Skills of an Effective Administrator II

This approach is based not on what good executives are(their innate traits and characteristics), but rather on what they do (the kinds of skills which they exhibit in carrying out their jobs effectively).

The quest for the executive stereotype has become so intense that many companies, in concentrating on certain specific traits or qualities, stand in danger of losing sight of their real concern: what a man can accomplish.

It is the purpose of this article to suggest what may be a more useful approach to the selection and development of administrators. This approach is based not on what good executives are (their innate traits and characteristics), but rather on what they do (the kinds of skills which they exhibit in carrying out their jobs effectively). As used here, a skill implies an ability which can be developed, not necessarily inborn, and which is manifested in performance, not merely in potential. So the principal criterion of skillfulness must be effective action under varying conditions.

ACTION POINT: Understand the difference between potential and performance.