November 10, 2014
People Management Skills and Strategies
One of the major reasons why businesses go under is because their respective managers lack fundamental people management skills. Ever heard of the quote, you are only as good as the people around you”? This quote is very relevant to managers whose daily roles entails managing employees and teams to achieve specific goals.
Below are crucial people management skills and strategies that you can use to become a better manager.
Be a Team Builder
When doing this, it is recommendable to try and envision your business as an automobile where every part has a specific function to play and where the whole is more valuable than the individual parts. This basically means that managers have to work smart to ensure that each member is active and not just an onlooker. As a manager, you need to not only be visionary but also a team leader who is not afraid to get hands dirt. Strive to create an environment where every employee yearns for the rewards that come from combined success or efforts.
Make Accountability A Priority
You will come to understand that business goes on smoothly when every employee knows what they are expected to do and targets that they should achieve. One of the major benefits of assigning particular roles to an employee is that they are left with no option but to work hard to collect important information or data that is required to make reasonable decisions. This will go a long way in building their decision making skills as they will be able to know the specific results or impact of their actions in upcoming planning periods.
Give Credit and Kudos
Employees with bloated egos tend to think that they are better than their colleagues. As the team leader, it is your duty to foresee situations or events where one member might feel that they are the only solution to a particular problem and so they can share or withhold advice at will. When hiring, you should go for employees who are capable of going beyond their personal issues and focusing on things that have positive impact on the business. The last thing that you want in the organization is employees for make decisions purely on what they feel is good for them at the expense of finding solutions that benefit the whole organization.
Have a Zero-Tolerance Policy
As the manager, you need to set limits for behaviors and work ethics that should be adhered to at your workplace. Simply put, you should set boundaries where people only cross when they wish to put their employment or position in the organization at risk. Examples of uncouth practices that should never be tolerated include fraud, misappropriation of company resources, bullying, discrimination, cheating and the list continues. Have them sign the policy to avoid any disagreements and huddles.
Keep Staff Informed
At times, employees’ interpretation of activities happening in the organization and how you are handling them might be wildly wrong. This can result in an unnecessary uprising and conflicts that can affect your business negatively. To avoid such scenarios, keep them informed by disseminate sharing information. The main advantage of doing this is that it prevents surprises and gives individuals with good ideas on how to solve some of the prevailing problems a chance to come forward and assist.
Finally, be a good example by maintain high levels of professionalism, honesty, transparency, fairness and equity.