The Key Skills that People Managers need to Hone - Guest Article by Jill Maidment

In the complex post-pandemic workplace, people managers require a range of skills to be able to manage their teams effectively.

Remote and Performance Management are key

When the pandemic first hit, many middle managers were laid off and team members with no management experience were suddenly being promoted or moved into new roles to run teams, mostly without any management training. During lockdowns, it became almost an unspoken rule that line managers wouldn’t address poor performance due to the multitude of challenges that office workers were facing. However, a few years on, working from home has become the norm for many office workers, and frequently there is still a reluctance to manage poor performance, especially from recently appointed line managers.  The UK has some of the lowest levels of employee engagement and workers swiftly become demotivated when they see poor or under-performance ignored.  Interestingly, despite office workers not always being co-located, the incidents of bullying, harassment, discrimination, conflict, and employment law cases continue to rise.

Therefore, managing performance is key in the hybrid workplace.  It requires a blend of skills and qualities, such as having empathy and compassion, but also being able to deliver constructive feedback in an assertive and motivational way.  If regular in-person 1:1s are not feasible, it’s also important to hold frequent online catch-ups with cameras on so that the people manager can see how their direct report is behaving and coping when home working. That way the team member feels more accountable when their line manager is taking an active interest in their work, their projects, and their overall health and wellbeing.

In the constantly changing and uncertain world, team members want to feel that they can rely on their manager to be confident and take important decisions to manage ongoing change and uncertainty.  Team members also crave clarity on their roles, responsibilities, and the amount of decision-making authority they have.  They want to feel empowered but also have clear direction and SMART objectives.

People Managers need to be assessed and developed

If the organisation has a leadership and management competency framework with associated behaviours it is easier for the line manager to identify, learn, and adopt the desired behaviours in order to step up and be assessed against those competencies.  However, in the absence of a set of competencies, KPIs, and a list of priorities, a manager, who has been asked to take on more responsibility, can easily lose focus and may even become stressed and overwhelmed at not fulfilling their own bosses’ expectations. They may become a flight risk or need additional upskilling to be able to manage a heavy workload and keep an eye on remote teams to break down any silo working.  This is where effective management training, soft skills training, and Coaching are so important.

Soft skills are increasingly in demand

Soft skills training was often viewed as a ‘nice to have’, whereas nowadays soft skills, often referred to as real skills, are being viewed as being essential for effective people management. Being able to identify, manage, and engage with a wide range of key stakeholders are really important skills and require the ability to build effective working relationships by deploying excellent skills in communication, negotiation, and influencing.  In addition, many team members now work in a matrix management or project management structure, which involves the direct line managers needing to collaborate cross-functionally and with other people managers who are directing their teams’ work. Managing healthy debate so that it doesn’t result in conflict is also key, so emotional intelligence and resilience are also important skills.

The role of a People Manager is now full on and usually combined with a ‘day job.’  Being resilient, assertive, organised, and emotionally intelligent are key attributes for successful line managers. In turn, they also need to be able to identify and develop the rising stars and top talent, who can assist in accelerating progress on strategic projects.

 

Jill Maidment is the Founder and Director of Natural Talent, Bristol, which is celebrating its 20 year anniversary. She works with some of the largest global companies, as well as public sector organisations, delivering Executive Coaching, Career and Transition Coaching, Resilience Coaching, and Leadership and Management Training. Jill regularly speaks to large global audiences, and she has published many expert audio talks and eBooks on key leadership and management topics.