The 5 Core Management Skills
The 5 Core Management Skills
The 5 Core Management Skills
The 5 Core Management Skills workshop is designed to build skills around the five key areas that leaders need
to master to be effective in their positions.
The five key principles are:
1. Accountability
2. Collaboration
3. Communication
4. Engagement
5. Listening
6. Assessing
Number 10: Follow procedures and adhere to policies. Effective leaders are
essentially good followers.
Number 9: Submit to the authority of others. Closely related to number 10 is the
recognition that we are all under the authority of someone, whether it is a supervisor,
director, president, board of governors, or whomever else.
Number 8: Take risks. Sometimes it is necessary for leaders to step outside the box,
to be innovative. Leaders must be flexible enough to know when it is time to try a new
procedure or implement a new policy.
Number 7: Commitment. An effective leader is a person who can commit to using his
or her ability to lead others, perform technical skills, and conceptualize situations, thus
helping to ensure goal achievement.
Number 6: Be proactive. Individuals who assume leadership must take the proverbial
bull by the horns and move forward to be successful.
Number 5: Expect conflict. Conflict among people is a natural, inevitable, and
constant factor of human interaction. An effective leader expects conflict and is able to
manage it in a productive manner.
Number 4: Tell the truth, but with compassion. Bracey, Rosenblum, Sanford, and
Trueblood (1990) point out the importance of truthfulness in leadership. Yet at the same
time the leader must compassionately tell the truth (e.g., about a faculty member’s job
performance, etc.).
Number 3: Listen. Communication plays a vital role in the achievement of
interpersonal and organizational goals. Effective communication requires leaders capable
of effective listening.
Number 2: Love people. Roger D’Aprix stated that leaders must be “loving in [their]
organizational relationships” (cited in Goldhaber, 1993, p. 217). “Loving” in this context
means that we acknowledge the value of our coworkers and respect them with the dignity
they deserve.
Number 1: Check your attitude. Amid the natural chaos and interpersonal
interactions, effective leaders are determined to ensure not only that personal goals are
reached, but more important, that the group achieves its objectives and fulfills its mission.