People Management 101

People management is one of the most difficult areas of management nowadays. People are not machines, they are complicated, emotionally unstable and a good manager needs anticipate any possible issue that might appear in their job lives in order to maintain the team motivation and performance.

Introduction

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Management is needed in order to facilitate a coordinated effort towards the accomplishment of a company’s goals using the available resources as much efficiently and effectively as possible.

Good managers are needed to keep their teams on track and aligned towards the organization’s objectives. They are needed to provide the right balance of motivation, creativity and discipline into the key areas of any organization or business.

Why do we manage?Steer

Theory X assumes immaturity. It implies the need for constant intervention and supervision by management to modify people’s behavior. Managers with this assumption motivate their people using a “carrot and stick” approach.

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Theory X assumes:

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The average human being is lazy and unambitious, with an inherent dislike of work that they will avoid if possible.

Most people have to be coerced, controlled, directed or threatened to get them to work towards organizational objectives.

The average person prefers to be directed, has relatively little ambition, wished to avoid responsibility and wants security above all.

Theory Y assumes maturity. It implies people are not passive by nature but are self-motivated, responsible and enjoy the challenge of work. Managers with this assumption have a more collaborative relationship with their people and empowered them to make decisions and work on their own initiative to achieve the organization goals.

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Theory Y assumes:

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People are self-motivated to complete their tasks and enjoy taking ownership of their work.

With encouragement and little direction, most employees not only accept responsibility but also seek it proactively.

If people are committed to objectives, they will exercise self-direction and self-control in working towards them.

The perfect leadership style does not exist. However, it is useful to understand what your natural approach is so you can work on the skills you might be missing and enforce the ones you already have.

SteerLeadership style

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These leadership styles are basically the result of combining the two main concerns on the mind of a manager seeking results.

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Concern for Results: this is the degree to which a manager or leader emphasizes concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to accomplish a task. It reflects Theory X.

Concern for People: this is the degree to which a manager or leader considers the needs of team members, their interests and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task. It reflects Theory Y.

Leadership style

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Employees have a high degree of dissatisfaction and productivity sinks to the lowest tolerable level. It translates in high staff turnover.

The Impoverished

Leadership style

Always plays by the rules and is mostly ineffective.

Has little interest in creating a satisfying or motivating team environment.

Avoids being noticed and resigned to not being appreciated by their team members.

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May achieve high productivity in the short-term but it will cause low production in the long term. High level of conflict

within the team will cause employee turnover.

The Authoritarian

Leadership style

Has a maximum concern for getting the job done at all cost.

They believe team’s needs are always secondary to its productivity.

May not always be right, but rarely suffers from any self-doubt.

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Employees are not really discontent nor are they happy but the performance achieved will be average. Lack of confidence

to take risk will not inspire and challenge staff.

The Political

Leadership style

Middle-of-the-Road manager aims for security through continual compromise.

Seeks solutions which please the majority but delivers mediocre performance.

Fails to inspire high performance and also fails to meet people’s needs fully.

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Employees are happy and productivity may be effective in the long-term but short-term productivity can be very low.

Irresolute style can actually create conflict.

The Social

Leadership style

Mostly concerned about people’s needs and feelings.

Rarely criticises and tends to avoid conflictive situations.

Assumes that, as long as team members are happy, they will work hard.

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Employees are satisfied, motivated and forming a highly cohesive team. Productivity is consistently high and staff

turnover is low. It translates into high-performance teams.

The Team Leader

Leadership style

Commit to their organization’s goals and mission while motivating their people.

Has clear convictions but is always open for new ideas and opinions.

Inspires and works hard to ensure people work as a team and deliver great results.

The management development wheel is a valuable tool for supporting self-evaluation, exploring current reality and helping you to critically reflect on yourself as a manager and the practice of your leadership skills. It can help you to create clarity about the areas you wish to focus on, and to perform a simple gap analysis about where you are now and where you would like to be.

SteerDevelopment wheel

SteerDevelopment wheel

SteerDevelopment wheel

Ability to use the coaching style of management with your team members to get results in a non directive approach.

Coaching

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Effectively delegating tasks so everyone can move on to achieve higher team’s objectives.

Delegation

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Having regular and meaningful individual conversations with your direct reports to discuss anything about them.

1:1 meetings

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Planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on your tasks to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity.

Priority Management

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Setting SMART goals for you and your team so everyone can focus their efforts and user their time and resources productively.

SMART goals

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Communicating the direction to the team so everyone understands the vision and strategies and accepts their validity.

Aligning people

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Ability to observe your people behaviors and provide regular honest feedback, positive and constructive.

Observation & Feedback

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Hiring the right people for your team, firing the ones that don’t fit and ensuring your team is always well-balanced with the people you need to succeed.

Right people

People Management 101

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