Requirements for a leader: assessment criteria, personal qualities and professionalism

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

In any company there are a number of requirements for the leader. This is a necessary measure to control the quality of the work of such specialists. With their help, you can determine the degree of professionalism of the manager and identify his weaknesses. Also, the manager or director himself, understanding what exactly is expected of him, can adjust his actions, bringing them in line with specific standards.

Basic requirements for a manager

The success of any company is largely the result of good management.

For this reason, it is important to understand what kind of requirements for the head of the organization must be presented. The basic evaluation criteria are as follows:

• willingness to take responsibility and take risks if necessary;
• ability to work with subordinates;
• First leadership experience under 35 (begin after thismarks difficult);
• the ability to properly organize your time;
• the ability to generate ideas;
• presence of special training in management and management;
• the ability to change management style as needed.
• possessing analytical skills;
• the ability to distribute roles in a team and delegate authority;
• skills to properly influence and manage people;
• the ability to find the shortest path to the goal;
• ability to make decisions quickly and independently;
• self-criticism about the results of their activities;
• the ability to conduct a qualitative analysis of the situation and deal with difficult situations.

Thus, the essence of the requirements for a leader is that he must be a professional, be able to think outside the box, make bold decisions at the right time and remain able to work competently with people.

Also, the person in charge of a specific group of specialists must be able to accurately understand the instructions that come from higher management.

Personal qualities

The requirements for a leader must include a special type of thinking. Not every person will be able to think and react in the way that the position of manager requires. We are talking about the following characteristics of thinking and personality in general:

1. Prompt response to changing circumstances. This means that rational and fast decisions are made in conditions of time pressure. And it happens without participationsuperiors.
2. Competent combination of conservative methods with unconventional solutions. In other words, the manager skillfully combines innovative management schemes with the experience that has been accumulated before him.
3. Systems thinking. The manager takes into account all facets of the labor process and correctly prioritizes. That is, he understands the function of specific processes and sees the best way to use them, taking into account the characteristics of the entire system.
4. Accurate identification of perspectives and challenges. A good leader can identify potential or growing problems early and develop a plan to address them.
5. Dedication and consistency. Analysts are constantly being conducted regarding the effectiveness of methods for fulfilling the tasks set. At the same time, the main processes are separated from the secondary ones, which allows you to correctly allocate resources.

One of the important requirements for a leader is his positive attitude towards his subordinates, since the labor enthusiasm of the latter depends on this.

Self-management

As one of the main requirements for a leader, one can define his ability to independently organize his own work.

Self-management is a skill necessary to effectively interact with other employees and achieve your goals.

Self-management is very important, because tasks will have to be solved in a limited time and done professionally. Moreover, the modern leader is in a situation where continuous educationalprocess. Otherwise, he will simply begin to lose his qualifications and will not be able to maintain the required level of competitiveness of his organization. And learning quickly and efficiently, implementing the acquired knowledge, will not work without self-discipline and competent time management.

Thus, self-control is a skill that a qualified manager must have without fail.

Qualification requirements

Any organization has its own special tasks, which are formed taking into account the specifics of the main activity. The qualification requirements for a manager may also differ depending on what exactly the company does.

As an example, consider the characteristics of the director of an organization. In this case, the qualification requirements for the manager's position are as follows:

• Performs management in accordance with the law. Also, the manager always takes into account the priorities of the financial, economic, economic and production activities of the enterprise.
• Ensures the effective use of the organization's property and its safety. The manager must be able to achieve the desired financial and economic results of the company.
• Defines the organization's strategy and policy. The director also develops mechanisms for their implementation. He performs various operations with third-party organizations, concludes contracts, issues orders and orders. Moreover, the director represents his companyat business meetings.
• Ensures the fulfillment of obligations by the company to the state. We are talking about the state budget, or rather, about deductions to insurance and pension savings funds. In addition, the director monitors the payments that creditors, suppliers, customers and banks should receive, and also pays attention to the fulfillment of the terms of business and employment contracts.
• Does everything to ensure that production and economic activities are carried out using new equipment and based on the latest technologies. All this is done in order to improve the technological level of the company as a whole and the quality of services/products in particular. As a result, resources will be used more economically, and production reserves - more rationally.
• Achieves productive work of all structural units and their effective interaction. To do this, the manager directs the activities of departments to improve and develop mobile flexible production. If services are provided, then the goals remain the same: to do it efficiently and quickly. The manager makes sure that the production or a team of specialists react to changing market conditions and innovations without tangible delay. At the same time, social priorities and accents within the market segments relevant to the company are taken into account.
• Provides an increase in the level of efficiency of the organization. The requirements for the manager in this case are simple: to perform actions aimed at increasing sales of services, products, as well as improving their quality and competitiveness. It means thatthe goods must meet the standards of the state and the requirements of other developed countries, enabling the company to conquer new markets.

Qualification requirements for Human Resources

The manager is required not only to manage the company's specialists, but also to do it competently.

As a result, the director should be able to:

• Take action to bring in new personnel. The organization must be provided with all the necessary specialists with the required skill level.
• Ensure the use of administrative and methodological guidance schemes. The director should discuss with employees and subsequently resolve issues related to the stimulation of labor activity and involvement in the process. We are talking about the moral, material and production side of employee motivation.
• Ensure the development and implementation of the collective agreement. At the same time, the content of the document must comply with the principles of social partnership.
• To strive for industrial and labor discipline. This part closely intersects with the formation of employee motivation. If specialists have reasons to work actively and take initiative, then it will not be difficult to achieve the desired level of discipline.
• Competently delegate tasks. The director needs to distribute duties among other officials and entrust them with the conduct of certain areas of the company's activities. This includes working with deputies, branch managers, andheads of production and functional divisions.

Knowledge Base

In general, the requirements for the head of an organization regarding his qualifications include training in various directions.

In addition to the fact that the director must be able to work with people, he must know the regulatory, legal and legislative acts that relate to the activities of his organization. The manager should also study methodological and other materials related to his profile.

What other requirements are put forward for a person applying for the position of a leader? It is very important to know the strategy, priorities and prospects for the economic and social development of the organization. Managers at different levels must understand where and how the company is moving globally in order to make strategically correct local decisions.

The manager also needs to know his sector and organizations related to it. That is, those who perform the function of a manager need to have information about suppliers, competitors, new sales markets and be able to use a system of economic indicators. The latter is needed in order for the company to be able to determine its place in the market and develop programs for reaching new sales levels.

Knowledge necessary for a manager also includes practical marketing, sales management, advertising techniques, experience in concluding and subsequent execution of contracts (economic and financial).

To maintain the required levelknowledge, the manager needs, among other things, to study the experience of other companies, both national and foreign.

Leadership Style

Professional requirements for a manager also include the ability to choose the most appropriate management method.

There are different styles of leadership, and the director/manager must be aware of them in order to maintain flexibility in working methods. You can choose from the following options:

1. Collegial style. With such management, subordinates get more freedom in the performance of production tasks, but the leader always leaves the final word to himself. Issues are resolved collegially with informing employees and defining common tasks and goals. Authority is delegated actively. The manager contributes to the development of the creative component in employees and encourages initiative. There is no excessive control and guardianship.
2. Directory style. It is based on the desire for autocracy and the principles of authoritarian ethics. Methods of action and tasks of subordinates are strictly regulated. As for the solution of issues, this process is carried out exclusively centrally. Managers operating within this management style are more likely to choose obedient and loyal employees than free-thinking specialists. As a result, the initiative and the creative component of the work process are severely suppressed. Perfect order and formal discipline are most valued.

In reality, of course, it is difficult to find management implemented within the framework of a strictlyone style. Usually, elements of both directions are combined depending on the specifics of the enterprise and on what requirements the owners of the company impose on the manager.

Permissive style

This type of management deserves special attention, as it is an example of inefficient interaction with subordinates. This liberal leadership style is characterized by the following features:

• manager avoids resolving conflicts and contentious issues;
• various tasks concerning management are often delegated to subordinates;
• manager refers to the decisions of higher authorities, not wanting to take the risk and responsibility;
• the leader does not pay attention to any assessment from subordinates, does not prohibit anything and does not notice violations.

With this approach to leadership, it will be extremely difficult to gain authority in the team and achieve significant results.

Evaluation methods

In addition to defining the requirements for the leader, it is important to develop a system for checking compliance with them. It also requires a competent analysis of the qualities of a candidate for a managerial position. For these purposes, the following methods of assessing managers are used:

• Interview. At this stage, professional knowledge, attitude and work behavior are assessed.
• Conducting group discussions. Such an event allows you to evaluate the leadership potential, knowledge, business and personal qualities of managers. also inin the process of group discussion of solving specific problems, you can test the communication skills of managers.
• Biographical method. The leader is evaluated based on data from his biography.
• Analysis of situations. To assess the level of professionalism and qualifications of the head, an analysis of specific problems is carried out. Employees involved in resource and personnel management should identify the most important facets of the situation and offer their own methods to achieve the desired result.
• Evaluation of achievements. This is a written or oral description of the specific work performed by the manager.
• Method of critical situations. It is possible to understand whether the manager meets the requirements of the job by analyzing his behavior in difficult circumstances. It could be an unfamiliar situation or a decision that comes with a high level of responsibility.
• Method of scoring. Its essence is reduced to the formation of a system of assessments of the actions performed and decisions made. When the requirements for managers and specialists are met, and managers show themselves as competent and highly qualified employees, points are awarded. In case of unprofessional behavior, evaluation units are taken away. At the end of the month and quarter, you can determine the level of effectiveness of the leader's actions by the number of points scored.
• Using a standard list. The characteristics and results are compared with a list that contains the requirements for the manager's official behavior.
• Conducting business games. Initially developeda scenario based on which a situation is played out that simulates production conditions. The manager is required to make a decision using the information available to him.

Also, to determine the performance of managers at different levels, an assessment of the annual performance of their departments is used.

Results

The system of criteria and requirements aimed at assessing the manager allows you to initially select the best specialists and subsequently increase their level of efficiency. Also, the directors and managers themselves will be able to adjust their management style faster and more accurately, having a clear picture of the correct work within the framework of their responsibilities.