Do you know what are essential Management Skills?
In 1955 Robert Katz has identified three essential management skills: technical, human, and conceptual.
The more you grow and become senior, their practice and implementation ratio changes.
In the first line management, you need more technical skills as compared to conceptual skills and as you become a senior manager, you need to practice more conceptual skills.
However, the understanding and implementation of human skills remain equal at any point during your career path.
I have hand sketched this concept for your easy understanding (ref: title image)
Let’s briefly look into these three essential management skills.
1. Technical Skills
The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs require specialized expertise and many people develop their technical skills on the job.
2. Human Skills
The ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in groups describe human skills.
Many people are technically proficient but interpersonally incompetent. Such people always struggle to become good mentors, coaches or effective managers. Your career growth is highly dependent on your human skills.
3. Conceptual Skills
It consists of critical thinking, analytical skills, and problem-solving techniques.
i. The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations
ii. Decision-making, for example, requires managers to spot problems, identify alternatives that can correct them, evaluate those alternatives, and select the best one.
The combination of all these three skills makes you a competent manager and the last two define your leadership style.