7 Tips to Become a Better People Manager

For all the managers out there, would you consider yourself a good one? If you’re making your team feel valued, and are making sure to address their concerns all while reaching your team goals, you’re on the right track. But if you’re not quite there, don’t fret! We’ve compiled 7?great tips on becoming a better people manager. And to be honest, even the best manager in the world might want to continue reading.?

This article will provide you with 7 fresh tips you can start implementing today. We’ve also added some great books at the end that you can check out to further develop skills like negotiating and leadership.?

But first, let’s take a look at who are people managers?

If you manage people, a team, or even a whole organization, you’re a people manager! People managers are responsible for leading, motivating, and empowering employees and helping them to reach their deadlines, OKRs and KPIs, handling interpersonal conflicts, co-creating company culture, and more.

This concept is not to be confused with “people management teams” which is a new term we’re hearing more and more post-pandemic to ensure a people-focused approach within HR departments and organisations as a whole.??

So what are the skills that you need to excel as a people manager? Let’s get into it.

1. Celebrate your team’s accomplishments?

How is your team going to know you truly see their hard work if you’re keeping quiet? Make a point to celebrate big and small victories. Had a successful quarter? Mention that in the next team meeting so those team members feel recognized. Does someone have their 5 year work anniversary coming up? Plan a small team event to show you care and are proud to have them on the team. But don’t just stop there. Get to know your team’s motivation and drivers, and encourage them to work on projects that drive them. Celebrating their progress will boost morale and strengthen the team.?

2. Prioritise Transparency?

Want to provide a level of comfort that allows your team to communicate openly? Being more transparent and sharing information freely is your answer. Unnecessary barriers come across as if you have something to hide. Are you implementing a new strategy or tactic? Communicate it to your team and welcome feedback and further ideas. Today’s new workplace must embrace an entrepreneurial spirit where employees can freely navigate and cross-collaborate and solve problems autonomously.

3. Take ownership of your work and trust your team to do the same

Successful leaders do not make excuses but rather take ownership of everything within their domain. This means that you should take responsibility if something goes wrong in the project you’re managing. And when you start taking full ownership over your work and your team, you’ll notice your team members starting to do the same. This will make your team independent, agile, and very productive.

Also, no one likes to be micromanaged so make sure to work on your trust. in people management, you have to be able to bring out the best in people and trust that they will perform. Nevertheless, regular check-ins and 1on1s are very valuable and can promote further professional development.

4. Determine What’s Most Important?

Use the Pareto Principle also known as an 80/20 rule in your management style. In business, this means identifying the essential 20% of inputs that are bringing your 80% of the results and making them the priority. The 80/20 rule also applies to problem-solving. Identify the 20% of the problems that matter to you the most and separate the numerous trivial problems from the few vital ones. By concentrating on the most important problems first, some of the rest will just go away in the process.

5. Manage Conflict Well

Conflict can be a frequent occurrence in teams consisting of strong personalities. However, when handled correctly conflict can increase productivity. In order to avoid your team from becoming dysfunctional there are two simple yet effective tips to remember:

1. Address problems early on – If you let things fester too long, they’ll become more difficult to deal with and you’ll waste time acting on past issues rather than solving current ones.
2. Tackle issues directly – don’t dance around problems or pretend they’re not there; confront them head-on with kindness and without judgment or anger.?
3. Ensure you make every person in the conflict feel like they are being heard and that their issues matter and are addressed properly.?

6. Make data-based decisions

Being able to make objective decisions in your work is essential in any people manager job and it starts with research. Consider sending a 360-degree performance appraisal (get a free template ) to your team to be able to determine who deserves that promotion, raise, or on the other hand, who simply doesn’t fit into the team and doesn’t perform as good as the rest.

Make sure to include also personalised questions based on roles, projects, departments, etc. And try and ask open-ended questions.

Here’s a tip!

Feedback is extremely important, both for you and your team. A good way to look at your team is to imagine them as your customers. Ask them what they like and dislike, what works and what doesn’t. Actively listen to their feedback, make sure you’re taking their words into consideration, and take the proper steps to improve upon what isn’t working. If you do that, your team will follow.

HR software such as Factorial HR can be a big help in your objectivity as it will automatically gather data inside your employee portal, creating heatmaps and producing reports - automatically or based on your predetermined set of rules.

7. Never Stop Learning

As the quote by Harry Truman goes, Not all readers are leaders but all leaders are readers.

As managers, we have to stay informed about our industry and keep on developing professionally. This includes going to various events, subscribing to your favourite business publications, reading books, taking courses, discussing various topics and more.

Check out books like:

1. The Makings of a Manager by Julie Zhuo,?
2. Start with Why by Simon Sinek (or at least watch the YouTube clip)
3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey,?
4. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell
5. Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Greg McKeown and Liz Wiseman.
6. Never Split the Difference by Christopher Voss (or watch his Masterclass on Negotiation)

We hope that you found these tips useful! Did we forget any? Let us know in the comments below!