortunately, they are rare.

Manager is a person who has the ability to understand the situations and coupe out.
Manager has to perform5 functions of management i.e.
Planning, Organising, Staffing, Directing and Coordinating.

ashry kassem
by ashry kassem , business unit manager , Grand pharma

- my opinion is a great manager means a LEADER and his/ her skills are:
1- Build talents
2- Think strategically
3- Drive results
4- make a sound decisions
5- collaborate
6- communicate well
7- adhere to ethics and values - Most of my managers are those who have previous talents and ch.chs.
thank you for that good question.

Osama Adel Mohammed Ali Abueljubein
by Osama Adel Mohammed Ali Abueljubein , Regional HR Manger , Huawei

Should have the team spiret and lead by example wher the staff can learn a lot from the manager, should empower the staff so they can become a sucessful managers

Kaamila Tahseen
by Kaamila Tahseen , Change Management Team Manager , cognizant technology solutions

Manager should posses, Team Management skills People Management skills Process Management skills Project Management skills ideally should have motivation skills, ability to identify needs of process and people, also should be able to identify and overcome challenges of the team and process.
Not all Managers have all these qualities, Yes one of my managers possess max of the above qualities.

Manager is person as defined in the title itself is the one who manages.
But the point is how and what all doeshe manages.
Following are the skills of a ggreat manager: communication skills. 
delegation skills, organizational skills, who is capable to Notice creativity,Identify people who are dependable, who has a sense of optimism.
Not every individual is equipped with all these qualities by birth.
Its all about experience, adaptability, and sense of responsibility that makes a person a great manager.

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