The manager working in a modern organisation needs a wide range of skills. Think of the skills needed by Jane, the manager of a department, in the following scenario:

Jane arrived early so that she could have some time undisturbed. She needed to look through some financial reports and start to plan her department’s budget for the next year.

As she worked through last year’s reports she noticed that levels of key items of stock had been dangerously low on five separate occasions. She emailed the team members who were responsible for ordering materials and arranged a meeting for later in the day.

At the meeting, the team discussed the problem and identified exactly what was going wrong. By the end of the meeting Jane was confident that the problem would not occur again.

During the meeting she noticed that John, the leader of the stock room team, was unusually quiet. After the meeting she spoke with John, listening while he talked about a family problem that he was experiencing.

 That scenario is typical of the work of many managers. The four parts of the story link to the four types of skills that are covered in this module.

Jane first needed to work with numerical data. She had to analyse existing data, and then use it to assess past performance and make plans for the future.

She then had to communicate with her team. She first used email to pass information and then used her meeting skills to help the team members to solve the problem with the stock room.

Problem solving itself is a major part of every manager’s work. You’ll see in this module that this generally involves analysing the existing situation, looking for the root cause, identifying which plans might solve the problem, and then selecting the best of those options.

Finally, the manager needs to be able to work with people. This may involve a very wide range of skills in communication, leadership, encouraging teamwork, listening, and so on. For example, even in the brief scenario, Jane had to communicate with her team, lead them as the whole team tried to solve the problem, and listen while John talked about his family. 

As you study this module, do note that it is very much an introduction to many of these skills. There are whole textbooks, for example, on the subject of financial reports or problem solving. The two key tasks at this stage of your studies is to get an overview of the skills that you need to have, and to make notes of areas where you need to carry out further study.