Every business relies on business managers to make sure that all tasks are completed effectively and efficiently. Business managers usually handle specific functions and oversee a team of professionals with relevant skills. On the surface, the role of a business manager appears to focus on project and task management. In reality, however, the role is far more complex.
As a business manager, your role extends beyond supervisory tasks. You also have to build and maintain a solid team, manage the team’s performance, and be willing to lead in a positive way. All of these tasks require skills and expertise. So, what does it take to be a good business manager? We are going to discuss the answer to that question in this article.
Team Building
As mentioned before, team building becomes one of the key responsibilities of a business manager. In order for tasks to be completed effectively and efficiently, the right team members must perform their roles superbly too. More importantly, team members must work seamlessly with each other to achieve a common goal.
Effective business managers don’t just set up a team for a specific project or task. The manager needs to develop a strong team-centric culture and create the perfect environment for collaborations. The manager then needs to recruit the right team members; in other words, it is the responsibility of the manager to construct a strong team.
Key team building skills also lead to:
Team building is how a business manager starts its journey to success. With a strong and highly motivated team, no task is too difficult to tackle.
Business Management
Naturally, a good business manager must also know how to manage business processes, including resource allocation, budgeting, and financial management. This is a hard skill that can be mastered in different ways.
If you are serious about becoming a successful business manager, consider pursuing a master’s degree in business & management. Programs such as the MSC Business & Management course from Aston University Online are designed to help you acquire the necessary skills for the job.
You can read more about the programme here. There are multiple pathways to take, and they let you focus on specific subjects such as organisational development, finance, global business, and entrepreneurship.
Depending on the kind of tasks you manage and the business processes that fall under your responsibility, you can also choose to focus on specific skills. Technical skills such as computing and IT in general can be just as invaluable as marketing and presentation skills.
Project Management
Next, we have project management, another crucial skill that every business manager must master. There are a lot of approaches and frameworks that can be used to manage projects of different nature. The Kanban system, one of the oldest approaches in the book, was mostly used to manage manufacturing lines. Today, however, the same approach is used to manage app development projects.
Project management is about organising people and resources to achieve a common goal. Every project has an objective (or objectives), a limited set of resources, and a number of people assigned to it. Project management itself starts with planning for the project and ends with a thorough review of the execution.
Other skills associated with project management are:
Just like the many project management approaches you can choose to implement, there are multiple project management tools that can be used to simplify the process. Apps like Trello and Asana are very popular among business users because of how they simplify project management, allowing you to focus on the important tasks.
Communication
Communication is both a soft skill and a hard skill for business managers. When you pursue an MSc in Business & Management, communication is among the skills you will pick up along the way. Skills such as public speaking, digital communications, personal branding, and writing are quantifiably important in this role.
At the same time, you also have to develop communication as a soft skill. This means boosting your ability to connect with people and convey key messages, using traits such as:
These too are traits that can be developed over time. The better you are at communicating, the better you’ll be as a business manager.
Decision Making
One skill that must not be neglected if you are pursuing a career as a business manager is decision making. On an average day – in a fairly large corporation – you stand to make 70 to 80 decisions on average. Close to 20% of those decisions are actually decisions that can affect the entire business operation.
Being able to make quick decisions while maintaining accuracy of them is a huge plus in this career. The best way to do that is by developing 5 important supporting skills, which are:
Combined, these skills will put you in the perfect position for success as a business manager. Master these skills and traits and you will start seeing changes in how tasks get completed under your management.
