Management Skills

I am beginning to think that the most important skill a manager can have is the ability to listen and understand. You need to be able to truly understand what other people are telling you, process it, and help people make their ideas better.

Some of the worst managers I have had were also some of the best debaters. They were so good at debating that they would always end up "winning" any discussion they entered. The thing was that everyone else left the room feeling more confused than when they came in. They felt twisted around and uncertain about how to proceed. Although these managers probably listened well, they never seemed to bother to try an understand. They would simply look for the holes in your argument and prove their point no matter what.

If anything a good manager should try to give in as much as possible. If you want someone to deliver then you need to send them away feeling like they know what they need to do, not trying to figure out what you want them to do. This requires listening to their suggestion very closely and steering them away from any trouble you see with the suggestion, but, in general, I think you want to try and give them ownership of their idea and let them run with it.

So next time you get into a debate with someone (superior, reportee, or colleague) try to repeat back to them what they are telling you. It will help establish that both sides understand eachother and will make the discussion less of a debate and more of collaborative effort. At least in my experience this pays off huge dividends.