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Managerial Skills – The Manager's Toolkit! 🧰

Pop quiz: Can India's best coder become a great CEO?

Answer: MAYBE! Coding skill alone ≠ Management success!

Why? Because managers need 3 DIFFERENT skill sets - discovered by Robert Katz (1955)!

Let's decode the magic formula! ✨

Robert Katz's 3-Skill Model

1. TECHNICAL Skills 🛠️

2. HUMAN (Interpersonal) Skills 👥

3. CONCEPTUAL Skills 🧠

ALL 3 NEEDED! But in different proportions at different levels!

1. TECHNICAL SKILLS – Domain Expertise 💻

What: Ability to use tools, techniques, procedures specific to your field

Examples:

  • IT Manager: Knows Java, Python, Cloud computing
  • Marketing Manager: Knows SEO, Google Ads, Social Media
  • Finance Manager: Knows accounting, Excel, financial modeling

Satya Nadella's Journey (Microsoft CEO):

1992: Joined Microsoft as engineer

  • Technical skills: Coding, systems design, networking
  • Wrote code, fixed bugs!

2000s: Became Cloud division head

  • Still needed technical knowledge!
  • Understood Azure architecture, cloud computing

2014: Became CEO

  • Technical skills still help him understand product decisions!
  • But NOW needs MORE of other skills!

Lower you go, MORE technical skills needed!

Example - TCS:

  • Project Manager (Lower): Must know coding, testing, deployment!
  • Delivery Head (Middle): Some technical knowledge helps
  • CEO (Top): Doesn't need to code, but should understand tech trends!

2. HUMAN SKILLS – People Management 👥

What: Ability to work WITH people, communicate, motivate, resolve conflicts

Also called: Interpersonal skills, Soft skills

Why critical? Management = Getting work done through PEOPLE!

Sundar Pichai's Superpower (Google CEO):

Known for: AMAZING people skills!

Examples:

  • Listens to everyone (even junior engineers!)
  • Calm under pressure (never panics in crisis)
  • Builds consensus (gets teams to agree)
  • Great communicator (explains complex ideas simply)

Story: When Google wanted to enter China (controversial!), Sundar:

  • Listened to both sides (pro-China, anti-China teams)
  • Understood concerns (censorship vs business opportunity)
  • Communicated decision clearly
  • Maintained team unity despite disagreement!

Human skills at ALL levels!

Lower Management: Motivate daily workers!
Middle Management: Coordinate between departments!
Top Management: Inspire entire organization!

CONSTANT NEED across all levels! 🌟

3. CONCEPTUAL SKILLS – Big Picture Thinking 🧠

What: Ability to see organization as a WHOLE, understand how parts interrelate, think strategically

Think: Chess grandmaster vs casual player

  • Casual: Thinks 1-2 moves ahead
  • Grandmaster: Visualizes entire game, 10 moves ahead!

That's conceptual thinking!

Ratan Tata's Vision (Tata Group Chairman):

2008 - Global Financial Crisis: Companies worldwide collapsing!

Ratan Tata's conceptual thinking:

  • Saw the BIG picture: "European companies struggling, assets cheap!"
  • Connected dots: "Tata Motors can buy Jaguar Land Rover for bargain price!"
  • Strategic vision: "This will make Tata global luxury player!"

Action: Bought JLR for $2.3 billion

Everyone said: "Crazy! Paying billions during crisis!"

Result (2024): JLR worth $10+ billion! 🚗💰

That's CONCEPTUAL SKILL - seeing opportunities others miss!

Top Management needs MOST conceptual skills!

Why? They decide company's future direction!

The Skill Mix at Different Levels

TOP MANAGEMENT (CEO):
████░░░░░░ Technical (10%)
██████████ Human (50%)
████████░░ Conceptual (40%)

MIDDLE MANAGEMENT (Dept Head):
██████░░░░ Technical (30%)
████████░░ Human (40%)
██████░░░░ Conceptual (30%)

LOWER MANAGEMENT (Supervisor):
████████░░ Technical (50%)
██████░░░░ Human (35%)
███░░░░░░░ Conceptual (15%)

Notice the pattern?

  • Going UP → Less Technical, More Conceptual!
  • Human skills → ALWAYS important! 👥

Real Example: Flipkart's Management

Kalyan Krishnamurthy (CEO - Top Management):

Technical: 20% (Understands e-commerce tech trends) Human: 50% (Leads 30,000+ employees, inspires teams) Conceptual: 30% (Decided to compete with Amazon by focusing on India-first features!)

Category Manager - Electronics (Middle):

Technical: 40% (Knows electronics market, pricing, vendors) Human: 40% (Coordinates with IT, logistics, marketing teams) Conceptual: 20% (Plans quarterly strategy for electronics category)

Warehouse Supervisor - Bangalore (Lower):

Technical: 60% (Knows warehouse systems, inventory software, logistics) Human: 30% (Manages 50 warehouse workers daily) Conceptual: 10% (Understands how warehouse fits in Flipkart's supply chain)

All 3 successful because they have the RIGHT skill mix for their level! ✅

How to Develop These Skills?

Technical Skills:

  • ✅ Formal education (engineering, MBA, CA)
  • ✅ Training programs, certifications
  • ✅ On-the-job experience

Human Skills:

  • ✅ Practice! (Can't learn from books alone!)
  • ✅ Team sports, group projects
  • ✅ Soft skills workshops
  • ✅ Mentorship

Conceptual Skills:

  • ✅ Case studies (Harvard Business Review!)
  • ✅ Broad reading (economics, history, philosophy)
  • ✅ Strategic games (Chess!)
  • ✅ Experience in multiple roles

Pro tip: Start developing conceptual skills EARLY even if you're lower management! Future-proof yourself! 🚀

Quiz Time! 🎯

Test Your Knowledge

Question 1 of 5

1. Robert Katz identified how many types of managerial skills?

2
3
4
5

💡 Final Wisdom: "Think of management skills like cooking - Technical Skills (knife skills), Human Skills (pleasing your guests), Conceptual Skills (menu planning for a month). Chef needs all three, but head chef needs VISION more than knife skills!" 👨‍🍳✨

Next: Scientific Management - How Frederick Taylor revolutionized factories with a stopwatch! ⏱️🏭

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