4 Tips to Being An Effective People Manager

Whether you just got promoted into a Managerial role or have been offered a new job, being a ‘first-time’ people manager can be exciting and rather overwhelming at the same time. You can now be everything that you wished your own manager was and help shape the lives and career of an entire team. Being a great manager, however, takes deliberate effort and skill. Allow yourself some time to get into your new role and understand your team.

Here are 4 simple guidelines that will help you become an effective People Manager.

1.???One to ones with your team

First things first; set up regular (preferably at least once every 2 weeks if not weekly) meetings with your team member individually. To be most effective, these meetings must be structured and both you and your team member must be prepared for the meeting. An ideal format to follow is:

-?????????Review action items from the previous meeting.

-?????????Current work in progress? Are there any challenges that you can help with?

-?????????What is in the pipeline until the next meeting

Remember, even if you see and speak to your employee everyday, structured one to ones are still required to ensure clarity of progress towards achieving objectives.

2.???Communicate With Your Team

Take time to build rapport with your team with empathy and compassion. With your leadership, they will be looking forward to a supportive manager who encourages them to be the best version of themselves while holding them accountable to meet agreed objectives.?

A great way to this is to understand their ‘rhythm’. Take them out for coffee or a meal and seek to learn more about them, their family, their interests and their ambitions. It’s a less formal setting and allows them the opportunity to be candid with you. Listen with the intent of understanding, rather than with the intent of replying.

Also, take time to explain your preferences, how you prefer to communicate and especially how to reach out in the event of challenges.

3. Make Your Team Feel Valued

Every employee values being recognised for their contributions. It encourages them to do more of what they were recognised for. Look for opportunity for quick wins. For instance, if there are some small things that you can do to make your team happy, do it. This will help you build momentum earlier on to build on. If you take time to listen, your team will share issues and ideas so leverage that to figure some quick solutions. It will help you build trust and garner support from them.

4.???Develop a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is most important to acknowledge that you are stepping into a new territory from being an individual contributor. This will help you learn new skills and develop the skills to have that were the reason you were chosen to lead a team.?

With a growth mindset, you can create the right environment to help your team thrive and follow your lead. The key is to keep an open mind. Despite the ‘handover’ information you may receive about your team, give everyone an equal opportunity to prove themselves.