How people learn managerial and leadership skills Essay

People can acquire managerial skills from different sources. First of all, there are trainings and books devoted to management, and it is possible to learn important managerial techniques such as time management, stress management, motivation techniques and approaches to improving effectiveness like six sigma system from these sources. However, pure theoretical knowledge without hands-on experience can be of little use to the manager. Learning on own experience by trial and error method is the primary source of managerial skill. However, there is one more method which can be applied to increase practical effectiveness of a manager – analysis of case studies. Studying previous experiences of large companies and their CEOs as well as common managerial challenges and analyzing alternative course of action for case studies might be extremely useful for a manager. Moreover, such approach allows to learn on the mistakes of others, instead of making own mistakes.
One more source of gaining managerial skills is interaction and collaboration with colleagues and even competitors. Brainstorming with colleagues and detailed analysis of the problems of competitors can be used to improve own managerial skill. Interaction with employees also helps to improve managerial skill, as this allows to create a feedback for management and leadership style and to increase self-awareness. It is also useful to track recent research literature on management, to identify new tendencies and adopt new effective management approaches. This method can create a competitive advantage for the company, as it happened with the companies which started using the balanced scorecard method earlier than their competitors.
In addition to purely managerial skills, many managers might need leadership skills (although outstanding leadership skills are not a must for every manager). Leadership is a very important concept which lets those who possess it motivate and inspire other people. Leadership can be perceived as the art of convincing people to work together towards a common goal (Armstrong, 2008). Management and leadership are often considered as similar qualities, but this is not true. Management denotes the process of getting certain activities done in an effective and efficient manner with the help of other people. According to John Adair, there are the following qualities of good leaders: enthusiasm, confidence, integrity, toughness, warmth and humility (Armstrong, 2008). Although there are natural-born leaders, it is also possible to train own leadership skills.
According to Max DePree, the former CEO of Hermal Miller Inc., leadership can be learned over time, and it comes with experience (Lussier & Achua, 2009). It is possible to develop leadership qualities while learning from workflows and working environment, and building relations with employees and with the whole organization. A very impressive experiment on the analysis of leadership skills and how they are gained was performed by Jeff Immelt at General Electric in 2001. Interviews with 140 senior company leaders have shown that fundamental traits of a successful leader included integrity, effective execution (“getting things done”), a good business acumen, ability to act as a change agent, high level of intelligence and competence with six sigma processes (Lussier & Achua, 2009). Jeff Immelt also determined several differentiators which were common for outstanding leaders: extensive abilities for problem solving, courage, ability to act as a motivator, lifelong learning, effective communication, ability to captivate people with the new idea, and tenacity.
Unlike managerial skills, leadership skills can hardly be learned through formal education or analysis of literature. However, theoretical and research knowledge can be used to identify the necessary qualities and to find the best techniques for practicing them. Leadership skills can be gained through studying the concept of leadership and analyzing the examples of successful leaders. Self-assessment and analysis of personal leadership style is a powerful method for developing leadership qualities. Communication with colleagues and employees, and analysis of their feedback is invaluable for improving practical skills of a leader. Thus, according to the opinion of Herman Miller Inc. former CEO and many other top managers, leadership skills are gained mainly through experience and growth of self-awareness, while managerial skills can also be acquired through formal education, training and use of managerial techniques. However, both theoretical and practical aspects of leadership and management are important, and effective managers should both gain theoretical knowledge and improve their leadership and management skills in practical setting.