Top Management Skills to Develop in 2022

Being a successful manager means you have excellent management skills. That includes being able to manage not only your workload but, more importantly, people and change. This list of top management skills to develop in 2022 will help you be a better manager and get on your path to success.

Skill 1: Communication

The first skill still on everybody’s “must-have” list is the ability to communicate effectively, both written and verbally. In today’s global corporate environment, communication with English as a lingua franca (ELF) is an essential skill set. You need to be able to take ideas and create captivating presentations through the use of language, both written and spoken.

Skill 2: Agility

Adaptability is another key skill that successful managers will need in 2022. The speed with which everything happens in this day and age means you have to be on your toes all the time. You need to be a quick decision-maker as well as a good planner, who works hard to anticipate problems before they happen.

Skill 3: Attention To Detail

Successful managers must have an eye for detail if they are going to succeed in 2022. In today’s fast-paced environment, you cannot afford any slip-ups at work as these could cost you money or even customers. It might sound dull but being a stickler for correct procedure and being methodical about your work will stand you in good stead.

Skill 4: Problem Solving

Any manager worth his or her salt needs to be able to solve problems quickly and efficiently without causing too much drama. A new skill that is going to become more important in the future is being able to find solutions by using technology, trends, forecasts and data. As time goes on, it will become increasingly difficult for managers who can’t get their heads around this way of problem-solving.

Skill 5: Creative Thinking

In 2022, managers need to have creative thinking skills because they are gatekeepers of innovation within organizations. They need to be the ones who come up with out-of-the-box ideas that will help their companies succeed.

Skill 6: Crisis Management

The second must-have skill will be crisis management. In 2022, people will not only look for managers to solve problems but also anticipate them. In short, they want managers who can think ahead and avoid crises from happening at all – or at least know how to handle them if they do happen. This means being able to find quick solutions that may save a company from loss or irreparable damage in the long term.

Skill 7: Collaboration

Managers of the future will also need to hone their collaborative skills. Managers must be able to build teams around them, delegate tasks, and bring people together towards a common goal.

Collaborative decision making has become essential because people want managers who prioritize consensus over autocratic decisions by sharing information openly and transparently with all stakeholders. At the same time, managers need to be assertive enough to take decisive action when necessary.

Skill 8: Digital Savvy

Managing without IT is becoming an increasingly distant memory. The next decade will see an increased focus on how technology can solve business problems or enable more efficient communication between departments or employees. This means that managers in 2022 will have to be tech-savvy enough to integrate new applications into their businesses while ensuring security measures are sufficient against potential cyber-attacks.

Skill 9: Empathy

People 2020 will expect even higher standards of empathy from their line managers. Not only should they listen carefully, they must also have a firm handle on intercultural differences and how much weight certain things carry in different parts of the world. What is perfectly normal at home may well be taboo abroad, so managers need an extra dose of cultural awareness around them at all times.

Skill 10: Executive Mindset

The future manager needs to be able to hold their own among CEOs by adopting an executive mindset – even if they are still very junior in terms of rank. Cultivating this type of leadership behavior means management candidates must learn early on how to manage up, meaning they must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the goals of senior management and align their work with those goals.

Skill 11: Visioneering

The final skill of 2022 will be visioneering – the ability for managers to foresee where business is going, so they can build a supportive strategy for growth and innovation in multiple areas of activity. Visioneering skills enable leaders to identify and seize new opportunities that arise as a result of technological change or cultural shifts.

Conclusion

The skills needed in 2022 will fall under three main categories: people management, business acumen and creativity. The ability to work effectively in teams, the ability to anticipate problems before they arise, the ability to identify opportunities for growth within the business environment and the willingness and ability to change with the times.