With the world rapidly changing, the “one size fits all” method of leadership is no longer effective, considering the volatility and uncertainty every company faces. In addition, new challenges are constantly emerging, making the manager’s job more difficult.
To stay ahead of changes, good managers must be agile – possessing crucial people management skills that will not only inspire people but also improve their engagement at work. These skills include problem-solving skills, coaching, facilitation, and project management skills that all leaders in any company would need.
In this blog post, we will discuss eight management skills that agile leaders need to develop. We’ll also share the potential pitfalls and advice on how to avoid them. These strategies will help you focus on building the most important people management skills so that you successfully lead the organization towards better outcomes.
Why Agile Leaders Are Essential for Today’s Organizations
“Agile Leaders are key to organizational success.“
Agile Leaders Conversation Episode 6 with Neo Ley Lee
For any business that wants to succeed as an agile organization, good leaders are essential. According to McKinsey & Company, agile organizations are viewed as systems that have thrived in ever-changing, rapid environments. They are flexible and able to adjust effortlessly to new conditions while remaining stable.
As a leader in an agile organization today, your people management skills will determine how your team performs. You might find the demand on your skills rather high – like leading with a positive attitude despite the high pressure to perform, conflict resolution, empathetic listening skills, etc.
It will take time for you to develop all the skills necessary but one thing is clear – your team management skills will empower your team of motivated employees to achieve better results for the business and the people.
From our work with international companies across nearly 40 countries, here are the top eight people management skills we believe you need to lead an agile organization.
1. Communication Skills: Inspire a Shared Vision with Storytelling
Effective communication is a non-negotiable and perhaps the most important skill for a manager. Effective business and workplace communication not only strengthens employee relationships but ensures they have the information they need to perform well while simultaneously eliminating inefficiencies.
If you want people to follow and trust you, then you must be able to understand their motivations.
Leveraging David Rock’s SCARF model can help leaders identify their employees’ motivations and you can tailor your communication. The SCARF model allows you to be more strategic in lessening the friction and shifting the conversation towards collaboration and common ground.
With the understanding to communicate to influence and persuade, skills like storytelling become more and more important these days as a result.
“With great communication skills, you will be able to galvanize strong support and build relationships in your organization.”
– Yeo Chuen Chuen, ACESENCE
Tips:
- Listen to concerns actively and respond with empathy. These are great fodder for your leadership stories.
- Engage team members early when their actions are misaligned with the vision, giving them a chance to share their points of view.
- Explain the rationale behind organizational changes.
- Include leadership storytelling in your compulsory skillset. It’ll help you bring about changes more easily.
2. Coaching, Mentoring and Facilitation Skills
To be an effective team leader in an agile organization, you need to coach and develop others.
Gone are the days when all managers need to do is issue direction to people – a good manager takes an active role in growing employees’ potential by offering appropriate guidance. A Gallup study found that great managers raise employees’ motivation and engagement.
When people see that you’re actively improving your management skills, they’ll be more likely to do the same.
“An Agile Leader gives the team room to try new things.”
Ronnie Lee, Lenovo Singapore General Manager
Related Article:
Build Back Better: How Leaders Can Build A Better, More Equal Future In An Agile Way
Tips:
- Offer coaching and mentoring skills training to your leaders. Talk to us if you want to design one for your team of managers.
- Help employees identify and pursue their personal and professional goals.
- Make feedback and recognition part of your ongoing career conversations.
3. Leverage Team Strengths
A strengths-focused culture cultivates a workplace where everyone can look forward to coming to work because they get to do what they do best.
A Gallup study has found that employees in a company with a strengths-based culture are six times more likely to be engaged in their work. Moreover, employees who receive strengths-based feedback from their employers are three times more likely to be engaged than those who rarely receive it. The investment in a strengths-focused culture is a worthy one in our view.
Did you know that Strengths-focused leadership under CAPTAIN is one of our most popular workshops?
Check it out here.
Tips:
- Encourage team members to discover their strengths. CliftonStrengths is a great assessment to start.
- Assign tasks based on strengths.
- Offer employees opportunities to develop their strengths through group training and strengths-focused dialogues.
4. Maximizing Outcomes Despite Limited Resources
In today’s business climate, it’s more important than ever to do more with less. This means that resource management is a key management skill for team managers to achieve stellar results with limited resources.
In a LinkedIn post titled Management: The Art of Doing More with Limited Resources, management is what drives operations and makes use of available resources. To make the best use of our resources, managers need to find opportunities for optimization – small changes in the right places at the right times will put you ahead of your competition.
Alya’s story from my book, Leaders People Love exemplifies the need for managers to anticipate workplace needs and proactively address challenges.
As Alya deals with age and authority constraints, she uncovers a transformative truth: Rather than solely relying on her expertise, she can empower her team to develop their skills and take ownership of their work.
The section on Strategist in Leaders People Love hosts a range of strategies that will increase your impact. Read these chapters:
· If Time Were a Field
· Beward of the Weeds
· What’s Your Highest-Yielding Activity?
Tips:
- Prioritize impactful projects to leverage limited resources strategically.
- Keep in touch with the ground to understand their perspectives and get their suggestions on how to adjust and optimize results.
- Don’t wait for things to become a crisis – Take prompt action to address and prevent further issues upon noticing problems.
5. Prioritization
A great team manager exercises strategic thinking to help team members prioritize the right tasks.
Even more essential leadership skills – removing barriers and “cutting the fat” – prioritizing and deprioritizing appropriately to reduce time loss, effort wastage, exhaustion, and eventually, burnout. After all, working faster and longer is not the solution and your people’s wellbeing is a valuable asset.
Those who are in management positions must pay attention to key tasks that will protect today and ensure a better tomorrow for all employees. This is one of the crucial management skills a team manager must have.
Tips:
- Focus on what is most important and communicate these priorities to your team.
- Simplify complex projects into smaller, actionable tasks.
- Match employee strengths and interests with the right task.
- Eliminate or postpone non-essential tasks.
6. Building Trust, Inclusivity, and Diversity
Effective managers understand that trust is the foundation of any good relationship. Understanding people’s motivations and expectations is a good way to start. Effective managers need a high level of self-awareness, as many of us have unconscious biases.
Nurturing a strengths-first culture is a good place to start building an inclusive and diverse workplace. You can start by discovering your CliftonStrengths and Values here.
As illustrated in a study by Marcus Buckingham, it was recently found that what employees fear, is not change – but being kept in the dark, hence breaking trust. That’s why the most effective managers possess soft skills that nurture trust, open communication, and inclusive conversations. This is also consistent with David Rock’s SCARF model as mentioned above.
Related Articles:
Important Skills of a Leader – 10 Leadership Skills for Effective Leaders
6 Important Leadership Skills Managers Need to Lead a Hybrid Workforce
Tips:
- Communicate openly to build trust and reduce fear of the unknown.
- Lead with vulnerability and share how you overcome your struggles.
- Provide opportunities for everyone to contribute.
- Provide support in challenging times.
7. Human-Centered People Management Skills
Being in a management position means you succeed when your team members succeed. Prioritize the individual needs of employees and how they can be best supported in the workplace. This approach is based on the belief that every person is unique and valuable.
In another post titled Why Organizations Need Human-Centered Leaders And Three Tips To Get Started, I stated, “Companies need to explore more effective ways to retain employees by creating a culture where leaders’ top priority is to meet the psychological desires of employees as humans.
Tips:
- Tailor your approach to address the specific needs of each team member. If you’re unsure what employees want, the Leaders People Love Global Survey Report might be a good way to start.
- Be curious about others, and show that you’re listening. This is a great way to make people feel that they matter.
8. Lower Team Members’ Fear of Failure
In an agile organization, it is important to have a learning culture where mistakes are not penalized but used as opportunities to learn and improve. Yet, according to a study by IE, VU, and Nyenrode, fear of failure holds back two in five workers where “some workers spend 40% of their working day worrying about making mistakes.”
Fear of failure is a sign of a toxic workplace which can lead to poor performance, reduced resilience, and burnout. When managers fear failure, it stifles creativity and innovation, both crucial for a thriving business today.
In my work with leaders, they often don’t realize fear of failure is amplified when they show displeasure at work done “wrong.” Daily interactions with your team make a huge difference. That’s why ‘Your Way is Not the Only Way’ is a key chapter in Leaders People Love. Check it out.
Tips:
- Normalize mistakes as learning opportunities
- Avoid showing displeasure at mistakes to reduce fear and anxiety. Your first response to an unexpected answer matters.
- Demonstrate a learning focus and lead by example. Discuss your own mistakes and what you learned from them.
- Develop conflict resolution skills by providing them support and resources when things go wrong, not blaming others.
Telling powerful stories about failure inspires healthier risk-taking and increases psychological safety. Tune into our podcast episodes featuring Viknesh Andiappan as he explores the topic of Fear of Failure, and Amanda Cua as she shares her insights on Shattering Self-Limiting Beliefs.
Leadership Skills for Effective Managers in an Agile Organization
The three essential types of management skills, as stated by psychologist Robert Katz, are vital for any organization’s leaders and managers to succeed.
1. Technical Skills
Effective leaders of an agile organization often have a basic understanding of a broad range of technology to lead teams effectively.
2. Conceptual Skills
Effective leaders are effective thinkers. They think outside the box, analyze information critically, and enhance their findings creatively to make a greater impact.
3. Interpersonal/People Skills
One of the most important skills that a successful manager possesses is the ability to interact with people and influence others. Emotional intelligence, empathy, and cultural sensitivity broadly fall under interpersonal skills.
Over the years after partnering with leaders across five continents, I have found that people skills make the greatest difference to a leader’s effectiveness.
EQ is twice as important as IQ and technical skills.
– Daniel Goleman
Conclusion
An agile organization is only possible when enabled by agile leaders. Leaders need both leadership and team management skills to do their job well. While the same skills would continue to evolve as employees’ needs shift, there are many ways leaders can take proactive steps to increase their effectiveness.
Identify trustworthy leadership training or executive coaching programs and your team is geared towards professional development. Make agile leadership your top agenda today.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Take advantage of Chuen Chuen’s extensive experience coaching leaders worldwide. Her deep expertise in designing agile leadership corporate training will benefit your teams. No matter which stage of leadership you are at, we’ll partner with you and meet your business needs.
Explore our executive coaching programs, and corporate training courses. You can also hire Chuen Chuen as your speaker at events so that your organization will become agile, adaptive, and future-resilient.