80% of UK managers are accidental managers, promoted to a management role because they were good at a functional task. 83% of these managers received no management training prior to being appointed and only 34% received appropriate training afterwards. Yet 64% of employers think that lack of leadership and management skills is holding back growth and only 1 in 5 employees rate their manager as “highly effective” (Chartered Management Institute research). So what training should they have received? Click to read more.

The diagram sets out the skills employers believed successful leaders and managers should have.

accidental-managers-graph
The top four skills thought necessary were:

  • Communications 67.1%
  • Problem solving and critical analysis 48.3%
  • Team Skills 47.4%
  • Motivating others 44.4%

So what are these skills?

Communication is about more than just exchanging information. It’s about understanding the emotion and intentions behind the information. Effective communication is also a two-way street. It’s not only how you convey a message so that it is received and understood by someone in exactly the way you intended, it’s also how you listen to gain the full meaning of what’s being said and to make the other person feel heard and understood.

Critical analysis is the practice of methodically gathering, analysing, and evaluating information which can then be used to effectively solve problems.

Team skills include listening skills, persuasion, accountability, co-operation, motivation, taking ownership and managing differences.

Motivational skills are those that enable a person to enthuse self and others to work in a sustained manner to achieve defined goals.

Like most skills, they can only be developed through a combination of acquiring knowledge and gaining experience of applying it.