The key to keeping a business up and running is effective management. Management is the capability of taking charge and leading others, organizing and coordinating daily activities, as well as striving towards achieving certain set objectives. Persons in charge of others have the responsibility of making the final decisions as well as resolve conflicts. Everyone can take the role of being a leader, but not everybody possesses virtues such as persistence, devotion, and visionary all associated with great leadership. In this regard, success in the business environment requires a great manager to be knowledgeable with the three pillars of management, that is, strategic positioning, organizational design, and individual leadership. With these three pillars, it is almost certain that an enterprise’s growth and development can be achieved. As such, this paper elucidates the current managerial skills expected of a manager with emphasis on the three pillars of management.
Strategic positioning
It is essential for managers to be aware of the environmental setting in which the enterprise competes. To be precise, great managers are always able to anticipate ambiguous threats as well as opportunities in the periphery of their enterprise. As a strategic leader, one should constantly stay observant, sharpening their capability to foresee by examining the current business setting for any transformation signals. The managers should be able to detect feeble indicators from within and out of the enterprise and work towards developing a broader network while taking the perspective of the customer, competitor, as well as a partner (Schoemaker, Howland, & Krupp, 2015). Moreover, the manager should be capable of employing situation scheduling to visualize the numerous eventualities as well as get ready for the unpredicted futures. Also, managers should be extra vigilant to the novel external opportunities and diversify the merchandise portfolio to reduce susceptibility to boom-and-bust cycles (Schoemaker, Howland, & Krupp, 2015) .
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Also, managers must be able to question the status quo, that is, managers should be able to challenge their own as well as other people’s hypotheses and support different viewpoints (Schoemaker, Howland, & Krupp, 2015) . That way, they are able to examine an issue from different standpoints. The thorough reflection and examination of an issue by many lenses enable managers to take more decisive actions regarding competitiveness and impact of globalization (Ingram, 2017). Such a process requires one to be patient, confident, as well as open-minded. The manager should be able to focus on the root causes of problems in the organization rather than the symptoms. Additionally, the manager must be able to accommodate a third party opinion through conducting “safe zone” debates for members to air their views regarding the organization without any implications (Schoemaker, Howland, & Krupp, 2015) . Finally, the manager should be able to capture the third parties’ inputs because their opinion gives a good perspective on the consequences of the decision since they are not affected by the decision directly.
Moreover, leaders who question the status quo correctly always draw out complex as well as conflicting information, and as such, the best ones are those who are capable of interpreting it (Schoemaker, Howland, & Krupp, 2015) . The leaders should be capable of synthesizing the input they have rather than seeing and hearing what they expect. The managers should be capable of recognizing patterns, sieve through the ambiguity, and look for novel inferences. The new perspectives can be obtained from diverse stakeholders.
Moreover, sometimes leaders are forced to make a decision hastily with incomplete information. But rather than to gamble with a single option, leaders should be able to emphasis several choices at the onset and recoil from getting impulsively sheltered hooked on one-dimensional options (Schoemaker, Howland, & Krupp, 2015) . The managers should not start from the middle but rather, they should pursue a precise procedure which includes trade-offs, balance severity with pace, as well as considers short-term and long-term goals. This way, the organization has a competitive advantage.
Organizational design
Understanding the strategy to follow is the initial part of management. For effective management, development and alignment of the organization to accomplish the set strategic objectives is the next phase. Leaders should be adept to align stakeholders with divergent views and agendas. They should be capable of making sure that different parties find common ground to optimize the utilization of the organization’s resources. This can be achieved through active outreach ( Bauer, Short, Erdogan, & Carpenter, 2017) . The leader should be capable of proactively communicating, trust-building, and frequently engaging the stakeholders. In this regard, the leader should communicate early and frequently to combat any complaints and blames ( Bauer, Short, Erdogan, & Carpenter, 2017) .
Furthermore, the leader should be able to identify major internal as well as external stakeholders, map their places in the initiative and pinpoint any misalignment of interests, that is, seek any hidden agendas and coalitions and root them out. Moreover, the leader should be able to sit with those resisting an initiative and hear out their concerns as well as address them ( Bauer, Short, Erdogan, & Carpenter, 2017) . In the end, this enables the firm utilizes its resources efficiently to realize maximum outcome.
Furthermore, managers should be able to determine the scale to which an organization’s performance can be measured. For instance, the manager should be able to uphold a tradition of querying. The managers should be able to examine their own as well as their team’s failures openly and constructively to discover the hidden lessons. Besides, a manager can achieve self-assessment as well as group-assessment by instituting after-action reviews and broadly communicate the resulting insights to stakeholders.
Individual leadership
It is the role of the manager to bring together teams to accomplish a common objective. The manager may be required to use power and influence to overcome potential opposition. The manager should be capable of influencing the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of individuals, groups or teams. Additionally, the manager should be able to monitor outcomes, compare them with benchmarks, and revise the strategic goals as required (Ingram, 2017). Moreover, managers should be able to utilize gathered information to spot gaps as well as opportunities in the marketplace that assist in expanding advantages.
Moreover, persons with great managerial skills should be able to set a positive example for other team members to emulate (“ 20 Strategies Startups Can Use To Improve Teamwork, ”2017) . They should be able to build trust and respect with other workers/teammates. Also, managers should cultivate open communication where each team member has an avenue to raise his/her concerns (“ 20 Strategies Startups Can Use To Improve Teamwork, ”2017) . Finally, the manager should clearly outline the responsibilities and roles of each member. In the end, these qualities assist in the process of establishing a positive working environment and relationships.
Overall, understanding as well as possessing the three pillars of management plays a vital role in assisting managers to achieve the organization’s objectives. In particular, managers should have the capacity to foreseeing threats and opportunities, confront the status quo, deduce multifaceted and conflicting information, as well as the capability of aligning the stakeholders towards a singular agenda. Additionally, managers should be able to develop and align stakeholders towards achieving the organization’s goals. Moreover, they should be able to exercise their power and influence to overcome potential resistance and create an effective team. In the end, possessing these vital qualities assist the managers to be more successful in today’s challenging environment.
References
Bauer, T., Short, J., Erdogan, B., & Carpenter, M. (2017). Principles of management 3.0 . Boston, MA: Flat World Knowledge.
20 Strategies Startups Can Use To Improve Teamwork. (2017, May 02). Retrieved January 17, 2019, from https://foundersgrid.com/teamwork/
Ingram, D. (2017). Strategic Management Concepts, Competitiveness & Globalization. Retrieved January 17, 2019, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/strategic-management-concepts-competitiveness-globalization-65146.html
Schoemaker, P., Howland, S., & Krupp, S. (2015, March 25). Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills. Retrieved January 17, 2019, from https://hbr.org/2013/01/strategic-leadership-the-esssential-skills
