The coming year will challenge your skills as a manager. The challenging & exciting market conditions, younger & talented colleagues, ever demanding (?) CEO/M.D, will test your skills as never before.

To be a successful manager, there are seven essential skills you are expected to posses.

1.Understanding team dynamics and encourage good interpersonal relationship.
2.Identify & develop the right people.
3.Delegation.
4.Motivating people.
5.Managing discipline and dealing interpersonal conflicts.
6.Effective communication skills.
7.Planning, making decisions & problem solving.

The following self-assesment quiz, tests your skills & suggests areas for improvements.

Take this quiz by giving yourself marks as given in the column against each situation. e.g If your answer is 'Often' for the first situation you get 4 marks. Make total of the marks you get against each of the 20 given situations.

Sr	Situation	Not at all	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Very often
1	When I have a problem, I try to solve it myself before seeking my boss's opinion.	1	2	3	4	5
2	When I delegate work, I give it to the person who I feel has the most time available.	5	4	3	2	1
3	I follow up with the team members, whenever I see that their behavior is having  negative impact on customer service.	1	2	3	4	5
4	I make decisions after a detailed analysis, instead of relying on instinct.	1	2	3	4	5
5	I let my team members figure out for themselves how best to work together as teams  are a work in progress!	5	4	3	2	1
6	I give sufficient time before disciplining a team member, as I feel people have a chance  to correct their behaviors for themselves.	5	4	3	2	1
7	Technical skills are the most important skills that I need to possess, to be a effective  manager.	5	4	3	2	1
8	I spend time talking with my team about what's going well and what needs improving.	1	2	3	4	5
9	In meetings, I take on the role of moderator/facilitator when necessary, and I help my  team reach a better understanding of the issue or reach consensus.	1	2	3	4	5
10	I know how the business processes in my department operate, and I'm working to  eliminate bottlenecks.	1	2	3	4	5
11	When putting together a team, I first consider the skills I need - and then seek  individuals who best fit my criteria.	1	2	3	4	5
12	I do my best to avoid conflict in my team.	5	4	3	2	1
13	I try to motivate people within my team by tailoring my approach to motivation to  match each individual's needs.	1	2	3	4	5
14	When my team makes a significant mistake, I update my seniors on what has  happened, and then take it as an important learning.	1	2	3	4	5
15	When conflict occurs within a new team, I accept it as an inevitable stage in the team  learning & development process.	1	2	3	4	5
16	I talk to team members about their individual goals, and link these to the goals of the  entire organization.	1	2	3	4	5
17	If I'm putting a team together, I select people with similar personalities, age, time in  the organisation, and other characteristics.	5	4	3	2	1
18	I think that the statement "If you want a job done well, do it yourself" is very much  true.	5	4	3	2	1
19	I talk with team members as individuals so that that they're happy and productive.	1	2	3	4	5
20	I brief my team members so that they know what's going on around them in the  organization.	1	2	3	4	5

Now add up the marks you have got

Total marks	Interpretaion
20-46	You need to improve your management skills urgently. If you want to be effective in a leadership role, you must learn how to organize and monitor your team's work. Now is the time to start developing these skills to increase your team's success!
47-73	You're on your way to becoming a good manager. You're doing some things really well, and these are likely the things you feel comfortable with. Now it's time to work on the skills that you've been avoiding. Focus on the areas where your score was low, and figure out what you can do to make the improvements you need.
74-100	You're doing a great job managing your team. Now you should concentrate on improving your skills even further. In what areas did you score a bit low? That's where you can develop improvement goals. Also, think about how you can take advantage of these skills to reach your career goals.