The 5 Skills Managers Must Master

David Dodson has an MBA from Stanford. He worked for McKenzie and Company. But he discovered what every manager knows, “… credentials are not skills.”

You learn about skills in books. You develop skills in the trenches. Dodson’s new book, The Manager’s Handbook, is for people with dirt under their fingernails.

The top 5 skills managers must master:

1. Build the team.

A manager’s success depends on others. If you still think it’s all about you, you’re doomed to exhaustion. The higher you go the more you depend on others.

1. Hire for outcomes.
2. Provide instant feedback.
3. Use 360-degree feedback.
4. Coach people.

2. Set priorities.

“If you were to succeed at only one thing and ignore everything else, what would that be?” Dodson
A person without priorities is driven by urgent trivialities.

1. Set KPIs (Key performance indicators.)
2. Generate a list of opportunities. Now cross almost everything off the list.

3. Guard time.

“It’s not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is, “What are you busy about?” Thoreau
A great month is built on a series of great days.

Dodson writes, “The creativity and insights that transform an organization seldom happen in the slivers between answering emails and responding to routine requests. They require uninterrupted blocks of time, free from low value transactional work.”

Time tips:

1. Check messages less often.
2. Shorten meetings.
3. Use the Eisenhower Matrix to guard time.

4. Seek and take advice.

Surround yourself with advisors. Look for…

1. Experience.
2. Pattern recognition. You repeat past frustrations until you notice what keeps coming back.
3. Time to give advice that stings on occasion.

5. Obsess over quality.

“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” Walt Disney

Quality drives price.

Note: The manager’s top skills are connected to each other.

Which management skill is most relevant to you today? Why?

This post is based on my conversation with David Dodson and his new book, The Manager’s Handbook.

Purchase, The Manager’s Handbook. It’s practical and actionable.

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SUCCESSFUL TIME MANAGEMENT ISN’T ABOUT GETTING MORE DONE

You can find lost keys, but a wasted hour is gone forever.

You complain that you don’t have enough time. But if you can’t manage time, it doesn’t matter how much you have.

Time management isn’t:

#1. Time management isn’t about getting more done.

There’s always more to do and there’s never enough time when managing time is about cramming more into your day.

Constantly working to get more done is a never-ending treadmill of despair. The get-more-done treadmill eventually ends with apathy.

Time management is about doing what matters, not getting more done.

#2. Time management isn’t about time.

Time management is self-management.

Imagine you could add 8-hours to your frantic day. Instead of a 24-hour day, you had a 32-hours day, every day. It doesn’t matter how much time you have when you can’t manage yourself.

“… until we can manage our own personal time, we can’t manage anything else.” Peter Drucker

You can manage how you use time, but time can’t be managed.

If you’re consistently frantic during a 24-hour day, you’ll be consistently frantic during a 32-hour day.

The second hand never negotiates.

#3. Time management isn’t complicated:

Managing time is about two things.

1. Avoiding what matters less.
2. Doing what matters most.

There are only three ways to ‘get more’ time.

1. Accelerate. Increase your speed.
2. Delegate. Get someone else to do it.
3. Eliminate. Stop doing something.

7 time management tips:

1. Establish priorities that align with mission and vision, not urgencies.
2. Forget most urgencies. Schedule priorities.
3. Integrate rituals.
4. Leave work on time. Constantly working late is mismanagement.
5. Eliminate low-value activities. What could you stop doing?
6. Schedule micro-breaks throughout the day. Take 3 minutes to prepare for your next meeting, for example.
7. Build in buffers. Don’t schedule anything back-to-back.

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” Socrates

What time management strategy has most helped you?

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These posts were previously published on LEADERSHIPFREAK.BLOG and are republished with Creative Commons license.

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