Skills Every OBM Needs to Successfully Manage a Team
An Online Business Manager (OBM) must have a varied skill base to be good at what they do. Team management is an essential skill to get right to ensure goals are achieved in a positive manner.
Managing a team successfully is much more than being able to coordinate everyone’s activities and deadlines. It is an array of interpersonal skills, as well as organisational skills, that enable an OBM to get the most from their team members and decide on the success of a project.
Here are some essential skills every OBM needs for an effective and happy team. Some of these skills overlap, showing how each often relies upon another – just like a team itself!
Understand your team as individuals
An OBM may be managing people who specialise in different skill sets, as well as being from different walks of life. Examples include virtual assistants, copywriters, social media managers, web developers and more. An OBM manages people who are task driven and need accountability to meet deadlines.
On top of that, it is important to remember that these people are individuals. That means they all have strengths and weaknesses. Getting to know your team is essential in order to get the best from them, and for them to be happy and productive members.
Communication Skills
Giving instruction, delegating, understanding problems and finding solutions all rely on effective communication. Finding the best ways to collaborate allows good communication between the OBM and their team, but also between team members themselves. There are a variety of platforms that make communication easier, such as Asana, ClickUp and Trello.
Effective communication is about clearly explaining roles and what is expected of people, but it also includes listening. This leads to emotional awareness, which is another key skill for any team leader.
Emotional Awareness
Emotional awareness is a skill that helps you understand your individual team members and communicate with them. When you can put yourself in another person’s shoes, you are able to motivate and encourage your team, as well as understanding what may be holding them back from achieving their potential.
Having emotional awareness helps you smooth the way ahead for your team members, offer constructive criticism and advice to help tackle obstacles and get results.
Decision-making
So, you have a great team, and everyone is keen to bring their ideas to the table. That’s great! But an effective team leader needs to have the experience and confidence to make decisions to take projects forward.
Some decisions you make may be popular, others may not. Being able to communicate logically and using emotional awareness will ensure that no one is offended if their ideas are not used. Giving your team feedback and constructive criticism will help them understand why you make such decisions and emphasise the importance of achieving a goal rather than decisions being taken personally.
Putting it all together…
Your team are the people around you who perform the necessary tasks to achieve a goal or take a project forward. In that way, an OBM should also view the client as a team member and use their skills to fully understand their needs and communicate methods and progress often. Having these team management skills in the armoury is what helps someone to become an effective OBM.
As an OBM, I understand that people skills are a big part of being an effective leader and can determine the accomplishment of a project. When you have a good team behind you, your business is set for success!
If you would like to work with me, find out more about OBM services by getting in touch.
