Hiring a good manager is paramount to the smooth running of any business or organization. Whether you are hiring internally or externally, getting the right person for the managerial position is usually beneficial, especially in terms of finances and the amount of time incurred.

You can achieve this by testing their skills for the position in management, rather than basing your selection process on trial and error. Here, we highlight the most important skill sets that every competent manager or aspiring manager should possess.

1. Project Management

Management positions always require someone who can handle different projects from start to end successfully. They should be able to delegate duties to staff effectively, moderate procedures, provide required resources and come up with a proper budget. Your candidate for the managerial position should also be skilled in writing proposals, surveys, and reports for smooth project management, implementation, analysis and record keeping.

2. Effective Communication Skills

Effective communication is key to the seamless running of any institution or project. Since the manager will be in charge of the other staff, it is important that he or she knows how to communicate with his or her juniors and seniors as well. Both their spoken and written language should be excellent, as this will reduce misunderstandings within and without the organization or business. A manager should be able to say yes or no when needed, in a manner that won’t upset the staff or encourage complacency among them.

3. Problem Solving

This is probably the most important skill any manager should possess. As much as it may be taught at school, this skill is usually acquired through one’s lifetime. A good manager should be able to stay calm under pressure and come up with effective solutions to different problems encountered in the organization or business.

The best managers are fast and critical thinkers and they are not put down by challenges. Instead, they love challenges as they give them a chance to hone their skills and learn new ones. While it may be challenging to identify this skill with a new candidate for the management position, you can always make use of the comprehensive leadership skills testing offered by Success Performance Solutions to pick the most competent applicant for the position.

4. Proactiveness

For any organization, business or project to be successful, the manager hired should be proactive. They should be able to take initiative and assume full responsibility for the success or failure of the project they are undertaking and managing. This way, they will be able to come up with creative ideas to improve the organization, business or project without needing to be reminded constantly about their duties. Proactive employees are very easy to manage, and once spotted, they could make a great choice for a managerial position.

5. Team Leadership

A good manager should not only be a great team player, but also a great team leader. In whatever capacity, they should be able to inspire, motivate and influence other staff and managers. If they have any concerns with the team, they should be able to raise them without fear or bias. A manager should be able to easily assign duties to staff and ensure that they are accomplished successfully without micromanaging them.

While considering all the above skills is very important when choosing a manager, you also need to ensure that they possess technical skills on the job you expect them to take up. For instance, your app development company won’t succeed by hiring a professional chef for a database manager position.

In addition to their on-job skills, the best manager always have a willingness to keep learning as new technologies and job procedures and skills come up. The prospective manager should also be compliant with the rules and regulations of the organization, as only then will they be able to instill this discipline into the other staff.