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The way managers interact with their teams and external stakeholders—customers or clients—impacts how well they handle different situations. There is always some problem to diffuse—it may be a delay in reaching out to a client or a conflict among team members.
Managers must lead their teams to success with their best interests in mind. More than individual progress, managers need to concentrate individual efforts toward collective goals. Therefore, behavioral skills like communication, conflict management and creative thinking are indispensable workplace skills.
So, how can organizations help their management improve and enhance their behavioral skills? Let’s find out!
Behavioral Skills In The Workplace
The meaning of behavioral skills is the way individuals interact, manage and deal with their external environment—including people, place and situation. In a professional setting, managers and employees work together and demonstrate excellence to achieve their goals. Organizations have a critical role to play in encouraging healthy professional relationships. Pushing managers to refine their behavioral skills will help organizations stay afloat in a crisis situation.
Here’s an example:
John is a manager overseeing a four-member team at a software development firm. He’s part of the tech team, which is currently in the middle of a crisis. Several customer accounts were hacked, exposing sensitive personal information. John discovers a coding error that led to the mishap. He calls an emergency meeting and gets inputs from his team members on plausible solutions.
Considering the time-sensitive nature of the issue, John is able to stay calm under pressure. He doesn’t waste time scolding the employee who made a mistake. Instead, he opts for a solution-driven approach.
John’s behavioral skills like decision-making, empathy and conflict resolution help him solve the problem before long.
As managers, it’s important to first take stock of the situation before jumping to conclusions. Thus, organizations have the responsibility to provide a platform where managers can develop their behavioral skills. This will help them think objectively, resolve conflicts and manage teams to drive excellence in the workplace.
List Of Behavioral Skills
Behavioral skills for managers play a significant role in organizational development. In a volatile market, strong management can help organizations embrace setbacks and overcome challenges.
Here’s a list of behavioral skills for managers:
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Taking Responsibility For Team Performance
A manager doesn’t work in isolation, meaning they’re always collaborating with or guiding their teams. If they’re monitoring the team’s progress at every stage, they’re also responsible for its performance.
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Giving Constructive Feedback
Establishing a feedback channel will help build teamwork. Employees will learn to trust their managers, approach them with problems and work together to find solutions. Managers must work on establishing trust to build rapport.
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Dealing With Conflict
Conflict resolution is one of the most important behavioral skills in the workplace. Whether it’s conflict with a teammate, a senior or the administration, managers must deal with conflicts as they arise. Avoiding or delaying a resolution can result in hostility and a breakdown of processes.
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Analyzing Problems From Different Perspectives
Objective thinking is a manager’s strength. Avoiding biases or personal prejudice will help managers analyze problems from multiple perspectives. This way, they can arrive at a well-thought-out strategy for growth and development.
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Coaching And Mentoring Others
Managers have to coach and mentor their team members to be their best selves. It’s important to be familiar with each employee’s strengths and weaknesses. This will help them make better decisions, assign tasks based on skill level and achieve optimal results.
Learning and development is a comprehensive organizational strategy to build managers’ behavioral skills. Organizations can encourage on-the-job and off-the-job training, one-on-one sessions and simulations for their managers. Helping them build awareness and taking the initiative to be better will help decision-makers across levels accomplish their goals. Organizations can build an empowered workforce by helping their employees transition into managerial roles.
Harappa’s First Time Manager program will teach your employees and new managers how to achieve groundbreaking results in the workplace. With this program, managers can learn to leverage strengths, inspire teams and create an environment of learning. The program highlights examples of behavioral skills for first-time managers. Frameworks like the Harappa GRIN (Goals-Roles-Interdependence-Norms) framework and the Leadership Equation will teach them how to approach their new role and responsibilities. With mentoring and coaching, you, as a decision-maker, can help your managers evolve into effective leaders.
Explore Harappa Diaries to learn more about topics such as Must-Have Skills For Leadership, Skills to Develop as a Manager, What Is Business Acumen & Top Characteristics of a Project Manager, which will help organizations tap into their employee’s potential.
