Administrative Skills in Practice

For purposes of our discussion, administrative skills are divided into three specific sets of skills: managing people, managing resources, and showing technical competence. Any leader of a for-profit or nonprofit organization, if asked what occupies the most time, will reply, “Managing people.” Few leaders can do without the skill of being able to manage people.

An effective leader connects with people and understands the tasks to be done, the skills required to perform them, and the environment in which people work. For a leader to deal effectively with people requires a host of abilities such as helping employees to work as a team, motivating them to do their best, promoting satisfying relationships, and responding to their requests.

The leader also needs to find time to deal with urgent staff matters. Staff members come to the leader for advice on what to do about a problem, and the leader needs to respond appropriately. A leader must also pay attention to recruiting and retaining employees. Leaders also need to communicate effectively with their own leaders, the public, or other outside groups that have a stake in the organization.

Although it is not obvious to others, a leader is often required to spend a significant amount of time addressing resource issues. Resources can include people, money, equipment, space, or anything else needed to operate an organization. Technical competence involves having specialized knowledge about the work we do or ask others to do. In the case of an organization, it includes understanding the intricacies of how an organization functions.

Technical competence is sometimes referred to as “functional competence” because it means a person is competent in a particular function or area. No one is required to be competent in all avenues of life. So, too, a leader is not required to have technical competence in every situation. But technical knowledge of the functions and activities across levels of an organization is important for a leader.