An Impact manager can play an essential role in the success of a company or an organization. They are toned to be critical decision-makers and work on setting goals. Responsible for running social impact campaigns, they also work as advisers that can help an organization achieve goals. Whether they’re are leading through formal or informal leadership, they are essential to their organizations.
So what is an impact manager and why is it so important, especially in today’s modern organizations? What are the roles and responsibilities of one? And what makes a good impact manager?
What Is An Impact Manager?
An Impact manager is an integral part of an impact team within an organization. They are strong decision-makers and responsible for completing key tasks to create an impact. Working with different departments and teams, an impact manager takes care of external partnerships to ensure that a task is done smoothly.
An impact manager has a lot of influence on the organizations they are working for, since they can also be considered as somewhat of a moral compass. Since their first aim is to create a positive change in the world, they’re not focused completely on the bottom line, rather than how their actions and success contribute to our world, helping to make it a better place for all of us to live in.
What Are Their Roles And Responsibilities?
Impact managers are responsible for many different things within an impact team. They create social impact policies and make sure that their team and organization follow them. Managing internal and external affairs, they are required to work with other departments and external organizations to make sure that the objective of their team is completed.
Impact Managers are also required to represent their team and identify opportunities to enhance the organization. They are required to have strong management, decision-making skills, and interpersonal sensitivity skills, to help them effectively lead their team and achieve goals.
Impact Managers oversee many operations and manage external partnerships. On top of being responsible for creating a positive drive for the company, they are required to solve day to day problems and arrive at solutions to maintain optimal service by their team. They are key figures who are the core of an impact team and manage them on day-to-day affairs with strong leadership skills.
What Makes A Great Impact Manager?
There are many successful impact managers in the industry but have you ever wondered about the requirements to be an impact manager or qualities that make a good manager? Well, let’s take a look at some of the skills that are needed to be a good impact manager.
Experience
Like most of the jobs out there, an impact manager must have experience in his or her work. Experience teaches many things to a working individual that can’t be learned from theory. An experienced impact manager can guide the team and help in many business, public relations, organizational, and branding decisions.
Having an impact manager who has plenty of experience in the field can greatly boost up the efficiency of the team. It is a trait that makes sure a manager is well versed in his work and can be productive. Experience is a key factor to succeed in any field and just like that, it can be the defining factor of a great impact manager as they gain a lot of knowledge about the work and utilize it.
In the specific impact niche the experience is usually even more critical than in other industries, as it is highly important to communicate well the organization’s goals and methods for achieving them to the outside world. Knowing how to successfully maneuver between the press, parallel organizations, donors, government officials, is not something that you can learn in a single day, no matter how talented you are.
Knowledge Is The Key Factor
Besides experience, knowledge of the work is also an essential thing for an impact manager. A manager must have all the knowledge and skills in the field, so they can use it for the benefit of the team. Knowing how to tackle different situations is what makes a good manager.
The level of knowledge that an impact manager of the details of the organization’s goals and challenges is crucial, as they are constantly working with many external interfaces, and the impact manager needs to be able to shift quickly and skillfully between the different aspects of their work while seeing and being aware of the bigger picture at any point.
Communication Skills
Communication skills are crucial to work well within a team. For Impact managers, it is even more important as proper communication is vital for a leader. They are leaders or managers of impact teams which makes it important for them to have good communication skills.
If they have this skill, their work within their team will be much more effective. They will also be able to communicate with other departments, organizations, press, government officials, or teams, effectively to achieve their goals. This quality is essential for an impact manager as it makes a lot of things easier, and complicates the company’s operations when it’s not there.
Decision Making
This is a no brainer as every job nowadays requires strong decision-making skills. This is because different situations and scenarios appear every day and an impact manager should be able to make decisions on their own. A skill like this makes an impact manager valuable to the organization they’re working for and they are able to handle different problems and arrive at solutions effectively.
And of course, as a by-product of making decisions, the impact manager is gaining plenty of valuable experience that they can utilize in the future. It also helps them to move beyond decisions and learn from them to make improvements, as they are focusing on making the next successful decision and action for their organization, rather than dwelling on what went wrong and letting go of failures that might have happened along the way.
Leadership And Management
As the name suggests, impact managers are individuals who are required to manage a group of workers. For any kind of manager, leadership and management skills are important, so they can work with the required authority. An impact manager needs to have these skills as their team would not be able to work as efficiently without proper management.
Being a part of management also requires them to be organized and make sure that their team follows their footsteps. Whether it’s servant leadership, or transformational or charismatic leadership, every manager has their own unique style, that its effectiveness is measured by the organization’s success and the satisfaction of the employees.
It would be a shame to spend all that effort and hours and create a work environment that people don’t like to be in.
Problem Solving Skills
Another important trait a good impact manager should have is problem-solving skills. You always face surprises and things that need to be taken care of, and problems can be a part of any work and it is the responsibility of the manager or leader of the team to solve them.
An impact manager works with external teams as well and there can be many issues in their line of work. For this reason, they should be able to solve problems and maintain optimal workflow so that their team’s productivity stays at the top. This quality is rare to find in many managers but a good one will always be able to solve situational problems and provide efficient service.
Relation Building And Networking Skills
As an Impact Manager is responsible to build effective networks and collaborate with different teams, they should have good networking skills, and effectively know how to sell themselves. They must know and understand how to build and maintain relationships with external groups and build their network to achieve their goals with ease.
This helps the company build a reputable image and the manager can complete their required tasks using their connections. Since it is an impact organization, the image is crucial, and the ability to successfully build great relationships begins with a great presence and impression that the manager projects.
What Is The Importance Of An Impact Manager?
Impact Managers are extremely important for the team and the organizations they are working for. They build many different relationships with other teams and external organizations. This helps in creating not only an image of the organization, rather than brand.
Their desire to learn new things and take on many different challenges makes them an asset to the organization. They are an integral part of their team’s success and extremely important for their organizations, and to our society as well since they are dedicating everything they have to make our world a better place.
As a key decision-maker, an impact manager’s importance in an impact team is unrivaled. They are responsible for building networks with other teams which makes them a valuable individual for their organization. An impact manager is the leader or manager of their team which showcases how important they are.
What Are The Benefits Of Having An Impact Manager?
Impact managers are able to successfully achieve many things for a company which makes them one of the most important workers. By benefiting from their organizational and leadership skills, a company can pave a way for long term success in a field that creates a great for it. Having an impact manager also means that an organization will have an experienced and qualified individual to lead the impact team and build communication links.
Furthermore, they can reduce the workload on other workers and support the company in achieving maximum efficiency. An organization can greatly benefit from an impact manager who can carry the responsibilities. They can be a link between the management and lower rank teams, as well as with external partners.
What Are The Challenges Faced By An Impact Manager?
There are many challenges faced by an impact manager during their projects. Co-workers or team members may refuse to collaborate and to work according to the instructions of the impact manager. They sometimes need to give instructions repetitively to their teams to work properly on different platforms.
Sometimes they face many difficulties and as the leader and manager, they are required to overcome these difficulties. Impact managers, just like everyone else, need to be praised and appreciated, so they stay motivated and continue to work hard, and provide the organization with fluid workflow and great momentum that can generate massive results.
Impact Managers are important figures who are extremely valuable for their organization and modern society. They lead impact teams and build crucial networks with external groups. Having experience and skills, they are able to effectively lead and work within a team. Skillful individuals who have the knowledge and experience to work as an impact manager can transform any organization, and our world as well.
