My managerial career experience
My managerial career experience has so far enabled me to develop essential management skills principles and strategies that help to perform organizational tasks effectively. Good management involves a combination of technical, conceptual and human/interpersonal skills, related to planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Throughout my career, I have identified planning as a vital aspect of achieving organizational success. A good manager needs to have a planning strategy of organizing activities to align the organizational or business demands with the available resources such as time, labor and capital. Planning enables a manager to identify the set of actions alongside specific strategies for achieving results. Identifying essential strategies as well as tasks and schedules has enabled me to accomplish a lot as a manager. Effective communication is an integral aspect of good management. I have implemented effective communication skills which have worked well in my career. This has enabled proper channelling of information to the entire workforce, across various levels and departments. Formal and informal communication skills among managers are essential in ensuring the smooth running of an organization. Excellent communication skills ensure the right procedures are followed when completing tasks and activities, thus achieving desirable results.
Additionally, excellent communication skills and strategies have worked in establishing positive relations with employees. Decision making is another important management skill that has worked in my career. As a manager, one has the responsibility of making several decisions concerning the short term and long term running of the organization. Decisions determine the performance of an organization, as bad decisions may lead to failure. As a manager, practical decision-making skills and strategies have been helpful in the smooth running of organizations and achieving desired objectives. Decision making is an aspect of directing and guiding tasks and letting employees know what needs to be done. Through this, a manager ensures that employees contribute effectively towards organizational success. Delegation is a management strategy that has worked effectively in my career. This involves passing job-related tasks and authority to subordinates or other employees. It is the process of reassigning and re-locating duties to other employees, especially when there is a heavy workload. Delegation is a component of directing and controlling functions of management. Effective delegation skills enable a manager to correctly reassign tasks among employees, thus achieving easy and quick results. This has worked well in my career through minimizing time wastage, optimizing productivity and ensuring employees’ accountability and responsibility. Problem-solving skills are critical for a successful manager since problems are difficult to avoid within a job setting. Managers have to possess problem-solving skills and strategies for resolving negative outcome in the workplace. This involves identifying a specific situation or problem and finding the best solution. Problem-solving skills have worked effectively in my career by enhancing the ability to create the right balance even when things are not going as planned. Effective problem-solving also enables a manager to develop and gain confidence from employees. Motivating is another essential management skill and principle. Throughout my career, I have employed various tactics for both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. These include rewarding positive performance, improved wages/salaries, increased allowances, organizing for retreats as well as offering incentives, in a bid to encourage high performance. Such motivation strategies have worked in bringing a desired response and behavior among both employees and some stakeholders. Motivation is an aspect of the staffing function of management. Training and development have also been a common strategy in my career. It involves creating the right environment or structures that ensure employees have the new skills required to achieve the best performance in a particular position and industry. Management skills, strategies and principles enable effective running of organizations as well as achievement of desired goals and objectives. However, the nature of the organization may determine the relevant skills, strategies and principles of management. Hence, my managerial experience and skills gained are relevant to the nature of the organizations with which I have worked.