5 Essential Leadership Competencies for New Managers
Stepping into a management role for the first time is both exciting and challenging. To succeed, new managers must develop a core set of leadership competencies — essential skills, behaviors, and attributes that enable them to lead effectively, build strong teams, and drive results. Leadership competencies encompass a range of abilities, from communication and decision-making to strategic thinking and emotional intelligence, all of which are crucial for guiding teams and achieving organizational goals. Below are five essential competencies every new manager should focus on, along with practical examples of how to develop each one.
1. Communication: A Core Leadership Skill
Effective communication is at the heart of great leadership. New managers must clearly articulate goals, provide constructive feedback, and foster open dialogue within their teams.
How to develop it:
- Practice active listening: Encourage team members to share their thoughts and concerns, and show that you value their input by paraphrasing and clarifying their statements.
- Give and receive feedback: Regularly provide constructive feedback and be open to receiving feedback from peers and employees. Consider using the “Start, Stop, Continue” method to structure feedback sessions.
- Improve written communication: Draft clear and concise emails, reports, and meeting notes. Writing tools like Grammarly can help refine clarity and tone.
To learn more, download SIGMA’s guide: Great Leaders Communicate.
Stop, Start, Continue Method
The Stop, Start, Continue method is a feedback framework that can be used to improve performance, processes, or behaviors in a structured way. Participants evaluate actions, behaviors, or strategies under three categories:
- STOP: What should we stop doing?
- START: What should we start doing?
- CONTINUE: What is working well that we should keep doing?
For more information about the Stop, Start, Continue method, and examples of how it can be applied, read SIGMA’s blog, How to Use the Stop, Start, Continue Method to Provide Great Feedback.
2. Delegation: The Key to Productivity
Many new managers struggle with delegation, often taking on too much work themselves. However, learning to delegate effectively is crucial for both productivity and team development.
How to develop it:
- Identify strengths: Assess your team members’ skills and assign tasks that align with their strengths.
- Trust your team: Resist the urge to micromanage. Instead, provide clear expectations and allow employees to take ownership of their work.
- Follow-up appropriately: Check in on progress without interfering too much. Use tools like shared spreadsheets, or software such as Wrike, Trello, or Asana to track delegated tasks.
To learn more, download SIGMA’s guide: Great Leaders Delegate.
3. Emotional Control: Managing Stress and Pressure
Strong leaders remain composed under pressure. Managing emotions effectively not only maintains credibility but also fosters a positive work environment.1
How to develop it:
- Pause before reacting: Take a few deep breaths before responding to a challenging situation.
- Develop emotional intelligence: Developing emotional intelligence (EI) helps leaders manage stress, navigate interpersonal challenges, and make better decisions. Books like “Emotional Intelligence 2.0” by Travis Bradberry offer strategies to develop self-awareness and self-regulation.2 Or, consider taking an online EI assessment, like SIGMA’s Multidimensional Emotional Intelligence Assessment – Workplace – Revised (MEIA-W-R) to gain insights into your strengths and areas for improvement.
- Practice self-care: Engage in activities that help manage stress, such as exercise, meditation, or journaling.
To learn more, download SIGMA’s guide: Great Leaders Have Emotional Control.
4. Motivating Others: Driving Team Engagement
A great manager knows how to inspire and energize their team. Motivation leads to higher engagement, better performance, and a more positive workplace culture.3
How to develop it:
- Recognize achievements: Celebrate both big and small wins. A simple “thank you” or public recognition can go a long way in boosting morale, strengthening engagement, and reinforcing positive behaviors.4
- Understand individual motivators: Not everyone is driven by the same incentives. Get to know what inspires each team member — whether it’s career growth, autonomy, or a sense of purpose.
- Encourage professional development: Provide learning opportunities such as mentorship programs, skill-building courses, or cross-training.
To learn more, download SIGMA’s guide: Great Leaders Motivate Others.
5. Decision-Making: Navigating Complex Choices
New managers frequently face decisions that impact their teams and business outcomes. Strong decision-making skills help ensure that choices are well-informed, strategic, and effective.
How to develop it:
- Gather relevant data: Before making a decision, consider all available information, including feedback from team members and key stakeholders.
- Weigh risks and benefits: Use a simple pros and cons list or frameworks like a SWOT analysis to evaluate options. A SWOT analysis helps managers assess a decision by examining strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors, such as team capabilities or resource constraints, while opportunities and threats are external factors, like market trends or competitive pressures. This structured approach ensures that managers consider all perspectives before making an informed choice.5
- Learn from past decisions: Reflect on previous choices — both successful and unsuccessful — to refine your decision-making approach.
To learn more, download SIGMA’s guide: Great Leaders Are Decisive.
Why Are These 5 Competencies Important for New Managers?
The five competencies outlined above are important for new managers for a variety of reasons. They address common challenges and lay a foundation for future leadership roles. These skills were selected based on four criteria:
Relevance to Early Leadership Challenges
Transitioning from an individual contributor to a leadership role is a significant shift. New managers must learn how to guide a team, manage workloads, and navigate new responsibilities. These competencies directly address common challenges that first-time managers experience, such as delegation, motivating a team, and making decisions under uncertainty.
Impact on Team Performance
A manager’s effectiveness directly influences team success. Poor communication or decision-making leads to confusion, inefficiency, and disengagement. By strengthening core leadership skills like communication, motivation, and decision-making, new managers can improve team morale, productivity, and collaboration.
Balance of Soft Skills and Tactical Abilities
Great leadership requires both strategic thinking and strong interpersonal skills. Emotional Control and Motivating Others help leaders manage emotions and inspire a team. Delegation and Decision-Making enable leaders to avoid micromanagement, empower their teams, and drive efficiency.
Long-Term Leadership Development
The competencies outlined above are not just useful for new managers but form the foundation of strong leadership at any level. Mastering them early makes it easier to develop advanced leadership skills, such as strategic planning, coaching others, and conflict resolution.
By focusing on these core areas, new managers build a strong foundation for long-term success while tackling the most immediate challenges they will face.
Getting Started: Tools for Development
Developing these five competencies — communication, delegation, emotional control, motivation, and decision making — lays the foundation for new managers to lead with confidence, build high-performing teams, and drive meaningful results. Strengthening these skills not only enhances individual effectiveness but also fosters collaboration and long-term organizational success.
To accelerate leadership growth, consider the Leadership Skills Profile – Revised® (LSP-R®), a personality-based leadership assessment that evaluates 50 essential leadership competencies, including the five competencies outlined here. Your Focus Report (see sample report) provides a detailed analysis of strengths and development opportunities, as well as personalized tips and tools to guide your leadership development journey. Growth in these areas doesn’t happen overnight, but with consistent effort and practice, new managers can become confident and capable leaders. To learn more, complete the form below and start investing in your leadership potential today.
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1 Kock, N., Mayfield, M., Mayfield, J., Sexton, S., & De La Garza, L. M. (2019). Empathetic leadership: How leader emotional support and understanding influences follower performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 26(2), 217-236.
2 Bradberry, T., & Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional intelligence 2.0. TalentSmart.
3 Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227–268.
4 Jo H., & Shin D. (2005) The impact of recognition, fairness, and leadership on employee outcomes: A large-scale multi-group analysis. PLoS One. 20(1):e0312951.
5 Gürel, E. (2017). SWOT analysis: A theoretical review. Journal of International Social Research. 10. 994-1006.