Mgmt - Management Competencies

Learning to Understand Competencies

Today, one of the biggest challenges is adapting to function in ever-changing, competitive organizations with diverse workforces. On hurdle to achieving this is understanding personal competencies, which takes a commitment to learning and developing. Comprehension of individual qualities builds a framework to meet current responsibilities and future needs while bringing the individual and the organization to the forefront of change.  

Understanding Personal Competencies to Become a Better Communicator and Manager

The concept, “Seek first to understand…” (Covey, 2007, p. 7) one of The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, explains that comprehending others should be the initial focus. For someone to accomplish this, learning about oneself to include recognizing personal competencies must come first. These “competencies are how we communicate how we want people to work,” NewmarketLearning, 2009, 3:07) therefore familiarity with them helps to create open paths and allow us to relate to others. With an increased flow of information, the manager becomes more flexible, creative, and confident. As well, between the manager and the worker, there are more positive interactions, which promote team cohesion.  As a leader and an individual, competencies are the competitive edge to success; therefore, understanding them opens to doors to greatness as a communicator and manager.

Changing Communication Techniques Based on Different Functioning Areas of Business

The secret to unlocking opportunity relies on communication techniques.  Posner noted “Leadership is communication,” (as cited in Forster, 2005, chp. 3) therefore it is necessary to direct the attention to the approach and delivery of ideas. While the originator is creating the message, it is important to keep in mind purpose and goal, the intended recipients, and their level of understanding and interest. By employing these concepts, the initiator can develop tailored communication tactics for each functional group who comprehend things in distinctive ways; for example, creating systems procedures with technical terms and jargon for the operations section or holding resources meetings for the administration department. These customized methods joined with foundational principles including listening, feedback, respect, and openness, work to create an environment full of possibility.  By improving communication strategies, leadership skills can be fine-tuned to be more effective across diverse functional areas.