Evgeny Smirnov

# Business nuances

Leadership competencies

Experience is the basis of managerial competencies. Experience implies not only the availability of theoretical knowledge, but also the ability to apply them in professional field.

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  • Types of professional competencies
  • Managerial competencies of managers
  • Basic and special managerial competencies
  • Competence improvement methods
  • Professional competencies in various fields
  • Professional competencies of a lawyer
  • Professional competencies of an engineer
  • Chef's professional competencies
  • Output

Managerial competencies are a set of knowledge, skills and personal characteristics that allow a manager to effectively cope with the duties of a leader. From how much high level a particular manager demonstrates job competencies, it depends on how competently he will solve operational and strategic tasks in order to achieve the intended goals.

Experience is the basis of managerial competencies. Experience implies not only the availability of theoretical knowledge, but also the ability to apply them in the professional field. First of all, these are the skills acquired by a specialist in different positions in different companies and tested in practice. In other words, managerial competencies are a key indicator of the manager's professionalism in terms of effective management.

Types of professional competencies

Regardless of whether a person occupies a managerial or executive position, there are two key groups competencies:

  • Basic competencies- a set of personal qualities that determine the effectiveness of a particular specialist as a whole. This group includes volitional, intellectual, emotional and communicative characteristics of a person.
  • Special competencies- this is a range of knowledge, skills and abilities that are directly related to the professional activities of a particular specialist. For different positions, these competencies differ. For example, the special competence of an expert interpreter is the skill of simultaneous translation, and the special competences of a secretary include competent compilation and management of the manager's work schedule.

All competencies of an employee, reflecting the possibilities of his personal growth, are conditionally divided into two groups:

  • technical competencies of a specialist - professional knowledge, skills and abilities that are necessary for an employee holding a specific position;
  • behavioral competencies are the universal competencies of an employee, including personal characteristics that characterize the effectiveness of a person as a whole.

In another way, this classification can be represented as personal and functional characteristics of a manager. The personal competencies of a leader are in many respects the initial inclinations of a specialist. The task of a manager who wants to raise his professional bar is to develop his strengths and lift the weak. While easily mastered functional competencies come during training and in the process of work, personal leadership competencies of management require the application of strong-willed efforts in order to develop their natural inclinations and eliminate shortcomings as much as possible.

Managerial competencies of managers

A professional manager is a specialist who must possess and apply basic managerial competencies in his work. While, for example, professional competencies an electronics salesperson does not require serious organizational skills; for a manager, the ability to manage business processes and subordinates is the foundation of the basics. A managerial position has its own specifics, which are reflected in competencies. This specificity is presented below in the form of abstracts:

  • The work of a manager, unlike other types of intellectual labor activity, has no specific time frame. Therefore, the level and indicators of achievement of intermediate results are the main guidelines in the assessment of the manager.
  • The strategies and operational actions of the manager are continuously adjusted under the influence of external market conditions. The ability to act in non-standard situations is far from the last place in the list of managerial competencies.
  • The manager is responsible for the actions of his subordinates, takes into account risks and seizes opportunities. The professional competencies of a leader require the ability to assemble a strong team and organize an effective workflow.
  • The corporate culture of the management and the style of management practiced by them forms the business reputation of the company. The manager of any link is the bearer of corporate values ​​that directly affect special competencies.

All these factors determine the range of competencies that a manager should possess. Control over the extent to which a specialist possesses certain professional skills is carried out by the immediate supervisor and specialists of the HR department, who enter the employee’s parameters into special tables and track progress. This format allows you to quickly identify weak sides manager and develop a program to eliminate them.

Basic and special managerial competencies

The core competencies of a manager include:

  1. Systemic strategic thinking. A leader who does not think ahead and does not track global trends is not able to be effective in the long term.
  2. Mastering the basics of marketing. Understanding the market and the company's place in the market, the ability to analyze information and synthesize effective marketing solutions with a limited budget - a brief description of marketing competencies.
  3. Financial management skills. The manager must be able to correctly distribute the limited resources of the company and use effective investment mechanisms to increase income.
  4. Knowledge of production, commercial and logistics processes.
  5. Development skills for new products and services.
  6. Knowledge of business and administration.
  7. Understanding and applying profile legislative framework governing a specific business area.
  8. Developed communication and personnel management skills.
  9. Understanding and applying the basics of information, commercial and economic security.

As for special managerial competencies, they depend on the specific industry and the specifics of the position held. For example, the competencies of a chief accountant who actually occupies a managerial position differ significantly from the competencies of a commercial director or PR manager.

Managerial competencies can be considered not only in the context of basic and special skills. An alternative classification is the distribution of managerial competencies according to the nature of the leader's actions. This includes:

  • Vision is the ability to predict and think at a tactical and strategic level, considering risks and seizing emerging opportunities.
  • Action is the ability to purposefully and effectively organize your actions and the actions of your team to achieve a specific result.
  • Interaction is the ability to form effective and comfortable relationships with partners, senior management, subordinates and other people.

Competence improvement methods

A successful manager systematically improves basic and special competencies. Professional development is carried out in several ways, which are conditionally divided into:

  1. Traditional teaching methods;
  2. Active learning methods;
  3. Workplace training.

Traditional teaching methods are used when a specialist needs to transfer the amount of knowledge and help to assimilate them in a short time. Traditional teaching methods include:

  • lectures - one-way feed educational material predominantly in the form of a theory with minimal feedback;
  • seminars - a training format in which there is an active communication between the teacher and the audience;
  • educational films are a convenient format that provides the possibility of remote development of new competencies.

Active learning methods, in comparison with traditional methods, are more efficient and have an individual approach that allows you to increase the level of competencies in a short time. This category includes:

  • trainings - concise theoretical training with maximum practical development of skills;
  • computer training is a software way of presenting and practicing the acquired knowledge and skills;
  • group discussions - oral exchange of experience in the context of solving a specific problem;
  • business games - modeling and working out situations that arise in professional practice;
  • role-playing games - teaching interpersonal communications by modeling learning situations.

Workplace learning methods are a full-fledged practice with the acquisition of real skills and the exchange of experience. These methods include:

  • temporary internships in other departments of the company to strengthen horizontal corporate ties;
  • drafting individual program training based on the results of third-party observation of the workflow of the tested specialist;
  • equal coaching with elements of informal mentoring for the exchange of experience between specialists in different areas;
  • vertical direct mentoring under the control of senior management;
  • coaching with independent search for solutions with the help of a trainer;
  • familiarization with the corporate culture and value competencies of the manager.

There are many ways to improve competencies. For effective learning it is important that the development of new knowledge and skills occurs slightly ahead of current trends, focuses on the comprehensive development of the company and effective interpersonal communications.

Professional competencies in various fields

The necessary personal and intellectual competencies of a professional in each field are different. For clarity, let's compare the knowledge, skills and abilities required to work as a qualified lawyer, engineer and chef.

Professional competencies of a lawyer

The main indicators of a qualified lawyer are such professional competencies as:

  • knowledge of basic laws, their competent interpretation and application in practice;
  • the ability to qualify events and facts from the point of view of law;
  • drafting skills legal documents, providing advice and drawing up legal opinions;
  • ability to make legal decisions and act within the law;
  • skills to establish the facts of offenses and take measures to restore violated rights;
  • systematic professional development;
  • in-depth study of legislation and practice of its application.

Professional competencies of an engineer

An engineer must possess a wide range of technical knowledge and a number of personal qualities. His professional competencies include:

  • understanding of technology and principles of organization of production;
  • possession of analytical skills, the use of mathematical and economic calculations;
  • maintaining business and engineering documentation;
  • selection of qualified contractors and effective interaction with them;
  • knowledge of regulatory documentation and GOST;
  • advanced computer skills and special software;
  • responsibility and ability to make quick decisions in difficult situations;
  • High communication skills with subordinates and superiors.

Chef's professional competencies

The chef, as a person who is responsible for the operation of the establishment, must possess a large list of professional competencies, which are summarized below:

  • understanding the basics of merchandising and cooking techniques of national cuisines;
  • the ability to competently zone a restaurant in accordance with sanitary standards and principles of ergonomics;
  • managing finances, developing budgets and evaluating the effectiveness of the kitchen and the institution as a whole;
  • possession of personnel selection methods, the formation of an effective staff and the establishment of communications with subordinates;
  • knowledge of the legal side of the restaurant business, understanding the rules and regulations for maintaining internal documentation.

A feature of corporate competencies is that they are universal for all employees of the company - from an ordinary specialist to a top manager. Corporate competencies are determined by the values ​​of the company and its internal corporate culture. Therefore, this category includes skills and personal qualities that every employee of the company should have.

The development of corporate models and competencies lies with the management. Each company names the special competencies used to evaluate employees in its own way. Examples of corporate competencies look like this:

  • leadership;
  • teamwork skills;
  • loyalty to the company;
  • customer orientation;
  • result orientation.

Corporate competencies are chosen by the company's management in accordance with the specifics of the activity and, as a rule, are reduced to certain models of thinking, behavior and ethics of employees. If a company focuses on a high level of service, value competencies will be formed around a customer-oriented approach. If a corporation appreciates the cohesion of the team and the disclosure of individual creative potential, then communication and organizational skills will dominate in corporate competencies.

The chief of the chief of strife (folk wisdom)

The topic is no longer new, but still relevant: the success of an organization depends on the competence of its leaders. Not only during a crisis it is very important to rely on the ability of managers to focus on efficiency in achieving goals, in a period of state complications, the need for the skill of managing the emotional state of the team (emotional intelligence) is added to the skill of efficiency. These skills are important at any time, but now it is especially difficult to achieve any results without them.

And at the same time, a large percentage of managers are not always able to clearly formulate the goal, let alone evaluate the effectiveness of the process of achieving it. I'm not talking about having emotional intelligence. Unfortunately, until recently, Ukrainian companies have paid little attention to the development of managerial skills of managers. Maybe it's time to grow.

If you feel the same way, let's discuss the ideal image of the Leader that any company would like to have. Of course, there are features of managers in different industries (the head of production will differ from the head of the sales or service department), the requirements for the top-level head and the middle manager will be different. Therefore, I propose to discuss now only general trends using the example of a middle manager. Depending on the position level or industry requirements, this competency model can be supplemented or simplified.

First of all, the leader must be a professional in his field and possess professional knowledge. . It is for his professionalism that his subordinates will respect him. Therefore, it is often the professionals in their field that are promoted to leaders. Like, “he does well himself, he will be able to organize others well.” Unfortunately, this rule does not always work. Because professional and managerial skills are on different planes. And sometimes the ability to organize a process well is more important than the ability to perform individual sub-processes well.

A weak leader is a potential threat to the company: not only can he not improve the efficiency of the unit, it is often difficult for him to maintain the level of productivity that was before him. Sometimes a newly appointed leader begins to use sharply authoritarian methods - issuing commands and instructions, which greatly demotivates subordinates. Sometimes, on the contrary, the leader is afraid to complicate relations with subordinates and follows their lead. I often meet managers who are so afraid of losing the personnel transferred to them that as a result they fall under “management” through the manipulation of lower-ranking employees. It is clear that when a company needs to make changes, or revise processes, or reduce the number of operations (which can lead to a reduction in people), such leaders actively discourage the changes being made. Weak leaders are afraid to make decisions and take responsibility, and consequently delay or sabotage necessary changes, which can lead to financial losses the entire company. And finally, weak leaders are afraid of appearing weak - often they are not ready to learn from colleagues, they rather compete and strive to show that colleagues are wrong. This leads to an unhealthy competitive environment within the company and exacerbates the losses described above.

How to improve the team and strengthen their leaders? First, we need to clearly understand what kind of managers we want to see in our company, and for this we can use the manager competency model.

So, in addition to mastering your profession, a good middle manager must know :

- Fundamentals of financial literacy, economics. He must understand what turnover, profit, payroll, ROI, EBITDA, etc…

- tools for analyzing the "present situation" and planning the "desired"

The leader must apply the following skills :

planning skill (the depth of planning depends on the business, the structure of the company and the position of the head in the structure) and budgeting upcoming periods;

process organization skills achieving the set goals. This skill includes the following skills:

- setting goals

- control and feedback to the employee

- adjusting plans

- making decisions

the ability to achieve the expected result with optimal resource usage. This skill also includes time management and self-management skills.

people management skills:

— formation of a workable unit (making effective personnel decisions, selection, development, communication management)

— motivating and inspiring subordinates, choosing the right management style

- communication skills

— for external communications: negotiations, meetings, presentations

– and for internal: holding meetings, building interpersonal relationships, interacting with other company structures

And finally good leader has the following personal qualities :

- he is responsible - accepting a task, he takes responsibility for its implementation, for finding all the resources for its implementation, he clearly indicates the deadlines for completing the task, focusing on real opportunities;

- He is proactive and results oriented (not per process). This means that he is looking for ways to achieve the set goals, offers new solutions and ways to implement them, at the moment when he encounters complications, he changes tactics, but does not change the goal;

- he is flexible and thinks positively , which means that in any situation he is ready to see opportunities for his development and the development of his unit. Such a person is ready for changes and constant self-improvement, learning;

- he is a team player – he knows the goals of his colleagues, he prioritizes team goals higher than his personal ones, he is ready to establish working connections between departments, appreciates and provides mutual assistance;

- highly developed emotional intelligence - he understands the feelings of colleagues, manages his emotions, choosing constructive ones for a given situation, knows how to give and receive feedback and influences the emotional state of colleagues.

Of course, these are not all the necessary skills for a leader. Each organization may have its own additional requirements for leaders. Also outside the scope of the review were such qualities as honesty, decency, etc.

And, looking at this list of skills and personal qualities, the question naturally arises: “where can I get such a person?”. In the following articles, we will consider the principles of selecting managers and ways to develop them within the company.

Expert comments:

Marina well revealed the key competencies of the leader.

I would like to add some details to the "professionalism" competency.

I like to call this competency in a slightly different way - "Excitement at work." I believe that a leader should love his job more than life. For him, the desire to be realized in a career should be the first priority in life. Why is that? The manager should have more energy than all his employees. It is he who should be their "wind in the sails."

This does not have to be expressed in the fact that the manager spends more than 12 hours at work. But such a leader will really think about work 24 hours and 7 days a week.

Mikhail Prytula,

And about. HR- director of STB

This article perfectly reflects the general portrait of a middle manager.

I agree with the author that a manager is, first of all, a leader who can think strategically and lead a team. And secondly, a good professional in his field. Not every highly qualified specialist will be able to correctly set a task, motivate colleagues and achieve positive results through this. To do this, he must have personal qualities that allow him to do this successfully. Is it possible to develop the qualities of a leader? This is another question.

Marina also emphasizes the importance of Emotional Intelligence for a leader. And in this point of view I am ready to support the author. After all, a manager, being a decision maker, regularly encounters situations that require control of the emotional state of his own and his subordinates.

It is worth adding that the instability of the current economic situation countries requires today's manager to develop crisis management skills. He must have not just good analytical thinking, but the ability to make decisions quickly in a difficult environment, the ability to “listen and hear” interlocutors in conflict situations and are not afraid to make unpopular tough decisions.

Julia Kirillova

senior consultant

ANCOR Staff Ukraine

The question of the presence of deep professional knowledge in their specialty for a manager is rhetorical and does not have the only correct solution. Perhaps it all depends on the field of activity. For example, in a managerial position in a technical or IT field, it is difficult to imagine a person who does not have deep subject knowledge. Indeed, on the one hand, he needs to be able to evaluate the performance of his subordinates, and this is impossible without professional knowledge, on the other hand, to gain their authority, and on the third hand, to act as an intermediary between his department and others, who, as a rule, are nothing do not understand the specifics of the work of technical specialists. Such a leader sometimes has to act as an advocate for his subordinates and explain to other departments the full significance of the work of his unit. At the same time, there are functional areas in which the manager's communication and managerial skills play a much greater role. In our practice, there was an example of a very successful head of the legal department, who had somewhat less knowledge of the law than his subordinates. But at the same time, this manager was able to organize their work very competently, take into account the interests of all stakeholders and make sure that internal client was satisfied, and this can be very difficult to do on the scale of a large company, where the interests of various groups and departments may conflict with each other. This is an example of a brilliant communicator and negotiator.

In addition, it is very important that the manager is well versed in the company's business and understands how the work of his department affects the picture as a whole. The leader must be flexible and very sensitive to any changes in the external environment. He must be ready to make non-standard and sometimes unpopular decisions in a highly competitive and rapidly changing environment.

There are several types of leaders (Adizes wrote about this and not only). Some have a very strong process-management component. This type of leader is necessary for a company in a period of stable, calm growth, when it is necessary to ensure the consistency and regularity of all processes. In others, the innovative component is very pronounced. You can't do without such people when a company needs to reach new horizons or get out of a crisis. Based on the goals of the company, the competence of the head will be somewhat different. The scope of his leadership also leaves its mark on the requirements for the leader. For example, a sales director or financial director will have in their profile both general managerial competencies and those that will be dictated by the specifics of the profession.

Maria Mikhailyuk

Senior consultant

Recruiting agency PERSONNEL Executive

Skill #1: Come up with a sales formula

The saddest situation in the sales department is when sellers try to sell everything to everyone, haphazardly selecting customer contacts from the database and trying to tell each of them something about the company's products. As a rule, there are no targeted (sharpened for specific segments and customer needs) materials, and e-mail the seller sends a certain universal selection of information, 99% of which is of no interest to anyone. The work will turn out to be chaotic, the seller, due to the need to “puzzle” over each call and letter, has a slow pace of work.

Each salesperson should have a working sales formula in their hands - relevant to customers, taking into account competitors, requiring simple actions from the seller. Such a formula can (and often should) change, for example, once a month, but while working with it, the seller’s work looks like a clear conveyor, which, due to the uniformity of operations, allows you to hone the actions of the seller and increase his results. It is important to save the seller from two necessities: 1) painfully tense before each call and think about what to say, 2) painfully tense after the call and spend time creating a selection of materials for the client.

Therefore, the first thing a sales manager needs to be able to do is to constantly invent (or innovate) the way the sales people sell - the so-called "sales formula".

For example, for active sales over the phone, the sales formula is:

    who to call (which segment to focus on, which people in the client’s organization to communicate with),

    what to say (what questions to ask, what competitive advantages to focus on or what special offer to voice, how to work with objections).

    on what conditions to sell (what price, for what discounts are given and in what amount, what delivery conditions, delays, and so on).

And this formula in practice can sound like this:

“This month we are calling chemical plants, offering our chemical safety control system. We communicate with the chief engineers, if it doesn't work out, we send letters to the general directors. We refer to the experience with the Chelyabinsk Oil Products Plant, the Novosibirsk Plastics Plant. We offer a free trial installation for a month in one workshop. Here is a short booklet for chem. factories, and here is the letter template.”

For the regular invention (updating) of the sales formula to the manager, in addition to a good knowledge of the company's customers, special thinking skills are also needed - a creative approach that will allow you to create new solutions that are superior in relevance and efficiency to competitors' solutions.


Skill #2: Building a Strong Team

Trite, but true: one in the field is not a warrior. We need a team of people who can implement the sales formula with high quality and achieve excellent results. The sales department should be somewhat like a boiling cauldron - a perpetual movement in an attempt to achieve more. And building a team is an ongoing process consisting of:

    Constant selection of new people to the team,

    Permanent filtering of the existing team.

Even there is no current vacancy right now, the selection process must be continuous - firstly, we will always find a job for the best candidates, and secondly, it is important to be fully prepared in case one of the sellers is fired. To put it bluntly, having a good candidate will allow us to confidently fire a bad salesperson.

So, about dismissal and filtering. What you need to be absolutely ready for when managing a sales department: that not all salespeople will be successful. And whenever one of the sellers doesn't fulfill the sales plan, we lose money. Seriously, we're losing money. And the longer this goes on, the greater our losses. For example, one salesperson is 100,000 behind in sales per month, then for the quarter it will be 400,000, and for the year 1,200,000. One million two hundred thousand! Time works against us, and time turns on our "counter". Therefore, unfortunately, we cannot afford such a luxury as a “second chance” for the seller, unless, of course, the issue concerns such objective factors as the lack of goods in stock, a decrease in consumer demand.

Part with unproductive ballast quickly and decisively. Especially if you already have a good replacement candidate.

And in order to find people who will really be productive for many years during the selection, during the interview you need to make sure that the candidate has two of the most important factors:

    Long-term motivation for achievement. Ask the candidate what is important to him in work, what opportunities he is looking for in work, how they see themselves in 5-10 years. Persistent, diligent, energetic in work are those people who have a vivid image of the desired future, large (but realistic) appetites, for which they are ready to make serious efforts. Look for people who want a lot and are able to move mountains to get it.

    Successful experience of persuading people similar to your customers. It is not so important whether the candidate has experience in a similar field, it does not even matter whether he has sales experience at all. It is important that the candidate knows how to convince your clients, and everything else can be “pulled up”. How to understand it? Use the STAR behavioral interview methodology:

Situation- ask the candidate to recall cases when he convinced (sold something) of a client of your profile, for example, a middle-aged man, the owner of a small business.

task- specify what task he faced - that is, what exactly did he want to convince this person of?

action- ask to tell how he built his speech, what arguments he gave, what objections he faced, how did he answer them?

result- ask how the situation ended - it is important for us to understand how it was successful experience and the candidate realized that the task was completed/failed.

These questions can explore any aspect of interest to you. practical experience candidate: work with different types of clients, the implementation of different tasks (sales, work with a claim, receiving receivables) - those that are most important for working in your sales department.

It is important to resist the temptation to hire smart, charming boys and girls without experience and motivation who need a warm, calm place to work. There are not very many people you need in the labor market, but the find will pay for itself a hundredfold. Train the skill of interviewing people, learn to reveal their motivation and abilities.


Skill #3: Motivation

If it was possible to select people with strong long-term motivation to achieve, then in the future the first task for the manager in working with motivation is to create a good motivating environment, and not spoil anything, not lead to demotivation.

And the following factors can lead to demotivation:

    Lack of clarity of priorities, goals and objectives, as well as their frequent change to the opposite. People need clear reference points in their work in order to see opportunities to achieve their goals.

    An opaque bonus system, or non-compliance with the announced bonus rules. This situation leads sellers to a logical conclusion: “it is useless to try to make money, they will still pay a penny.”

    Unbearably difficult tasks in the absence of support from the leader - and people give up.

    The leader openly shows that he does not believe in his subordinates and is convinced of their narrow-mindedness, mediocrity, and failure - only a few are ready to work “contrary” to this atmosphere and try to prove something, while for the rest this attitude completely discourages enthusiasm.

    Lack of feedback with the analysis of mistakes and successes - in such a situation, people very quickly stop in professional growth, and the desire to do the job as best as possible is lost.

    The conniving attitude to work on the part of others is very contagious.

    Violation of basic working conditions - payment delays wages, uncomfortable workplace, frequent processing - cause reluctance to emotionally invest in work.

It is important for the head of the sales department to learn how to lead, avoiding the creation of such factors. And if there are such factors in the team - quickly notice and eliminate.

In addition, a high level of energy and enthusiasm is very important for the sales department. And the manager needs to be a kind of “battery” to charge his subordinates:

    Demonstrate energy and enthusiasm by personal example.

    In the process of management, encourage subordinates, tell them about your belief in their ability to achieve results.

    Inspire them to achieve their goals by exposing them as attractive visions of the future filled with meaning. For example, not just “we need to sell 200 units to chemical plants”, but “our goal is that almost every Russian chemical plant should have our modern, brilliant chemical safety control system - then we will be calm about our environment, and let our competitors bring their own systems back to Germany.”

    To tease their financial and career appetites is to show what gigantic opportunities each of them has in this job.

Habit #4: Setting Stressful But Realistic Goals

Oddly enough, one way to awaken energy in a subordinate is to give him a difficult task. Ambitious people are motivated by such tasks, they feel it as a challenge and work with maximum efficiency.

The task should be as clear and defined as possible, and maintain a balance of tension / realism. If the balance is broken, there will be no motivational effect: if the task seems unrealistic to the subordinate, then there is no point in straining - “it won’t work anyway”, and if the task is ordinary, then it is no longer a challenge, and again, there is no point in straining. Therefore, tasks that need to be “done yesterday” are demotivated and tasks in the spirit of “negotiating with such and such a client” are left indifferent.

When setting a task, it is important to set the bar high, but at the same time, together with the subordinate, outline realistic ways to achieve it, for example:

“There is interest in our products from Volgostroy - they are very large and complex. Your task is to agree on the delivery of 30 sets of our control systems in the next six months. I think if you tell them about our experience at Severchem and bring a demo, then there is every chance, especially with your talents.”


Habit #5: Prioritize

A motivated talented team with ambitious goals is already a lot. Now is the moment for the manifestation of the organizational talent of the head of the sales department, in order to qualitatively accompany the work of subordinates, in time to control, spur, sort out mistakes, connect where it is important.

All this requires time management skills, the most important of which is the skill of prioritization. Subordinates negotiate with clients, write commercial offers, agree on specifications, sign contracts and receive payments, plus there may also be own work with clients, plus hiring and firing issues, and so on - there are a lot of processes, difficulties can arise in different places how to prioritize? A good navigator in making decisions about the priorities of the leader is the Eisenhower matrix:





Of course, the first thing the manager undertakes is important-urgent matters, I square: urgently put out a commercial offer to a large client, urgently go to very important negotiations, urgently solve the problem that has arisen conflict situation with a key client… Too much depends on these cases, and time is running out, and you need to do everything right the first time, and often at any cost. In such matters, expendable resources and the quality of work fade into the background, and management becomes inefficient. If there are many such cases, then the level of stress of the leader (and the subordinates involved in these tasks) increases greatly. Therefore, it is necessary to look for all available opportunities for the prevention of such cases, debugging the system, and reducing future risks. However, there is always time for all this.

What happens to a leader's time? After solving the questions of the first square, the manager has time left and a dilemma arises:

    engage in the prevention of such cases in the future, improve the system of work, educate people to better cope with risky situations and avoid “fires” (and this is all II quadrant), or

    to do those things that themselves “knock” at the door - requests from subordinates, filling out documents, answering letters and calls - as a rule, such cases require much less intellectual effort and belong to quadrant III.

One of the most important skills of a leader is not just to respond to the flow of incoming events, but to independently set priorities, by an effort of will, switching to more important things in the first place, and only then - to more urgent, minor and “knocking at the door”. Then it will be possible to reduce the number of jobs in the first quadrant, and achieve great results in the future.


Habit #6: Understanding Mistakes

Trying to achieve high sales results, the manager sometimes: does the work for the subordinate: corrects commercial offers, calls his clients, goes to negotiate the price. This approach creates affairs in the III-IV square of Eisenhower's mother, makes the leader scatter on trifles instead of to do the main thing - to develop subordinates so that they can effectively decide difficult situations themselves.

One of the most powerful tools for developing subordinates is feedback - discussion of the work done to improve the efficiency of work in the future.

In addition to the developmental effect, feedback conversation can have a strong motivational effect. To get all these benefits, the feedback needs to be:

    specific- describes a specific example of behavior that depends on the person; does not contain sweeping generalizations.

    timely- refers to a recent situation that is still fresh in the memory of you and the feedback subordinate.

    constructive- suggests behaviors that you would like to see in the future.

    with consequences- indicates consequences this behavior: how it affects you, others, workflow.

    developing- is aimed at helping in development, and not at destroying self-esteem.

Bad example: “You are not able to convince the client at all”, good example: “I think the client did not buy because you told the client that our installation is “simply more profitable”, but did not explain that this is because our installation requires maintenance half as often as analogues, and costs 40% less in maintenance” .


Skill #7: Developmental Conversation

We all sometimes face this situation: a subordinate says that he has encountered a problem and does not know how to solve it. And neither do we know until we figure it out. And so we spend our time to figure out the problem on our own and tell the subordinate how to solve it. Is it possible to somehow get out of these situations without wasting our time on solving problems in the work of a subordinate that arise again, and again, and again? ..

One of the saving options is a developing conversation. The bottom line is that we do not rush to solve the problem for the subordinate (III-IV squares), and help him come to a decision(team development, II quadrant). To do this, in a conversation, you need to go through the following steps of the GROW coaching model:

    Goal: "What do we want to get?"

Help the subordinate to formulate his goal in this situation.

    Reality: “What's stopping you? What obstacles stand in the way? What objections does the client have?

Help the subordinate to formulate the existing and possible obstacles.

    Options: “What can be done about obstacles? What arguments can be made? What other options are there?”

Use questions (not suggesting solutions) to help the subordinate come up with several options for solving the situation and choose the best one.

    Wrap-up: make a plan of action.

The task of such a conversation is to teach the subordinate to solve such problems on his own in the future. Such conversations can be held at different times - when setting a difficult task, when a subordinate addresses a problem, when discussing work already done - as an advanced form of feedback.

By systematically using developmental conversation when solving the problems of subordinates, the head of the sales department is not just engaged in “plugging holes”, but effectively develops the team, laying a solid foundation for future high results.

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  • Why are managerial competencies changing?
  • How management competencies have changed over the past 10 years
  • Why the role of the CEO is transforming from a traditional manager to a partner for his employees

Western business schools were the first to talk about the evolution of managerial competencies in the late 1980s. The ideas and skills they taught entrepreneurs gradually lost their effectiveness.

So, some educational institutions have come to the conclusion that the leader makes more balanced and quick decisions on his own than in a team discussion. Simply because the top manager does not have to simultaneously fight for legitimacy, make compromises, and regulate “underground movements” within the team.

Another example: the idea that any open contradictions should be promptly eliminated used to dominate. Now conflict is considered an inevitable stage of development. And if there are no conflicts in the organization, they must be provoked artificially.

The world economy is developing so dynamically that the skill set that managers leave business school with is no longer relevant ten years into the future.

Today business environment requires every CEO to have a complex inner work: keep track of the relevance of their competencies and change them in accordance with the requirements of the time.

Demanded managerial competencies

At the economic forum in Davos, representatives of the business community periodically discuss managerial competencies. At one of the sections, participants are given questionnaires and asked to rate on a ten-point scale, naming the competencies that, in their opinion, are the most important today.

As a result, some competencies become leaders, others, on the contrary, drop out of the list. But not because they are no longer needed. Drop-down managerial competencies often go into the category of "needed by default", that is, without them, the work of a manager is no longer possible.

For example, not so long ago, “quality control” entered the standard skill pool of a director. Today, any element of a leader's work must be of high quality, otherwise the market will not forgive it.

Practitioner tells

The significance of certain managerial competencies is determined by the stage at which life cycle the organization is located.

For a company that is in the early stages of development, it is important to be flexible and quickly respond to changes in the market. In other words, focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. This is the only way she can grow.

A company that moves from "go ahead" to "youth" needs to be centralized. The director needs to strengthen the administration function and emphasize efficiency by developing the necessary competencies.

Finally, a mature organization cannot be allowed to become inflexible or politicized. If the spirit of entrepreneurship is lost, the company will inevitably begin to age prematurely.

Thus, in the face of rapid change today, there are four important groups managerial competencies:

  • the ability to achieve the intended goals;
  • the ability to structure, analyze, systematize information and make decisions based on it;
  • entrepreneurship and innovation;
  • competencies in the field of integration (teamwork).

CEO speaking

The market has formulated five new requirements for managers that have not been mentioned before.

Experience in working under conditions of high uncertainty. Until 2014, the markets were growing, and it was enough just to keep up. Now only those sectors are growing that could not have been thought of a few years ago: Agriculture and defense. However, other sectors are stagnating non-linearly - the revenue of medical centers is declining, but at the same time telemedicine is actively developing. As a result, the "cut tails" scenario also does not work linearly - so you can miss new point growth.

Willingness to work in a resource-poor environment. Together with the first factor, this is called domestic entrepreneurship. Companies are forced to experiment a lot with new directions, not understanding which one will work. The ability to cut five hats from one skin becomes critically important. This is the ability to enter into ad hoc alliances with competitors, and the ability to quickly enter new markets and reasonably reduce costs.

"Entrepreneurial" approach. Nobody canceled the task of rising or falling too much before the managers and shareholders. However, there are no resources to boost this growth. The director today is required to “find a topic”.

Practical experience in the real field. For example, work in regional branches where “real business” is done, as well as successful experience in bringing enterprises out of the crisis, growing business in a falling market, etc.

Ability to inspire employees with confidence in the future. An important quality of a leader is the ability to remove entropy from the staff - the fear of uncertainty. As well as its accessibility to the general public: the opportunity to ask a question to a top manager directly from each employee.

These changes are confirmed by modern analytics. There is a clear disproportion – today the market needs entrepreneurs and innovators. Modern companies expect managers to develop their business, improve their financial results (albeit in a falling market) and grow in the face of uncertainty. And the market offers bureaucrats and stagnators with experience in large slow-moving companies. The current tops are ready to manage only an established business, which they will optimize without active changes, making only fine adjustments.

Managerial competencies that have lost their relevance

The well-known phrase of Kozma Prutkov “A specialist is like a flux, his fullness is one-sided” no longer has a practical meaning. The world has changed, many narrow-profile competencies, such as ownership foreign languages, project management, can no longer successfully compete with "broad profile" competencies: cross-cultural, adaptive, etc.

CEO speaking

Konstantin Borisov, General Director of Support Partners, Moscow

Until 2014, companies were looking for managers with the following competencies:

  • experience in a large company with well-established business processes and established practices (preferably a “western” school);
  • experience of rapid business growth (often regardless of marketing costs), opening of new directions or regions;
  • strategic vision, the presence of an ambitious growth plan, the willingness to infect the team with it;
  • the ability to inspire and lead people;
  • "expensive" appearance - a tailored shirt, personalized cufflinks and other attributes of a "real top"; beneficiaries large companies they wanted to see people like them, ambitious and expensive managers.

CEO speaking

Until recently, the director was required to have industry expertise: to have experience in the field in which his company operates, to know all the processes perfectly. Now, when technology is developing at an explosive pace, this requirement has lost its relevance. Today, a CEO must understand technology and its impact on the business, and anticipate the changes it will bring to the way a company is run in a particular industry. To do this, it is necessary to develop digital competencies and increase awareness in the field of technology.

This competence appeared relatively recently and is rapidly progressing. New technologies can unsettle any organization. If the CEO ignores them, then the business is most likely doomed to failure.

What managerial competencies will be in demand in the future

The British business school has formulated 50 trends modern management. For example, design work will perform virtual teams consisting of representatives of different cultures and ages.

Accordingly, the director needs to learn to communicate and understand the characteristics of each team member. The authoritarian style will finally become a thing of the past. And the manager will perform many functions: not only a manager, but also a psychologist and a specialist in social engineering.

In other words, management will become a collective concept. To be called a manager, the manager will have to master several mandatory areas of knowledge at once.

For example, to become a manager-teacher, transferring knowledge. This approach is based on the now demanded concept of a self-learning organization.

  • Making Management Decisions in Times of Crisis: Boards of Reputable Directors

CEO speaking

Vladimir Mozhenkov, Founder, member of the board of directors of the AvtoSpetsCentre group of companies, founder of the Audi Center Taganka company, ex-president of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association, business coach, Moscow

It is not buildings and technology that make a business successful, but the intellectual abilities of employees. Therefore, the role of the director is changing: from a traditional manager, he turns into a partner. Managers instead of imperative functions begin to perform service functions, thereby creating conditions for comfortable work in the company. Previously, the director, as he advanced in his career, could remain, relatively speaking, a production worker, only his powers changed. Today, the leader to a greater extent should have not applied, but psychological skills. At the forefront is the ability to form personal relationships. Many processes are now taking place at the intersection of technologies, and the manager must not only be well versed in this, but also find narrow specialists from each area in order to create integrated teams to work in new conditions.

CEO speaking

Yaroslav Glazunov, Managing Partner of the Russian office of Spencer Stuart, Moscow

There are three universal managerial competencies of the CEO, which do not depend on external factors and always relevant:

  • strategic vision;
  • leadership;
  • change management.

These three skills will continue to be a priority in the future. Leaders are distinguished by the ability to lead people, adaptability and the ability to manage change. But such a skill as understanding technology is likely to disappear, since it is applicable only at a particular moment. In a few years, new technologies will be so dissolved in our attitude and Everyday life that we just stop paying attention to them.

CEO speaking

Konstantin Borisov, General Director of Support Partners, Moscow

Requests will soon begin to come in to find a manager who can work with young employees in a democratic agile mode, and not in a system of rigid subordination and relations of "I'm the boss - you're a fool." The authoritarian style is good for short distances, it no longer works for long distances. In its place will come a team work style. There will be a need for directors capable of involving and leading. The problem is that this cannot be taught on the side, managers themselves must develop these competencies in themselves.

Why management competencies are changing

How did managers act before? Relatively speaking, they found tools for solving problems and put them in a large bag; and the more tools were in the bag, the more experienced the manager was considered. And if it was necessary to hammer a nail into the wall (to solve a problem), then he took out the necessary hammer from the bag and hammered it in. Today, to continue the analogy, the walls have become concrete, and the old tools are useless.

Reason 1. Change in the external environment. For example, yesterday's motivation systems are absolutely inapplicable to the modern generation Z - the "digital" generation born in the period of globalization. Their main goal in life is not to make money or make a career, but simply "to be happy." A representative of this generation to the question “Why didn’t you come to work yesterday?” can easily answer: "I was not in the mood, and tomorrow, too, if I want, I will not come." These employees are motivated for immediate results. The old methods don't work for them. The time when such employees will make up the majority of the personnel in the company is not far off.

CEO speaking

Vladimir Mozhenkov, Member of the Board of Directors of the AvtoSpetsCentre group of companies, founder of the Audi Center Taganka company, Ex-President of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association, business coach, Moscow

Five or seven years ago, strategic decisions were considered the prerogative of only top management, because only top management had necessary knowledge. Today, so much information is received daily that the director cannot physically be its only consumer. He has to share data with employees. How more people know what is happening in the neighboring department and what a colleague is doing, the higher the results. As a result, employees can have enough information to make reasonable strategic proposals at the level of structural units.

Practitioner tells

Peter Shtrom, Head of Representative Office of the Adizes Institute in Russia, Vice President of the Adizes Institute, Moscow

Reason 2. Change in corporate standards. Once upon a time, a stable company was considered good. Later - the one that adapts to changes faster than others. Recently, a good company is first of all proactive. That is, it is an organization that is better than others in predicting external changes and foreseeing the development of new needs. Accordingly, managers need to perform entrepreneurial functions: conquer new markets, introduce innovations, including small innovations in the workplace. Both require creative thinking, initiative, ingenuity and a willingness to take risks. In today's realities, it is necessary to react to changes with lightning speed. At the same time, one should not lose sight of the effectiveness in achieving the result. And for this it is important to keep up with technology.

How can a leader develop new managerial competencies?

To track the relevance of skills and managerial competencies in the West, they have introduced the practice of evaluating educational programs based on the so-called credit points.

Recruiters now have a rating scale where each training event receives credit points. Relatively speaking, current knowledge in a professional field is worth 500 credit points. The director must recruit this number every five years. Of these, 200 points are a basic advanced training course, and the rest are courses or seminars on the development of cross-functional areas of knowledge, which the director masters on his own. An average course of four to six months is worth approximately 30 credit points. Constantly learning, a manager can score 50-60 points in a year.

In other words, the director should be trained approximately twice a year. And on average, once a year, compare watches with the industry in order to understand where to grow.

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director, consultant-trainer

BKT LLP (Business-Consulting-Training),

Almaty city

A correct forecast of market trends allows you to develop strategies, anticipate possible barriers to success and quickly find ways to overcome them. It is very important to be able to mobilize all resources in cases of difficulties and failures, clearly prioritize, analyze various alternatives and find best options solutions. Business efficiency is primarily determined by the managerial competence of managers.

Managerial (official) competence is a set of knowledge, practical experience, skills and personal qualities of a manager, which allows him to qualitatively solve certain tasks in order to achieve certain results.

Qualified management is carried out on the basis of knowledge gained during training and practical experience.The basis of management is knowledge, useful experience of other companies, the manager's own experience, proven tools and skills in using them.. Practical knowledge in management is of more value than theoretical; useful experience is scrupulously studied and passed on, and a well-designed tool for solving problems is much more useful than scientific theories.

Based on the understanding of the essence of management, we can say that the most sought-after managerial competencies of a top manager are:

1. Strategic thinking (systematic, systematic, the ability to foresee the "picture" - the result).

2. Knowledge of the basic principles of marketing to manage the company's position in the market.

3. Ability to manage financial flows, incl. use mechanisms for investing in new projects.

4. Knowledge of production and operations (purchasing, logistics, warehousing).

5. Understanding the laws of the market, the ability to organize marketing and sales processes.

6. Ability to develop new products or services.

7. Understanding of information technologies and approaches to process automation.

8. Implementation of business administration.

9. Knowledge of relevant legislation governing business.

10. Personnel management skills

11. Ensuring security - commercial, informational, economic, personnel.

12. Maintaining public relations (formation of the company's reputation and image in society, in the business community or in the market - to choose from).

At the same time, any leader performs a certain number of administrative functions, such as:

collection and analysis of information;

  • making decisions;
  • planning;
  • organization;
  • coordination;
  • control;
  • motivation;
  • communications.

A good manager should be both an organizer, and a comrade, and a mentor, and an expert in setting goals, and a leader, and a person who knows how to listen to others. He must have a good understanding of the capabilities of his direct subordinates, their ability to perform the specific work assigned to them.The manager must know the principles of interaction between the heads of departments and employees within the company, develop teamwork in order to maintain the unity and correct functioning of the company. It is impossible to combine the variety of skills and qualities of a top manager listed above in one person, but it is possible to clearly define the list of requirements for a specific position of a manager, taking into account the specifics of the industry, the features of the management system and the corporate culture of a particular company and its development goals.

The competency method is becoming more and more popular in dynamically developing companies, as it involves the use of a single language in business processes. This is an efficient way to describe a job since most of the jobs can be described using 10-12 individual competencies. For example, the international construction corporation "Tarmak" uses 10 competencies, and the management model of the company "Xerox" includes 32 competencies.

In a sense, the number of competencies used in a particular model does not matter, it depends on the characteristics of the industry, the specifics of the company, the management system, corporate culture, etc.The number of competencies should be convenient for conducting managerial work and for evaluating the results of the manager's activities.

In domestic practice, two main groups of competencies necessary for a manager are used:

1. FROMspecial competencies- those skills and abilities that are associated with the area professional activity. For example, a financial director must be able to analyze a balance sheet, and a programmer team leader must be proficient in the most important programming languages.

2. Bbasic competencies- a group of competencies, which is based on the intellectual, communicative, emotional and volitional qualities of a person.

When defining core competencies, it is necessary to take into account general specifics managerial work, which consists in the fact that:

  • The work of the leader does not have a clear completion in time. He is always busy, because the organization daily operates in the market and is constantly influenced by changes in the external environment, where there are risks and opportunities that must be foreseen in order to make correct and timely management decisions;
  • the work of the manager is the basis of the management process in any organization and is based on his knowledge, experience and perception of the new (application of best practices, new techniques and methods in work);
  • the management style of the head forms the corporate culture of the organization, dramatically affects its image and business reputation;
  • an important part of managerial work is the ratio of time spent by managers in accordance with the levels and functions of management. The higher the level, the more time is allocated in favor of representative communications: business meetings, negotiations and meetings. The lower the level of management, the more time the leader spends among subordinates in an environment where operational decisions are made in a particular unit on a particular issue.

The competency model describes the position of a manager in three dimensions:

  • vision (vision) - the ability to think at the strategic and tactical levels, the ability to predict the future and anticipate the emergence of problems;
  • action (action) - the ability to dynamically and progressively move towards achieving the desired result (for example, clear action planning, perseverance in striving for a goal);
  • interaction (interaction) - the ability to build such relationships with others that help to achieve the best result in work (for example, the ability to motivate subordinates, the ability to work in a team).

In 2007, Antropos-Consulting published a dictionary-reference book "Competences of a manager" (author V.E. Subbotin), which presents the most complete list of competencies for various job groups. According to experts in the development of competencies, the activities of a manager can be conditionally divided into several areas of competencies:

  • Special professional competencies - competencies necessary for the manager to resolve issues that make up the content of the processes and functions for which he is responsible. Special competencies reflect the level of knowledge of issues related to the operation of equipment, procedures and technologies of the production process. In essence, this is knowledge and skills related to a specific subject area: for example, finance and accounting, information technology, engineering, chemistry, construction, etc.
  • Business competencies These are general competencies, they are necessary for managers in any field of activity. These competencies form the core content of MBA programs and include system analysis situations, making strategic decisions, attracting external and internal resources of the company to solve business problems, budgeting, forecasting income and expenses, reducing enterprise costs, reporting, etc.
  • Knowledge management competencies reflect the manager's ability to work with information, manage information flows, learning and development processes in the organization. Knowledge management competencies include such skills as information retrieval, conceptual, analytical thinking, problem solving, understanding the essence of organizational development processes, ensuring the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills by employees.
  • Leadership competencies belong to the sphere of leadership and management of people. They reflect the manager's ability to manage his own power, direct the activities of subordinates in a certain direction, provide support to subordinates, show them participation and empower them. In addition, leadership competencies imply that the manager has the ability to create a state of focus on a common task in subordinates, the ability to work with a heterogeneous team, support the creative activity of subordinates and form a sense of community in the organization.
  • Social or interpersonal competencies refer to the manager's ability to build and maintain optimal relationships with people (the public, shareholders and other stakeholders). The presence of this ability requires the development of certain social skills, such as understanding other people and their behavior, communication and interaction skills with others, creating proper motivation in people, as well as the ability to prevent and resolve conflicts. Ideally, a socially competent manager is able to put himself in the place of another person, correctly assess his expectations and build his behavior taking into account these expectations. It is the ability to behave socially adequately.
  • Intrapersonal competencies . They are based on self-confidence, a tendency to influence their environment, the desire for improvement and fundamental change the existing situation, focus on results and self-development, the ability to act in conditions of uncertainty, developed self-awareness and self-control skills.

Obviously, for different leadership positions each of the competencies listed has a relatively different meaning. For example, a commercial director needs interpersonal competencies; for the production director, the sphere of technical competencies may come to the fore; for CEO- leadership competencies. The relative importance of individual competencies and their groups, of course, is not automatically given by the title of the position. It all depends on the characteristics of the company and the content of job responsibilities.

There are also different approaches to the description of competencies. Let's use an example to show the use of different approaches to compiling the "Planning" competence. The dictionary "Competencies of the leader" states thatplanning -is the ability to develop an effective program of one's own activitiestakeaway .

The following types of assessment of this quality by the manager are offered:

1. Ability to organize and plan own work in such a way as to effectively use working time, avoid unnecessary efforts and meet deadlines.

2. An accurate estimate of the time it will take to completeone task or another.

3. Periodic monitoring of the pace of work, withthe need to correct it in order to meet the deadline.

4. The ability to devote time to the analysis of a particular issue, but always remember that the work must be completed on time.

5. Preparation for business meetings, preliminary acquaintance with the necessary information.

6. Effective use of time control tools (timers, calendars, weeklies).

7. Arranging the sequence of performing individual tasks depending on their urgency and importance.

8. Planning work taking into account the plans of their partners, if the work requires interaction.

Business coach Z. Dmitrieva in her book "Managing Employees and the Company" emphasizes that The competencies of a modern manager can consist of five components:

1. Formal requirements (education, health status, legal grounds, etc.).

2. Knowledge (possession of general and specific knowledge in a special area, business and economics, management, knowledge of a specific market, company regulations, etc.).

3. Skills (ability to perform actions, make decisions necessary for the effective performance of duties).

4. Settings (worldview, attitudes and attitudes that contribute to the correct performance of duties, for example, the attitude “the client is always right”).

5. Business and personal qualities (psychological characteristics of personality and character, contributing to the performance of the functions of a leader).

In this case, the competency model might look like this:

Competence "Planning"

1. Formal requirements: education, mental health, work experience in an efficient business structure, formal requirements for the position, and more.

2. Knowledge: possession of methods of strategic, tactical and investment planning, knowledge of the course "Project Management", cost analysis, risk assessment, scenario planning, etc., basic time management techniques. Knowledge about the scarcity and scarcity of resources, including those at the head of the enterprise. Knowledge of business processes, similar to the MBA program.

3. Skills and abilities: skills in drawing up strategic, tactical, investment plans, risk management, self-organization, time management. Good ability to use planning tools in practice (methods of operational resource analysis, SWOT analysis, scenario planning, etc.). Skills for solving strategic and tactical problems. Information handling skills. Ability to identify and formulate business goals, prioritize. Skills in the use of applied computer programs.

4. Attitudes: understanding the need for strategic planning in business, willingness to follow previously set plans and goals, desire to develop the company.

5. Qualities: systematic thinking, analytical skills, creativity, attentiveness, objectivity of thinking, consistency.

Despite the difference in approaches and the different number of components of competence sections, there are common requirements for competencies, which should be:

  • exhaustive. The list of competencies should completely cover all important work activities.
  • Discrete. A separate competence should relate to a specific activity that can be clearly separated from other activities. If competencies overlap, it will be difficult to accurately evaluate work.
  • Focused. Each competency should be clearly defined and there should be no attempt to cover too much. For example, "technical competence" should be very specific.
  • Available. Each competency must be formulated in an accessible way, interpreted in the same way by all managers, so that it can be used universally.
  • Congruent. Competencies should reinforce organizational culture and reinforce long-term goals. If competencies seem too abstract, they will not be useful and will not be accepted by managers.
  • Modern. The competency framework should be updated and should reflect the current and future (foreseeable) needs of the organization.

Successful management consists of the following types of learning:hhard skills and soft skills.

The formation of a top manager as a management specialist begins with the acquisition of skills that are divided into two groups: hard skills and soft skills (by analogy with hardware and software in computers).hard skills - this is "iron", those skills that are necessary to do your job at a high professional level. This is fundamental knowledge about the mechanisms of business functioning, understanding of the organization as complete system, economics, marketing, finance, as well as production (professional) skills used in direct work. For a long time it was believed that the effectiveness of work depends on the level of development of these particular skills. An important role is played by the diploma of academic education, the level of intelligence, the number of certificates of completion of specialized courses.

Many managers focus their attention on the development of hard skills: technical knowledge and skills. This is due to the fact that domestic managers really do not have enough quality knowledge in management and marketing, which has become possible to obtain in our country recently.Hard skills can be developed by receiving additional academic education, in MBA programs and attending various seminars. Hard skills trainingallows in a fairly short time to obtain the knowledge necessary for the head of business development management, strategic planning, operational activities, modeling of transformations and organizational structure. Many discussions and interactive workshops are built into such programs, allowing for the analysis of specific situations and in role playing learn to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge. Within the framework of hard skills training programs, one can exchange managerial experience among peers, learn how a particular problem or task is solved in other companies. Academic study programs are known to require more time and effort; for example, to get high-quality knowledge in marketing, it is not enough to attend a two-day seminar, you need to get a higher or additional education lasting several months.

However, only professional knowledge of hard skills for successful work not enough. The transition to the status of a senior manager is not limited to mastering only technical skills.In practice, managers often do not cope with their duties because oflack of experience and due tounderdevelopedsoft skills

A higher level of management requires the possession of more complex qualities, skills of interaction with people: the ability to communicate, speak in public, convince oneself to be right, manage one's emotions and the emotions of others, and motivate. All this together makes up soft skills, which, in turn, require a deep personal restructuring from the leader.

The expected work of a manager at the top management level requires, first of all, diverse and multi-level communications, leadership qualities, the ability to form and develop a management team, and make decisions in conditions of uncertainty. The importance of these skills is due to the fact that successful managers communicate with other people up to 80% of their time. The higher a person climbs career ladder, the less important technical skills are, and the greater value acquire interpersonal skills.

Acquisition Featuresoft skills iswhatRThe development of personal skills often requires significant efforts in working on oneself, since it is necessary to change the existing "picture of the world", long-term habits and patterns of behavior. Many practitioners take more time to develop new skills and abilities. Existing experience and a large number of developed technologies make it difficult to analyze behavior and search for those "growth areas" that can be improved. The birth of a new personality (or new soft skills) is always associated with overcoming oneself and educating oneself. In addition, sometimes the fear of change also interferes: if the previous behavior worked, and worked quite successfully for many years, then how will others perceive these changes? That's whytop managers need to be prepared for the fact that mastering real soft skills can take place after 3-5 months of training. Long-term training may be in demand when it is necessary not only to develop a specific skill, but to switch to new level management (for example, the company has seriously expanded, competition has sharply increased, business reorganization is needed). In this case, attending individual trainings may be an inefficient waste of time. Such programs are also useful for managers who are on the verge of emotional burnout, when business and work cease to interest and please. Then the acquisition of new findings and personal growth make it possible to overcome this "managerial crisis".