The skills needed to be an effective manager include the ability to plan, communicate, delegate, manage time effectively, team build, demonstrate honesty, and utilize emotional and social intelligence. As I look back on my training over the past year, I can see how each of these skills is important to a manager’s success. In this reflection paper, I will discuss these skills, how they link to my job in particularly in sales finance, and how applying theory to practice is crucial to being both a good leader and a good manager. Planning is a skill in which one arranges the goals, objectives, strategies, resources and budget of a department or team in order to achieve the desired outcome. Communicating is the skill by which one expresses in clear and precise terms the necessary information that is needed or that must be received by another. In some cases, managers must be able to pick up on non-verbal forms of communication in order to understand their employees, and this is where social and emotional intelligence comes in to play: social and emotional intelligence skills allow one to identify patterns of behavior and body expressions that convey information. Delegation is a skill in which one ensures that the right person is assigned to the right task. Time management is a skill in which events, activities, meetings, and so on are scheduled effectively and appropriately, as time is also a valuable resource that must be measured out and rationed. Team building is a skill in which one organizes members of a unit to work together and contribute to the achievement of a common aim by uniting their various skills and specialties through effective use of communication, integration, motivation, and collaboration. Honesty is a skill in which truthfulness and transparency and key characteristics embodied by an individual to facilitate openness, trust, and the development of support.

The key takeaways from the training and how they link to my job in sales finance are that leadership, effective communication, time and self-management, negotiation skills, project management, strategizing, innovating, understanding change management, teamwork,...

Leadership is very important for oneself, for others and for the workplace because it is the pathway by which vision and inspiration are communicated: it is the necessary attribute of any effective change management strategy, and it is required in teamwork and conflict resolution activities (as is the skill of negotiation).
Many of these takeaways are interlocking and build on one another. For example, managing oneself and one’s time helps one to be a better project manager. In sales finance, this is especially true as one must be able to sort through a number of various directives and balance a busy schedule while simultaneously meeting both the demands of the department and the needs of clients. Without mastering one’s self and one’s use of time, the various duties simply cannot be performed. Likewise, demonstrating the workplace essentials of authentic leadership (leadership that is genuine, self-aware, discipline, and self-actualizing), helps to motivate others and increase the presence of positivity and enthusiasm in the workplace environment. Additionally, having a sense of how diversity and cultural intelligence plays a part in the job, especially in my area of sales finance, can be a major factor in closing a sale. For example, many clients will come from different backgrounds and require different approaches based on their own preferences for engagement. Knowing and appreciating diversity is the first step to actually helping clients build a strong portfolio.

Lastly, applying theory to practice is critical to success in the workplace, as theory provides the perspective that one uses when engaging with the real world issues of the work environment. For example, the theory of change management posits that in order to effectively create a change for the better in one’s organization, the objective has to be clearly communicated by the leader…