If you hope to move into leadership at some point in your career, you’ll need more than the skills related to your profession. In short, the best software engineer isn’t always the best technical manager. Possessing a broad range of abilities, including many soft skills, helps define those with leadership potential.
Let’s take a closer look at a few of the soft skills necessary to be an excellent manager. This lets you work on those areas to better position yourself to become a leader somewhere down the road.
Being a Good Listener
Employees are a valuable source of innovative ideas and insights. They also provide a window into the mood of the office, especially when employee morale needs to be better. Because of this, the best managers are also great listeners. They maintain an open communication policy should anyone need to offer opinions on coworkers or simply to brainstorm about improving operations.
An Inspiring Verbal Communicator
In addition to great listening skills, great leaders are also exemplary communicators. Whether speaking to everyone in a company-wide meeting, or on a one-on-one basis, the ability to present ideas clearly and confidently is a must. Any open communication policy becomes less effective if a manager can’t express themselves well.
Strong written skills also matter. A leader who regularly publishes insightful blog posts or magazine articles on their organization helps foster a culture attractive to the best candidates.
Practicing Empathy Regularly
Leaders need to possess an empathic nature. This especially applies when helping guide their direct reports to build successful careers. Understanding their professional needs and helping them reach their goals benefits everyone over time – the manager, the employee, and the company.
Additionally, empathy ensures managers can tell when an employee is stressed out or feels overworked. This information is valuable when crafting project schedules to make sure burnout is kept to a minimum.
Always Be Honest
The old saying – honesty is the best policy – definitely applies to managers. In addition to the open communication policy mentioned earlier, great leaders are always upfront with their employees. This helps build a measure of trust, which is a necessity during crunch time on a difficult project when everyone needs to work extra hard. Conversely, any dishonesty only serves to tank employee morale, likely at an inopportune time.
When you need help taking your career to another level, speak with the expert recruiters at Peyton Resource Group. As one of the top staffing agencies in Texas, we also know the companies looking for talented candidates. Connect with us as soon as possible!