American Management Association (AMA) courses

What is effective management?

Effective management refers to the tasks of managers to ensure that the team achieves their targets. According to AMA, it is the connection between strategy and results. It involves:

1. A clear and compelling strategy

2. Effective managers

3. Results

Managers need to be equipped with the right skills to lead successfully. The organisation sets the strategy and goals. The manager influences behaviour to drive performance through knowledge and skills. Employees execute actions based on the manager’s competence to lead, and optimal results are achieved.

When it comes to influencing behaviours, managers are responsible for setting targets and deadlines for their team, making financial forecasts, and efficiently organising work. Managers also look after their team's professional and personal well-being through coaching, mentorships, and workload management.

How to become a manager in Australia/New Zealand

Typically, aspiring managers must complete a Bachelor's degree in business, commerce, economics, or a related field. This usually takes three years of full-time study.

The options for advancing their skills are limited, especially for those whose journey into management started with work experience and/or a non-business Bachelor's degree. These options include:

• A Graduate Certificate in Business or Master of Business Administration (MBA). These take an additional 1-2 years of full-time or part-time. Most institutions require students to attend courses in-person on campus and online.

• A mini-MBA, an advanced diploma of leadership and management, or a similar program. These require 12-18 months of full-time or part-time study, often on one's own with materials delivered online.

• The alternative we present is AMA training. It allows you to equip your leaders with management skills through a fast-track cohort manager certification course. In the 4-day AMA-CPM course, a cohort of your leaders can learn and practise foundational management skills. The course helps you prepare for the AMA-CPM exam.

To complement these programs that validate a manager's skills, one can also learn from supervisors, ask seniors for a chance to lead a project or initiative, and volunteer to train, mentor, or guide juniors and new starters.

What are the top manager skills required?

In different organisations, you can observe six essential manager skills. These include:

1. Communication - Effective verbal, written, and people-to-people communication is necessary for transferring knowledge and information while building strong relationships with staff, clients, and stakeholders.

2. Planning and scheduling - Managing one's personal tasks and resources is one thing, but managing the workload and assignments of team members adds new layers of complexity. It involves planning, scheduling and investing in tools that support the work.

3. Building teams - This involves hiring the right people for the right jobs, reviewing performance, and ensuring that everyone works well together.

4. Leadership - It is said that management and leadership are two distinct concepts. Management focuses on getting things done. On the other hand, leadership is about motivating the team toward a common goal and helping them envision the future.

5. Dealing with change - As much as managers can control most factors within the organisation, external factors can impact how we work. These factors include the economy, national and international politics, and, as we have learned, world health. Good managers need to be able to help their staff adapt to these changes.

6. Domain knowledge - Many managers we have taught at Lumify Work demonstrate excellent domain knowledge in information technology, cloud computing, cyber security, networking, analytics, and project management. This is crucial in passing on their technical expertise to the team and ensuring they work at maximum capacity. The challenge is how to round out these technical skills with the other management skills.

Students can learn these six manager skills in the 4 Essential Competency Areas of Management Certification. In the AMA-CPM, these competency areas are:

Professional Effectiveness

Mastery of personal awareness and interpersonal skills, enabling individuals to manage themselves and communicate their brand and message.

Relationship Management

Ability to establish and maintain professional relationships to support strategic goals and a culture of trust and collaboration.

Business Acumen

Understanding business operations at the financial, functional, and strategic levels and maintaining a customer-focused approach.

Analytical Intelligence

Application of systematic thinking, analysis, and data interpretation to support organisational objectives.

The Management Body of Knowledge

This is the AMA’s flagship publication that students can get once they book and sit the AMA Certified Professional in Management course.

In it, you will see the different management competencies outlined. It deep-dives into the best combination of knowledge, skills and abilities that managers need to successfully perform and deliver results in today’s complex business world.

This resource guide has been designed as the benchmark of essential management tools and key competencies.

By harnessing its management development expertise of nearly a century, AMA has synthesised the best practices for managers into this powerful and comprehensive body of knowledge - in collaboration with other professional education organisations and incorporating extensive research.