Management Skills Quiz
For Technical Professionals
Article by Donna Earl
This management skills quiz will help you evaluate your comfort and skills in leadership role. Most technical managers are promoted based on technical abilities, then find it challenging to manage team performance and be the face of tech support within the organization. Take this quiz below to evaluate your strengths and challenges as a technical manager. Rate your effectiveness and comfort level for the following questions.
Rate your effectiveness/comfort on a scale of 1 – 5.
| Highly | Mostly | Usually | Sometimes | Rarely |
| 5 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points | 1 point |
| Question | Score | |
| 1. | Rate your level of ease in transitioning from individual contributor to lead/manager? | |
| 2. | How effectively do you represent the function and needs of the Help Desk to upper management? | |
| 3. | How comfortable are you negotiating realistic SLAs with peer managers? | |
| 4. | How effective are you recruiting and hiring effective agents? | |
| 5. | How would you rate your skill in setting group and individual performance goals? | |
| 6. | How effective are your performance feedback sessions with agents? | |
| 7. | How well do you model ideal customer service habits to your team? | |
| 8. | How skillful are you dealing with escalated calls from customers and other managers? | |
| 9. | Do you feel you hold the respect and confidence of the team? | |
| 10. | Do you feel your manager has confidence in your leadership abilities? | |
| Total Score: |
| Interpretation of Total Score: | ||
| 40-50 | = | Congratulations on managing your role well. You show excellent abilities to manage team member performance, and interact with peers and the organization as an effective advocate for the tech support team. |
| 30-40 | = | While you’re comfortable and effective in some areas, you will feel more confident and effective with targeted coaching and advanced performance management tools. |
| 20-30 | = | Moving from a role which depends on technical expertise into a role different skillsets can be overwhelming. The new role requires shift in focus from technical problem solving to solving people problems, and solving department problems with a big picture perspective. A management training session will provide skills and tools to succeed in this new role. |
| 0-20 | = | Feeling out of one’s comfort and competency zone is discouraging. Start now to fill the skills and tools gap, and develop a managerial mindset. Management training and individual coaching will provide the support you need to be successful. |
To improve your management skills see Coaching.
Donna Earl is an international expert in Customer Service Management. She specializes in helping technical managers develop skills for managing a tech support function. To use this quiz, Contact Us for permission.
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UK: +44 (0)7783 352 866
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