Key leadership skills and their application

Management Overview

Three Most Important Managerial Competencies

The three most important managerial competencies are transformational leadership, the ability to create and sustain communication, and the ability to translate a compelling vision into pragmatic, practical steps to fulfillment. Of these, transformational leadership is by far the most important, as it encompasses individualized consideration, the ability to provide intellectual stimulation for subordinates, inspirational motivation and the ability to manage influence across the organization. Transformational leaders have the ability to combine these attributes and create unified, tightly integrated work groups and departments who are capable of accomplishing more than any single contributor or worker could. Great managers are able to take into account the needs of a specific situation or condition and selectively apply the best possible transformational leadership styles with emotional intelligence (EI).

Creating and sustaining communication is the accelerator that makes trust happen faster throughout any organization. Leaders need to take time and invest in their subordinates including creating and sustaining open, candid relationships with each of them. Communication is also the catalyst that drives much better leadership results and performance in remote, distributed teams. Many managers need to realize that the time spent improving their relationships with their teams is essential for their leadership to be effective.

The third competency is the ability to transform a compelling vision into pragmatic, practical steps to fulfillment. This takes a focus on how to factor in the strengths and weaknesses of each member of the team and plan work accordingly. The vision a leader has is critical to the long-term direction of any company, and their ability to translate the strategic view into tactical is essential for long-term success of their careers and the overall momentum of the company.

Part II: Analysis of Similarities and Differences Of Response

The three most important core competencies originally mentioned were consistent with many of the entries on the Discussion Boards. The similarities included how leaders can create a more meaningful connection of trust and transparency with employees, and how quickly communication can streamline managing complex projects. There were also similarities with how transformational leadership is key to creating a compelling vision for employees to trust and believe in. The focus on how to use communication was covered the most of the three managerial competencies. Also consistent with the foundational elements of transformational leadership, there were many mentions of how EI leads to greater leadership effectiveness over time. Managerial competencies that varied with the ones mentioned included many more mentions of rewards and punishments for performance, which are the key elements of transactional leadership. This focus on making subordinates get work done, with a strong focus on Theory X versus Theory Y performance incentives, dominated the Discussion Boards as well. There tends to be a belief more in how external rewards can drive internal performance vs. concentrating on how to get subordinates to internalize the need for change. This was the biggest difference in managerial competencies between those listed and those on the Discussion Board. The tendency to see management as an external set of factors instead of the ability to invoke internal change dominated the Discussion Boards overall, with internal change at times ignored.