The success of businesses and teams are all hinged on the manager. While all the other aspects of running a business help — human resources and recruitment, people analytics platform, training, and workshops — the manager’s role is crucial in any business establishment.
Improve your management skills by following the 9-step process we have listed below:
9 Easy Ways to Improve Your Management Skills
1. Care for people more than caring for the task or project.
While projects and tasks are important and crucial, genuinely caring for the people you manage and work with is far more important.
Learn to value people more than anything else. You have to remember that as a manager, they are not serving you. It is actually the opposite. You were put in a position to serve them by ensuring they are in their best form to serve the company.
If you don’t know how to work with people, you might end up not having people to work with at all.
2. Learn to delegate tasks and trust that your people can get the job done.
Do not micro-manage. If you are used to always hovering over people to make sure they do things your way, it shows you do not trust them, their knowledge, and their skills to get the job done right.
Trust is an important aspect of teamwork. Learning to relinquish control and trusting your team can and will deliver communicates that you are confident in them and their abilities.
3. Be willing to get your hands dirty.
Nothing earns employees’ respect than leaders who know what to do and are willing to get their hands dirty from time to time.
Leaders who just boss people around without any idea about the task at hand is a huge turnoff for employees. More than just telling people what to do, they expect you to show them the ropes and guide them, especially if they are just starting with the company. Remember that in most cases, people leave bad managers and not companies.
4. Know how to properly relate to your superiors and your former co-workers.
As a manager, it is important to know how to communicate and relate with both the ones above you and the ones underneath. Learn how to address your senior managers and immediate supervisors.
Know how to properly and respectfully express your thoughts and opinions on matters. As a manager, you also need to learn how to manage the changes in your working relationship with your former co-workers. The change in your position entails new responsibilities that will affect your working dynamics with the team. However, it should not affect the way you treat them.
5. Take time to know your team individually.
As mentioned in the first point, show more concern for people than just the job. Part of caring for people genuinely is getting to know them more as people and not just co-workers.
Set aside some one-on-one time with them regularly. It doesn’t always have to take place in your office. You can spend time with them during break time or hang out after work with some of them. Get to know what they’re like outside of work, what their interests are, and other trivial stuff.
You don’t need to know each of them intimately; you just need to know them more as people.
6. Keep learning.
Never stop learning. Invest in yourself. Take leadership courses. Attend seminars. Read books. Feeding the mind widens one’s perspective and horizons.
7. Listen to your people more.
One of the pitfalls of bad leaders is they talk more than they listen. When they do listen, they listen to respond and not to understand.
Take a different approach and apply active listening. Hear your people out and try putting yourself in their shoes. Be empathetic. It pays to know how people feel and what they think about matters.
Show them that you value their opinions, ideas, suggestions, and input. If they have a better idea than the one that you currently have, consider going with their suggestion and show them that just because you’re the boss doesn’t mean you always have the right answers.
Learning to listen and understand your people will endear you to them even more.
8. Provide feedback and reinforce positively.
Give your team an avenue to provide feedback in a healthy manner. Give credit where it is due. If you need to correct a mistake or deal with a blunder, do so objectively and still reinforce it with positivity.
A good working example of this concept is the Sandwich Principle. Learn it and master it.
9. Get mentored.
A leader is only as good as his mentor. Surround yourself with the right people who are wiser, who know more, and have more experience than you. Learn from their words, their interactions, and their example.
Coaches and mentors can guide you and provide the necessary feedback for your growth. They see some of your best qualities as well as your blindsides. Allow them to speak to you and address areas that need improvement.
Everything rises and falls on leadership. Be the leader your team and company needs.
