People management is a subset of human resource (HR) management that deals with staff onboarding and talent development. A people manager’s job description typically includes recruiting new employees, nurturing them to lower staff turnover rates, and optimizing their skills to maximize their overall productivity.
You may simply look at people management as equipping all employees with the resources they need to discharge their functions efficiently.
Ordinarily, such resources would constitute elements that create a conducive working environment, including proper business equipment and fair remuneration policies. However, for people managers, the focus is talent development.
We’ve prepared a guide to the six topics that dominate most people’s management training programs.
1. Effective Communication
Communication is a fundamental skill, not only for business executives but also for rank-and-file employees.
Effective communication empowers people managers to maintain touch with employees under their chain of command. It allows them to articulate the company’s objectives, spell out deliverables for every department, and clarify ambiguous points.
During people management training, you’ll learn critical elements of effective communication, including listening attentively and responding empathetically.
People managers also require excellent communication skills to establish lasting connections with staffers. By articulating themselves, executives can build a rapport with lower-ranking employees and understand what makes them tick.
Effective communication can inspire confidence, which is another critical skill required of people managers. Besides, great communicators are masters at conflict resolution.
2. Servant Leadership
Many corporate leaders naturally gravitate towards authoritarianism. It’s only human nature to lord over others and have them bow unconditionally to our whims.
However, authoritarian leadership won’t cut it in a corporate landscape where teamwork often overshadows individualism. A better leadership model would be servant leadership.
Servant leadership doesn’t advocate ceding your authority. Instead, it encourages empowering your subordinates to achieve the company’s shared objectives.
Servant leadership enables people managers to motivate their teams through active guidance and constructive criticism. It creates a supportive environment where every staff member feels valued.
Since good leadership is highly contagious, employees can take a leaf from their supervisors and replicate positive leadership skills for their personal development.
3. Empathy
A staff member who has diligently discharged their responsibilities suddenly begins to malinger.
To many managers, the unexpected behavior change is sufficient grounds for dismissal. However, an empathetic boss would want to get to the bottom of the matter and help the affected employee regain their footing.
Empathy enables people managers to build conducive workplaces. Instead of responding impulsively to unbecoming conduct or productivity slacks, they’ll strive to uncover and address the root causes.
Empathy encourages perspective-taking. It enables leaders to resolve workplace issues by focusing on the triggers rather than the symptoms.
Through empathy, people managers can appeal to the emotional needs of their team members while maintaining the level of professionalism required of their roles.
4. Organization
Organization is another useful soft skill commonly taught during people management training. It is so critical to have this competency; without it, a company’s operations would gradually halt.
Some of the key elements of a well-organized people manager include proper maintenance of relevant employee records and deadline management.
With excellent organizational skills, a people manager can spell out deliverables and track project completion rates for all the employees under their watch. Constant reminders are then issued to keep the staffers on task, ensuring that critical deadlines are met.
The organization also helps to prioritize tasks.
A well-organized people manager understands high-urgency projects and those that can be relegated to the back burner.
5. Time Management
Time management and organization often go together. Both are essential skills people managers can leverage to drive efficiency at the workplace.
However, contrary to popular misconception, proper time management doesn’t only consist of showing up to work early. It also encompasses optimal resource utilization, such as teamwork and delegation.
Whether you’re supervising individuals or teams, impressing proper time utilization is significant in driving meaningful growth.
Completing assignments before deadlines can boost your company’s revenues and improve its reputation, particularly with new clients.
However, a conducive office environment is paramount to foster proper time management. Eliminate distractions and discourage productivity-draining activities, including checking into social media.
6. Problem Solving
Problems are bound to arise in any corporate setup. In fact, occasional pitfalls can provide reliable clues of potential performance gaps in an organization’s structure.
To navigate these challenges effectively, a company requires problem solvers.
People management training equips attendees with skills in preventing employee conflicts and efficiency issues at the workplace. The programs emphasize a proactive rather than a reactive approach to handling workplace problems.
For instance, undertaking routine performance appraisals can help people managers uncover skill deficiencies in some employees and schedule the requisite training.
But even if problems do arise, professionally trained people managers can effectively address them to keep the company firmly on its growth trajectory.
Wrap Up
The benefits of people management training aren’t limited to executives in a corporate setup. Regular employees can also learn these skills to optimize their workplace efficiency and other spheres of life.
For better outcomes, get a professional business coach to handle your people management training. Insist on someone with a proven track record of nurturing leaders in their industry.
And after finding what appears to be the right business coach, agree on key performance indicators (KPIs) before hiring them. You can occasionally reference these KPIs to gauge the mentor’s efficiency.
