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There are many successful managers in the world and describing a common set of qualities that they all share is challenging at best. Complicating the task is that not every successful manager shares each of the characteristics in equal amounts. While one manager may be strong in one area another may be strong in another. In either case, they each play to their strong point as a way of compensating for their weak points and generally they try to improve upon those weak points in order to be even more successful as managers.

In many cases, the traits that a manager may display or use are determined in large part by the situation. Some managers are brought to clean house, others are brought in to take the organization to the "next level" while others are brought in to maintain the status quo while making subtle improvements. In each case, the manager will resort to skill sets that will be slightly different due to the situation, the people involved and the culture of the organization.

Given the great diversity in the qualities and situations that a manager may be employed it is best to keep in mind why the manager was hired in the first place: To get the job done and ensure the future success of the enterprise. This is accomplished through the manager's interrelationship with people, an ability to translate strategic goals into tactical accomplishments and specific goals and achieving customer satisfaction for both internal and external customers.

The quantifiable skills that a manager must have include:

Technical Expertise

The manager must have a good understanding and appreciation of the job that his people do so he or she will know what can be done and what the limitations are. The manager does not need to be an expert in all aspects of the jobs supervised but the manager must know when something is wrong or when people are giving him a technical run-around.

Systems Expertise

The manager must understand the context of the systems in which his or her people work and the requirements of the job in order to support internal and external customers. The manager must know enough about the system in which his employees work so that he or she can improve the system or help the employees identify areas that need improvement.

Planning Expertise

The manager must be able to translate strategic goals into actionable work items that are coordinated with daily duties of the employees. The successful manager must be able to look ahead, plan for the future replacement of employees

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