People management is a critical skill for any manager. Whether you are new to the role or have been managing people for years, mastering the people management skill will positively impact employee engagement and productivity. After a certain period of time within a field, you undoubtedly have the experience and technical skills to get the job done.
While these people management skills are incredibly important to your professional development, to take the next step and become a great people manager, an entirely different set of skills must be developed too. These additional, yet equally important, set of skills are known as ‘people management skills’, and must be honed through experience and practice.
What is People management?
People management skills, also known as ‘soft skills’, are harder to define than technical skills. People management is the process of ensuring that the right people are in the right place, with the right resources, to achieve the desired goals. This includes recruiting, training, and developing your team members.
Why people management matters?
Management makes a huge difference in the experience of every employee across the employee lifecycle. Management behaviors and styles have a significant impact on employee performance, engagement, productivity, and retention, especially when navigating change. To ensure that everyone in the team reaches their maximum potential, managers must build up a toolkit of people management skills. This is needed not only to motivate team, improve productivity and boost morale, but to also offer support and reduce stress in times of change, disruption or uncertainty. One must have broad range of people management skills that can be utilized for different people and different situations is the only effective way to get there.
Overall, the manager/employee relationship is positively influenced by strong people management skills. By harnessing and developing these skills, you are able to give your reports the support and motivation they need to perform, develop and face new challenges.
Styles for people management
There are a few notable styles to consider when evaluating your people management techniques to manage them in a way that promotes performance, employee retention, and a positive employee experience.
Directive
With directive people management, the manager tells employees what to do and how to do it. This style is most effective when tasks need to be completed quickly and efficiently to a specific standard or requirement, or when employees are early in their development and need more guidance.
Coaching
In this situation, managers provide clear, specific direction and support employees in achieving the desired outcomes. This style is effective to help people learn specific behaviors and cultural norms such that, in the future, the manager might be able to be more supportive and less directive.
Supportive
This style is often more positive for employees and can lead to better results where there might be many “right answers” and employees are experienced and competent in creating a positive outcome in the specific context or organization.
Delegation
The manager gives employees autonomy to make their own decisions with little support or involvement.
The delegative style can be helpful in developing employee skills and is typically best for highly developed employees who deeply understand the context, culture, and goals of the organization.
Still there is no one-style-fits-all approach, as even within a team, employees of various development levels may be managed using different styles. The best people managers are skilled in identifying which styles are the best fit for individuals and teams.
People management tips
Lets look at few tips to help one get a grip to the tricky world of management, and to be the best people manager one can be,
Approachable
Talk to your team every day, always be in touch, be accessible and approachable. Be one of the team, and do not set yourself above them, or ask them to do things you would not. Make time for them, make it clear that you care about their ideas and experiences at work, that you value their work and their input.
Trust
Trust is a key, as it is in any relationship. It is important that managers show their employees that they trust them and this can be displayed in a number of ways.
One major source of frustration for many employees is micro-management. by constantly watching over your teams, it could lead to you losing track of the bigger picture and annoying team members in the process. As a manager, when you show your employees that you trust them, they will take ownership of their own work and only look to you for advice when they need it. It it turn shall help the team to be more confident within themselves.
Communication
Good communication skills are vital to being a great manager. Communication skills encompass almost every management task; great leaders need to be able to present ideas and visions to inspire others, highlight the importance of tasks, discuss next steps with staff and get on with those around them.
Motivational
We all know not every task at work is thrilling. These dreaded tasks are where people management skills come in. When this comes to those less exciting tasks, you need to create reasoning or an argument as to why something needs to be done in a certain way and why it’s important.
Encourage creativity
Encouraging creativity and innovation in the workplace is a key driver of growth, employee engagement, and retention. Creative and innovative employees are more engaged and motivated and are more likely to come up with new ideas and solutions to problems.
Accept failure
A part of creativity, innovation, and growth is failure. In innovative organizations, failure should be seen as a learning opportunity. It’s important to create an environment where it is okay to fail, and you as a manager can do this by helping employees learn from the experience.
Patience
Managing a team can be hard work at times and you might often feel like nothing is going in the right direction. While this might get frustrating, it’s vital as a manager that you maintain patience. When in a difficult situation mistakes happen; keep a level head, control your emotions and act in a calm manner.
Give credit where due
At some point during your working life, it’s likely that you will have been in the position where someone above you has taken credit for a task that you worked hard on and cared about. As a manager, knowing when and how to attribute credit and give praise to the right people, is vital. It helps to build motivation and trust between you and your employees.
Problem solver
Problem-solving is a key part of a manager’s job. A great manager works to identify and overcome various problems before they become bigger issues and to do this, you need outstanding attention to detail. By spotting problems before they come to a head and identifying the root of the problem you take the pressure off your employees and those above you.
Accountability
As a manager you are not just responsible for your work, but also responsible for the work of employees too. Good managers hold themselves accountable when things go wrong and take little credit when things go right. When employees see their managers taking accountability for their actions, they appreciate the act and return it.
Honesty
Everyone wants to grow and feedbacks are necessary for improvement. But the only way that feedback can lead to real growth, is if it is honest. This means being truthful, at both the good time, and the bad.
When giving feedback, try to understand what happened and why it happened in that way. You can then give honest, helpful feedback without being critical or negative. It’s important to remember that when you are honest with your employees, they will return the gesture.
Whether you are an experienced manager or newly promoted learning is at the heart of all success. Learn about management, certainly, but more importantly learn about yourself and about your team.
Good managers do not stand still; they always shall be looking for ways to get the best out of themselves and the team.
