Common Manager Skills Interview Preparation Guide

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Here are some key skills of a manager:
☛ Strategic Thinking
☛ Collaboration
☛ Emotional Intelligence
☛ Critical Thinking
☛ Motivation
☛ Feedback
☛ Tough Conversations
☛ Coaching
☛ Making Values Visible and Viral

Critical thinkers question conventional wisdom. They are vigilant about identifying and challenging assumptions that underlie actions or inaction. They are automatically wary of generalizations, inferences and unproven theories. Among their favorite questions is: "How do we know that?" They strive to independent thinkers, careful to check how their own biases might color their decisions. They do this automatically to speed up good decision-making, not to cause "paralysis by analysis."

Let people know what you stand for. Make those conversations a part of your daily work. Lose your fear of coming off as corny or holier than thou. Tap into the great reservoir of commitment and care that people bring to their work lives, but often fail to talk about unless they are at some professional seminar, where it pours out because you make it safe to talk about values like integrity, diversity, community, and service. All you have to do is start those conversations and they always take off organically. It should happen in the workplace, too. If you do not inspire, who will?

Are you among the legions of managers who habitually fix the work of others? Are you the non-stop answer machine for people who are overly reliant on you for decisions? And at the end of the day, do you wonder why you are frustrated and exhausted and employees are not getting better on your watch? You need to learn to coach their growth.

Do not avoid tough talks. Learn to do them deftly, avoiding the many pitfalls they can present. Become an expert at addressing challenges and problems early and often. Do not let problems fester or bullies prevail. Build trust as a leader so people recognize your good intentions even in the midst or wake of challenging conversations.

Your IQ alone can not fuel the group's success. Emotional intelligence is critical. Build your self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. Recognize that as a leader, you are contagious. Be a source of energy, empathy and earned trust, proving optimism and realism can co-exist. Understand that resilience is key to leadership, especially in stressful times.

Commit to wearing what I call "feedback glasses" new lenses through which you look at people and their work. Through these lenses, you are always on the alert for opportunities to deliver specific, helpful information to people about their performance and their value to the organization. Upgrade the quality of all of your interactions by using them as opportunities for customized, effective feedback.

Telling people "You are lucky to have a job" in no way qualifies as motivation. Nor does fear, unless it is fear of letting a great boss down. Nor, interestingly, does throwing money at people. Pay them fairly, of course, but do not stop there. Understand the key intrinsic motivators:
☛ Competence
☛ Autonomy
☛ Purpose
☛ Growth
Determine the prescription for each of your employees.

Change assumptions about the importance/subservience of certain roles in your organization.

Educate yourself and your staff about the work of others.

Stay on the radar with people you do not see regularly.

Check your demands and systems to make certain they are not undercutting collaboration.

Overcome the four barriers to collaboration skills:
☛ Distance
☛ Dominance
☛ Discomfort
☛ Dissonance

Do not just immerse yourself in today's tasks. Think big picture. Step back from the dance floor from time to time and take the balcony view and review systems. Set priorities aligned with major goals. Learn new and scary things. Encourage innovation by backing good people who take smart risks.

Being a leader involves persuading others to follow the direction you want to go in. As such managers lead by example, have reasonable expectations of their staff and are excellent persuaders.

Managers will usually be expected to set budgets, manage them and carry out other admin such as writing reports. For this, they will need good numeracy, literacy and computer literacy skills.

Managers may encounter problems in their work. They have to be able to think on their feet and solve problems as soon as they happen. To do this they will need to be experts in their field and be able to remain calm and focused while they come up with solutions.

Managers are the main line of contact between the front line staff, senior management and clients. They are responsible for keeping everybody informed.

The manager puts the strategy in place to achieve the team's vision and missions. To do this they must be able to plan ahead and look at the bigger picture.

Sometimes it is tempting to do a job yourself because it is quicker than explaining it to someone else. However, managers should learn to delegate work where necessary to share responsibility and accountability.

Managers work closely with people in their team, assigning them work and ensuring they get appropriate training to do their jobs. As well as keeping staff motivated, they are also responsible for hiring and firing them. In order to do all of this, managers must be approachable, compassionate, diplomatic and have good communication skills to listen to and reward their staff.

The manager is responsible for organizing their department, implementing processes and guides and outlining what needs doing.

Managers are often expected to complete work to deadlines. They must therefore manage the time of their teams and themselves and prioritize work so that projects are completed to deadline.

Here are a few skills to become a manager:
☛ Good organisation
☛ Good time management
☛ Interpersonal and relationship-building skills
☛ Delegation
☛ Forward-planning and strategy
☛ Communication
☛ Problem-solving
☛ Administrative and financial skills
☛ Leadership

The most productive companies are typically more proactive than their peers when it comes to identifying and developing effective managers. The six most common managerial success traits include:
☛ Communication
☛ Leadership
☛ Adaptability
☛ Relationships
☛ Development of others
☛ Personal development