Managing people isn’t always straightforward. The size of a team, the varying personalities, the different skillsets, and so many other factors can contribute to how easy or difficult it is for a manager to do their job successfully. If you’re in a position where you regularly have to oversee the work of multiple other people, then you might find it overwhelming to reach your goals. Fortunately, there are ways that you can improve your skills as a manager.
Clearly Express Goals and Expectations
A manager’s job is to make sure that project goals are achieved within the deadlines. The main challenge with this is the lack of control when it comes to each employee’s individual contributions. To avoid micro-managing your team members, it’s vital that you learn to communicate clearly so that there’s little room for misunderstandings.
The first step to achieving this is to pin down your precise aims before presenting them to your employees. If you’re unclear about what the tangible results should be at the end of a project, how can you expect your team members to understand your instructions?
Listen to Employee Needs
When you take care of your employees’ well-being, you’re helping them to be more motivated and productive as part of the team. A good manager listens to employees and their concerns so that the working environment is as conducive to teamwork as possible.
Individual employees will have their own needs that you should try your best to work with, such as disabilities. Stay open to feedback so that employees can make suggestions about what would make their working lives easier.
Make Use of Digital Help
Online resources and intelligent software systems can make a manager’s life so much simpler. You’re most likely already using a variety of different software applications to make your job more streamlined, but it’s worth regularly checking for helpful new systems that could improve the overall success of the team.
For example, there’s dedicated software for HR to help you manage essential tasks relating to employee matters. These types of services are designed to give you a clearer view of both the big picture and smaller routine tasks. You would be surprised at how much time and stress you could spare yourself by taking a look at the digital services available to you.
Play to Individual Strengths
One particularly important quality in a great manager is the ability to identify an individual’s strengths and make full use of them to achieve project goals. Not all your employees will share an identical skillset, even if they have similar roles and qualifications. Some people are more creative or analytical, so get to know your employees and what their unique personalities can bring to the team.
Trust Your Employees
When you trust your team, you can allow more room for their creative problem-solving and self-motivation. If you’ve built a team that works well together, learn to strike a balance between managing, delegating, and letting them surprise you.
