5 Essential Business Manager skills

One of the most common ways to describe business managers’ skills is the ability to flourish with minimal guidance, be proactive, and handle uncertainty. If you’re hoping to progress into this role, you’ll need this finely tuned skill set!

Who the heck is this Business Manager?

A business manager is commonly related to someone with experience in sales and marketing. Also, they can be announced as a “Businessperson” with multitasking ability and impeccable communication skills.

Those adjectives qualify a business manager, but they certainly don’t spell out the whole idea of the career.

A business manager’s role demands soft skills, such as communication, dynamics, risk-taking, negotiation, and persuasion, toward sustaining the strategic gut instinct needed to get the job done.

We would say that a business manager is more about communicating with people than ensuring that the business runs as efficiently and profitably as possible.

Okay, that might be too strong! But the point is that a professional couldn’t occupy the field without interpersonal skills; otherwise, business wouldn’t be as political as it is.

It means that the most efficient aspect of a business manager is their ability to argue, negotiate with different tones of voice, managing desires, from employees to executive leaders.

A good business manager must have a swinging discourse, flexible and suitable for each audience they’re dealing with.

So, we invite you to learn more about the 5 essential business management skills we have selected for you!

Essential top skills to be THE business manager

 As a business manager, your work may involve strategic planning and positioning in the appropriate markets, finding and developing new markets and improving sales or even negotiating and materialising the partnership with the client.

Also, you will probably lead a staff team, and your duties will often reach across all business areas.

Check on these tips to step up your business management skills.

 Interpersonal skills and relationship management

 As we have said, the business management career is way more about people than anything and being able to build successful relationships is mandatory.

To lead a team, negotiate with different executives, and get your job well done, you need to know how to deal effectively with people.

It’s crucial that your team members respect you; an excellent way to attain that is by building a healthy professional relationship.

To do this, you can change some habits like organising social events, setting aside time to get to know your colleagues and promoting a more flexible workplace culture more flexible, showing that you are a manager who cares about your teammates.

 Communication and motivation

 A business manager’s job requires leaders capable of motivating their team. Being open and having a positive attitude go a long way in creating a strategy to engage employees.

It all starts with simple gestures, like acknowledging achievements, actively encouraging, and taking an interest in the team’s personal lives.

Furthermore, successful business managers must master all forms of communication, including verbal, writing and listening skills.

As a team manager, you’re the communication bridge between the frontline staff and senior management. Therefore, good communicational skills are key to strategic management behaviour.

 To ensure that lines of communication remain open, you’ll need to make yourself readily available and accessible to your employees to discuss any issues or concerns that arise.

Having an open-door policy or weekly team meetings should facilitate this!

 Problem-solving and decision-making

The management field is vast, and combining it with sales can be tricky. For example, a business development manager needs to show an ability to multitask, solve problems and manage a variety of decisions at the same time.

A business manager needs to be able to make unexpected decisions that could significantly impact the business’s future.

It would help if you also were detail-oriented. For example, you should keep an eye on what is happening in the company, as this allows you to identify potential problems and take preventive measures before they arise.

It requires exceptional attention to detail and remaining calm under pressure. You’ll have to think fast when problems arise to ensure your team is productive and your workflow runs smoothly.

A good tip here is to use “creative thinking” to help you develop solutions that minimise the impact on your team and the business.

 Project management and organisational skills

It’s a manager’s job to have the bigger picture, so as well as focusing on today’s tasks and responsibilities, you’ll also need to plan for the future.

It means setting priorities in line with company goals, reviewing systems and policies, attending training and managing your team’s activities.

As a strategic thinker, you’ll encourage innovation and change to make your team and the organisation more productive and profitable.

You’ll juggle multiple responsibilities as a manager, so excellent organisational skills are vital. You’ll need to manage your workload, oversee the work of other employees, attend meetings and training sessions, carry out appraisals and review company policies.

Managers also delegate tasks to colleagues. It’s a challenging task that needs analysis and identification of employees’ skills to assign duties to each depending on their skill set.

 Commercial awareness

Since business managers are responsible for ensuring that the company runs as efficiently, smoothly and profitably as possible, they need to be aware of the market they are working in, including how their company fits into the business and where they stand concerning their competitors.

That is why commercial awareness is a highly attribute in candidates for senior management positions.

Business managers should be aware of any industry political, economic or legal issues that could affect the company.

While this skill can only be developed by working in an industry or sector for many years, aspiring business managers can keep up to date on what is happening in their industry by reading publications, websites and attending conferences.