People management skills are essential to the smooth running of any business. Anyone in a position of authority over others deserves to have the correct training. With correct and fair approach to people management and development, the results can be astounding. However, when poor approaches are applied consistently, eventually that section of the company will struggle and likely fail.
Fortunately, learning and applying the correct approaches isn’t that difficult. In fact, often when you learn these skills, you get that ‘oh, of course’ moment as you realize it just makes perfect sense. So, here are our top tips for people management:
Top 5 People Management Skills
Role Model : So obvious, and yet so often overlooked. You can’t expect your team to be kind, helpful and supporting, unless you show these traits too. You are their leader, they will mimic and respond to how you act. If you are always stressed and shouting at people to vent your frustrations, chances are your team will do the same. Act as you expect them to act, set the standard.
If you are always stressed and shouting at people to vent your frustrations, chances are your team will do the same. Act as you expect them to act, set the standard.
Logic and Organization: I’ve put these together, as it is hard to have either separately. Generally, if people are organized, then they are logical too. A logical and organized approach to team leadership is a must. It will help things to run smoothly and to make sense to your team. Actions will be backed with reasons, work approaches set out with logical steps and the direction of the team made clear.
It will help things to run smoothly and to make sense to your team. Actions will be backed with reasons, work approaches set out with logical steps and the direction of the team made clear.
Management acting in a clearly organized and logical way will inspire confidence. It often affects how the team works as well, as if the manager has things organized and looking professional all of the time, chances are that most of the team will emulate this behaviour. So, you need to be careful with this, as the opposite is also true.
Work Relationships: No, we are not talking about work affairs here, but rather the professional relationships that you build at work. You need to be able to support your team, being patient and helpful. If people can approach you and you can discuss things in a calm manor (even when you strongly disagree), it will help to create stronger bonds. Using emotional language with your team will also help to motivate them, as although logic is required, it rarely inspires. Your job is to drive your team, so use emotional language to drive them forward.
If people can approach you and you can discuss things in a calm manor (even when you strongly disagree), it will help to create stronger bonds. Using emotional language with your team will also help to motivate them, as although logic is required, it rarely inspires. Your job is to drive your team, so use emotional language to drive them forward.
Share Your Knowledge: Much of what happens within a team will also reflect the knowledge of that team. If you have learned new ways to support and motivate, consider if this could be useful to your team. Sometimes the use isn’t obvious, but imagine that you setup your team to support and motivate each other … suddenly the knowledge you shared is doing the work for you.
Communication Skills: If you don’t already have good skills, you need to work on them. The outcomes of all of the above approaches will largely be determined by your communication skills. Practice your written and spoken communications, especially using emotional language. This is also vital for those that deal directly with customers. Good communications will change your business in a positive way. Communication, whether written or oral, should be clear. Many normal sentences are vague in everyday conversations. For business, communications should not be open to interpretation. They should be concise, providing all the required information in an easy to understand way that is not open to interpretation.
Use these approaches to people management and you should start to see some improvements quickly.
