6 People Management Tips That Will Make You a Better Manager
Whether you’re the CEO or an intern,
knowing how to work with others is a key part of being successful at every job.
But for managers, knowing how to manage people and all their quirks and
ambitions is a key part of you being successful at your job — and a key part of
the company’s success as well.
Luckily, people management skills — facilitating success by overseeing and
developing your employees — can be learned. Regardless of your background or
your industry, you can learn how to manage people well. And while these skills
generally take time to master, you can make improvements to your people
management skills starting right now.
What is people management?
People management is a broad topic
that covers what it means to develop, organize, problem-solve for, and grow the
employee side of the business. These skills range from being able to mediate a
personality clash within a team to building an effective HR system for a
business.
You have managers because you don’t expect employees to magically come up with
and enforce company structure. Similarly, the idea behind people management is
that you have managers because you also can’t expect employees to manage their
own development, processes, and people problems all on their own.
People management skills — from running an effective 1:1 to structuring
onboarding — critically enable managers to solve problems and engage employees.
You can build your people management skills by making small changes in your
mindset and your perspective on problems. The tips that follow will help you
think about tweaks you can make in your own process people manage more
effectively.
1. People management starts with listening, and listening starts before you think it does
We think of good listening as
something that happens between the beginning and end of a conversation: being
attentive, making eye contact, taking notes, and waiting for the other person
to finish before you start to talk. And those are all things you should
practice.
But good listening starts before you even sit down to talk to an employee. Keys
to listening well are keeping an open mind and not jumping to conclusions
before or during conversations, according to Dianne Schilling, an expert on emotional intelligence.
This means you can’t assume what an employee is thinking, what their problem
is, or what the solution to their problem is – you need to ask them. Even if
you think it’s obvious what the cause of a problem is, listen with the intent
to understand as much about the situation as possible, not just barge in with a
possible solution. Prep for meetings, but don’t go in thinking you know all the
answers.
2. Learn to separate personal problems from organizational problems
Employees are going to have problems
and you are going to have to help solve them. But not all problems are created
equal. The root causes of workplace problems often fall into two categories:
personal and organizational. They may manifest the same way when talking to one
or a few employees, but understanding the difference will save you from a
disproportionate response. Treating an organizational problem like a personal
one is like putting a bandaid on a broken window. Similarly, treating a
personal problem like an organizational one is like remodeling your kitchen to
become a better cook.
Personal problems might be:
- an employee’s individual workload
- an employee’s problem with their process
- an employee’s dissatisfaction with their team or performance
- an employee’s unhappiness with work due to a desire to change projects
These problems, when they occur with
one (or a few) employees, can be corrected with your people management skills
and no significant reorganization. On the other hand, organizational problems
are entrenched and can’t be solved by problem-solving one employee’s problem.
Organizational problems might be:
- teams unable to cope with demands of workload collectively
- workflow problems frequently resulting in errors or delays company- or team-wide
- infighting or hostility within teams because of overall poor performance
- many employees feeling disempowered to take control of their work projects and career paths
These issues stem from inherent problems in the organization of the company. Managers need to use their people management skills to comprehend the organizational problem behind the above problems, while still people-managing to keep employees’ heads above water until the problem is truly fixed.
3. Understand the purpose of each employee
To communicate with employees and
empathize with them, you have to understand what draws them to their role and
what joy they derive from their work; i.e., their purpose. Purpose is a huge
part of what keeps people satisfied at work and what drives them to succeed
and push themselves professionally. Knowing why an employee feels connected to
their role and why they want to play that role in your organization helps you
as a manager understand how to help them succeed in a way that also benefits
the company.
People want to work on projects where they believe they can do well, and when
they’re given the opportunity to do what they do best, they feel more connected
to their work. Pinpointing exactly what an employee likes about their role
allows you to frame solutions in a way that helps employees see how your
solution will take them towards their goal, and how they have some of the tools
they need to enact that solution.
For example, two engineers are both struggling with a project they work on. One
isn’t interested in the end result of the project, and doesn’t feel motivated
to complete the work. The other enjoys the project and the collaborative aspect
of pair programming, but isn’t getting along at all with their pair programming
partner.
That first engineer might need to be taken off the project entirely, or at
least be given other work to help them move in a direction that suits their
interest. But to take the second off the project would be taking them away from
work they like — instead, making sure they’re rotated to a new partner who will
boost their morale. Assuming that both engineers would need to be reassigned or
both would need to be repaired would ignore the different underlying problems —
the different purposes of those engineers.
4. Treat praise and criticism like peanut butter and jelly
Although it may seem easier to give
praise than criticism, studies show that theory doesn’t hold water when it
comes to the workplace. One survey revealed that 44% of managers said giving negative feedback was
stressful, but a shocking 40% of the same group never gave positive
reinforcement.
Employees need a balance of both praise and criticism in order to thrive. If
you only give praise, you’re a straw man that frustrates employees because you
don’t help them grow. But only criticism and your employees will be on-edge and
demoralized.
The Harvard Business Review says a good rule of thumb
is to give more praise than criticism, showing that top teams generally have a
regular flow of compliments:
This doesn’t mean lying to your
employees about how well they’re doing or forgoing constructive comments.
Rather, it’s about recognizing when, where and how to give praise. Efforts by employees should
be rewarded regularly and in a timely fashion. Public praise, private praise
and special tokens (like employee of the month awards or other recognitions)
are all people management tools that build trust and morale.
Criticism, like praise, should be timely. Rather than simply pointing to
errors, good managers will give feedback by helping employees find solutions
to work through their weaknesses. By helping employees set new goals, you
signal that you believe in their ability to improve and are willing to help
them course-correct. Just don’t forget to finish on a positive note!
5. Never leave a meeting without asking employees this question
Whether it’s a quarterly performance
review or prep for a client meeting, you should always “end every important
conversation with is there anything else?”, according to David Hauser,
founder of Grasshopper, in his 2017 SaaSFest talk.
Whatever is top of mind — their most stressful problems — will come out first.
It can give employees an opening to ask for help rather than waiting until a
big meeting where you try and go through all their highs and lows. It also keeps
you in the loop on their development and their work.
Perhaps most importantly, this people management tip is an easy way to build
trust with your employees. It signals that you care and want to know about
their problems, even if it’s not explicitly on the agenda. People management
relies on interpersonal relationships, and building those out of every meeting
is a great way to connect.
6. Check-in when nothing is wrong
Picture this: you’re an employee who
has had pretty smooth sailing thus far. But suddenly, you end up with a big
problem on your most recent project. Since you don’t regularly speak to your
manager, you’re not sure what the best way to approach them is, or what to
expect. Should you email or Slack DM? Will they yell at you? Do you need to write
up a brief? You’re stressed in your time of need!
Luckily, managers have the power to prevent putting their employee in such a
stressful situation by checking in when nothing is wrong. Regular meetings set
an expectation of communication and provide an easy space for employees to turn
to when the going gets rough.
Meeting once a week is ideal, but even biweekly meetings will help. Running a 1:1 doesn’t have to be complicated,
either — especially when things are smooth sailing, they can be a place to
check in on goals and get to know your employees. And you’ll be more likely to
put out fires before they threaten to engulf a project or client relationship,
too.
Bottom line: don’t leave things to chance
Where good managers step in as needed to keep teams running and employees motivated, great managers are proactive and attuned to the needs of their workplace. Employees are not going to magically solve all their disputes and find their perfect path to develop their careers — it’s your job to get them there. Whether you’re reassigning engineers or listening empathetically, you as a leader have a responsibility to be proactive about managing the people side of business.
Article originally appeared on Lattice.
