Proper people management is a skill that every current and aspiring manager who aims to improve in their workplace must have. Effective people management can help improve morale and employee engagement, enhance team communication and reduce turnover.
Understanding the various people management skills can help you understand your areas of improvement and discover your strengths. This blog will discuss what people management is and the necessary aspects of it in detail.
If you are searching for a programme to help you develop the necessary skills for executing effective people management, check out Imarticus’s Global Senior Leadership Programme. This senior leadership course offers global exposure to its candidates.
What Is People Management?
People management is how employees are trained, motivated and directed to optimise workplace productivity and enhance professional growth. People management is used for overseeing workflow and boosting employee performance each day.
Managers, leaders, or departmental heads are responsible for involving new talent, career development and employee engagement. These professionals are also often responsible for onboarding and training new employees.
People management is absolutely crucial for effectively managing operations and it is needed in many workplace scenarios, such as:
People management is needed in many workplace scenarios, such as:
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Handling conflicts
Resolving conflicts is essential to a manager's or leader's job role. With effective people management, interpersonal conflicts can be mediated, which helps in promoting respect and collaboration.
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Achieving deadlines
Effective people management lets you understand your team’s resources and set achievable deadlines. Assigning tasks and establishing achievable goals helps encourage progress and innovation in the team.
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Establishing company culture
In a managerial position, you can positively influence your work environment. You can build a rapport with your team members with your people management skills. You can also ask them for feedback on the company and turn their input into actionable changes to its culture.
Skills Necessary for People Management
For effective people management, several soft skills are needed. Here are the essential people management skills to help you better interact with your teams and perform tasks.
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Active listening and clear communication
Active listening helps understand a team member's questions, perspectives and concerns. Active listening promotes positive interactions in the workplace. Active listening is directly connected to clear communication. Listening to the concerns of your team members and then communicating to them the solutions is a way of establishing clear communication.
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Empowering employees
Empowering the employees helps them in developing new skills and becoming more productive. Offering constructive feedback for skill-building and allowing them to change the workflow can help improve productivity.
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Flexibility
An important factor of effective team management is knowing when to be flexible and when to be more firm. You can demonstrate flexibility as a manager or leader by accommodating the needs of your employees, which also helps increase productivity.
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Patience
Patience helps managers practice kindness, respect and empathy when assisting employees to overcome obstacles. Patience is also necessary when teaching new processing, handling change, training employees and resolving conflicts.
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Trust
Building trust is necessary as it helps employees work together more productively and efficiently. Team members should be able to trust their leader and believe in their capabilities. A leader should be able to trust their team to complete any assigned task correctly and on time.
Five C’s of People Management
With adequate people management, projects perform well, targets are fulfilled, and deadlines are met. The five C’s form the basis of an efficient people management approach and are essential for having advanced leadership skills. These elements are:
1. Create
When choosing your team, ensure you’re building something that fits the purpose. The recruitment process has to be done correctly to ensure that people who add value to the company are being hired. Providing the necessary training is also highly essential to develop employees who have the required skills and knowledge.
2. Comprehend
A good manager should be empathetic - understand your team members, their goals and personalities. The better you know your team members, the better you will judge where and how they will be most effective. This will also help you in motivating and developing them.
3. Communication
Both you and the team members should be able to convey your needs, concerns and thoughts. With practical communication skills, you can tell them when improvements are needed and when changes must be made and congratulate them for their performance.
4. Collaborate
To increase your team's effectiveness, make sure you delegate the work to get the best results. Hiccups are part of a project lifecycle, but ensure that you face any issues as a team, which helps in encouraging loyalty, respect and commitment.
5. Confront
Conflicts occur when people from different cultural and professional backgrounds work together as a team. Conflict can create resentment, drive good employees out and undermine cooperation. When conflicts arise, managers must identify, analyse and try to resolve them. This can help team members understand each other more and find a better way forward.
How To Develop People Management Skills
If you adequately demonstrate your people management skills, you will have a more substantial chance at future management roles. Discovering your areas of improvement and strengths can help you decide which skills you must grow. Use the following strategies for developing necessary people management skills:
- Consider professional developmental courses: Some companies offer management training programmes, whereas others sponsor employees to attend professional development courses elsewhere. A senior management programme is a concise way of learning the necessary skills. You can find many credible courses online.
- Choose a skill to focus on: People management requires professionals to master several skills. Choose a specific skill, learn about it, its advantages, and how to apply it in the workplace.
- Find a business coach or mentor: Targeted attention is one of the best ways to develop people management skills rapidly. Business coaches and mentors can give you specific feedback and suggest actionable strategies.
Conclusion
Becoming successful at people management might be challenging, but it can learned with proper practice and techniques. To practice effective people management, you should be good at active listening, giving feedback and resolving conflicts. It would help if you also encouraged innovation and creativity in the workplace.
To become an efficient leader, check out Imarticus’s Global Senior Leadership Programme in collaboration with IIM Lucknow. This IIM course for working professionals allows candidates to choose a specialisation and tailor their programme to their needs.
