Christian Walliker - 6 People Management Tips That Will Make You a Better Manager

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Christian Walliker - 6 People Management Tips
That Will Make You a Better Manager
Whether you're the CEO, intern, or new manager,
knowing how to work with others is a key part of
being successful at every job. But for new and
experienced managers alike, 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 direct reports can be learned,
whether you're a first-time manager or one
that's more seasoned. And while these skills do
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 between team
members to building an effective human resources
system for a business. You have a management team
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 11 to structuring
onboarding critically enable managers to solve
problems and engage
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• 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 to be a more effective
  and successful manager.
• 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 parts of the listening skill set
  that you should practice.
• But good listening is essential to the management
  role, and it starts before you even sit down to
  talk to an employee. Keys to listening well
  include 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 have to let go
  of your preconceived notions, and you need to
  ask them. Even if they think the cause of a
  problem is obvious, a great manager listens with
  the intent of understanding as much about the
  situation as possible they don't just barge in
  with a possible solution. Prep for meetings, but
  don't go in thinking you know all the answers.
• 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

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• 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
  members 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 between team members
  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.

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3. Understand each employee's purpose. 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're inspired
to be an individual contributor to the business
through it 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 or why they may be striving for a
promotion/ to take on a new 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
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to be repaired would ignore the big picture that
those engineers have different purposes, and
therefore different underlying problems. 4.
Balance praise and criticism wisely. 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 for good work, 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
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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 open-ended 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 biggest challenges 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 without them
feeling like you're micromanaging. Perhaps most
importantly, this tip is an easy way to build
trust with your employees and be a better
manager. 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.
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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
don't really know how to approach them, 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 11
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 to reach their career goals
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.