Manager's skill sets

Today's Manager, Dec-Jan, 2008 by Vadim Kotelnikov

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EFFECTIVE: managerial leadership demands a delicate balance between sensitivity and authority, between the whole and the parts, between loose and tight leadership styles, between functional expertise and cross-functional excellence (width of knowledge), internal (creating value for organisation and employees) and external (creating value for investors, customers, and society).

To manage knowledge workers effectively, the manager should balance management with leadership and coaching.

Bearing in mind the fast pace of business today and the need to stay competitive, its essential that managers should be effective. They need to be especially effective with their people and this requires learning to coach. For most managers, coaching has been added to their role anyway, but the majority have not received any training in coaching skills. More than 80 per cent of organisations use coaching to develop their staff, but only a fifth train their managers in coaching, according to a survey by the Work Foundation.

The new style of management is self-management and self-coaching. You can't change the others without changing yourself: So start with your own consciousness.

Pacing is having the flexibility to meet another person in their model of the world, rather than making them come to yours. Matching body language, voice tonality and words, and respecting beliefs and values are examples of pacing. You need a strong sense of self to pace others well.

Pacing establishes a bridge. Once you have that, you can lead another person to other possibilities. By matching body language with an angry or upset person, for example, you acknowledge what is important to him, so he no longer needs to insist on the validity of his experience and becomes more available. You then lead him to a calmer state by moderating your voice and changing your posture. You cannot lead without first pacing and gaining rapport.

Dr Vadim Kotelnikov is founder of Ten3 Business e-Coach. For information contact vadim@kotelnikovbiz or Dr Tan Jing Hee at tjh@leap.com.sg