Whether you’re the owner of a small business, a leader within a large firm, or hope to someday manage a team of people on the job, it’s important to always find ways to improve your skills and engage workers more effectively.
While it may not be something that you have thought about yet, studying a higher degree such as an MBA can be a great way to develop knowledge and skills in this area. Read on for some key reasons that completing an MBA can help you become the best manager and entrepreneur possible.
Relationship Building and Learning from Others
For many graduates of an online MBA accredited program one of the top benefits of studying the degree is the chance to meet, build relationships with, and learn from other like-minded individuals. When you enroll in an MBA you can get to know interesting, educated people who can not only become your friends (and even potential business partners, clients, employees, and referrers over the years), but also turn out to be sound listening boards.
During an MBA you can develop relationships with people who can be there when you need someone to listen to your leadership issues, provide fresh eyes and advice on finding, retaining, and engaging the best staff members, and who can act as a shoulder to lean on when you may be struggling – something that all top managers tend to have happen at some point. All of this feedback and support can be particularly valuable if you launch your own business and don’t have much of a team around you to help in the early days.
Another networking benefit to come from enrolling in a degree such as an MBA is that you get to meet people from all around the globe. Due to this exposure to individuals you might never have met, you have the opportunity to learn about many different cultures, and to hear about how leadership is navigated in other countries.
Apart from giving you new perspectives on how to lead your team, this international input can also help you to be a better manager when you have people on your team who come from different walks of life to you. You will increase your empathy and understanding, and will be much more likely to keep you staff members happy as a result.
Develop Helpful Personal Skills
Another great benefit to come from studying an MBA is that you will find you come away with new, or more developed, personal skills that come in handy when you lead a team. Communication (both written and verbal) is a prime example of this.
During MBA studies, students must practice their communication skills regularly, through individual presentations and essays, as well as during team projects, and when involved in work placements. These skills will then be very well utilised when you have employees, as you will need to clearly communicate tasks and wishes to them, and understand and take on board their thoughts and ideas.
Furthermore, MBA programs tend to develop graduates who have better skills when it comes to managing and leading a team, and negotiating with others. During team projects, all students must find ways to get on with others from diverse backgrounds, and with those who often have very strong or different opinions, if they want to get a good grade. As such, MBA graduates quickly learn how to get groups of potentially conflicting personalities to interact effectively and be able to move forward on projects.
If you finish an MBA, you’re also likely to come away with other skills which help you out when leading a team. For example, you will have to practice your problem-solving, time-management, and creativity skills in order to finish projects well and on time. You will also need to be well-organised. All of these strengths are important when it comes to things like:
• Sorting out employee disputes
• Setting staff schedules
• Ensuring team members are stretched but not stressed
• Finding ways to best use each employee
Understand the Wider Business Picture
Lastly, a key component of most MBA degrees is examining the global economy and how international markets work and can affect things on a local level. By coming away from a degree with an understanding of the wider business picture, you will not only become a better entrepreneur, but also a better leader.
By studying how things work on a micro and macro level around the world, you will:
• See how to utilise workers you have in different locations
• Notice some of the potential threats or weaknesses that could arise from opening new offices overseas
• Get more clarity on issues that your team may face when trying to make the numbers work for projects which are affected by international markets.
Tiffany Rowe, Seek Visibility
