How to become a good manager

A manager is measured by how well he can do his work and rather than trying to define a list of essential characteristics or qualities of a manager, a better focus is on their results and how they are achieved.

In 1955, Robert Katz wrote an article in the Harvard Business Review titled ‘Skills of an effective administrator’ and identified three basic skills for managers; Technical skills, Human skills and Conceptual skills. A follow-up article in 1974 reaffirmed the importance of these skills for the effective performance of managers and rather than trying to identify or develop particular personality traits, managers should apply themselves to developing these three skills.

If we can assume that managers are responsible for the achievement of certain functions or objectives and that they direct the work of others in pursuit of those objectives, it is useful to look at what the technical, human and conceptual skills are, consider how they interact and what can be done to improve these management skills.

Technical skills differ according to the type of work being done but typically involve specialised expertise, knowledge or experience for a particular work environment.

Human skills are those required for working with other people and have been referred to as ‘soft skills’, and primarily involves leadership, communication and an understanding of how others think, feel and behave.

Conceptual skills are more cognitive, requiring an understanding of strategy, and the ability for creative thought and action.

Managers will possess varying levels of these skills and different work environments and levels of management will determine the relative importance of each as shown in the diagram.

If we consider technical skills to be mostly concerned with ‘things’, human skills are all about working with ‘people’ and conceptual skills are more about ‘ideas’. Technical skills are most important at lower levels of management where supervisors and team leaders are largely concerned with processes, procedures and techniques and tools for the achievement of work outputs. At higher management levels managers need an appreciation of the various functions of an organisation, what they contribute, and how they need to interact to achieve the desired work outcomes. Additionally they need the conceptual skills that require an awareness of the external environment; the political, economic and social forces that impact upon and are affected by the organisation. All levels of management require human skills so that they can work effectively with, for and through other people.

The good news for managers and those who aspire to become good managers is that these skills can be learnt, acquired and applied. Technical skills are the most concrete and are those typically learnt through vocational and on-the-job training programs. In this technological age such skills are becoming increasingly specialised and require many years of further education. The conceptual skills for managers are those typically covered in an MBA type program with courses such as strategic management, marketing, information systems, human resources, finance and operations.

As for the human skills, arguably the most important, there are many different types of leadership programs and management development activities available to help improve the ability to manage yourself and others. These will be considered in another discussion.