People Management Skills
People Management Skills
People management skills (sometimes called man management) are important because some of the people in your organisation will need careful managing if they are to produce their best work. And, as you may have observed, managing people is not always an easy task.
Proper man management training can be defined as:
"Learning a set of personal skills that combine to allow you to inspire the best, most productive effort from every member of the team".
Learning people management skills involves, training to improve your abilities in the following areas:
- Handling difficult people
- Resolving conflict within the team
- Organising work
- Creating and sustaining a positive mental attitude.
Let us look at each one in turn:
1. Handling difficult people
Psychologist Carl Jung tells us there are at least eight main personality types: Many of them are difficult to deal with: For example, you may know people who are:
- Cynical
- Pessimistic
- Argumentative
- Cynical, pessimistic AND argumentative!
There is only one way to deal with people like that. It is according to the principles of reason.
You must treat people, especially difficult ones, according to the principles of reason.
And THAT means logically, which means:
- According to the facts, not your feelings
- According to the facts, not your opinions
- According to the facts, not your mood, or your prejudices or personal whims.
Everyone must be treated reasonably, according to the rules of logic, irrespective of how difficult they are, and that is a specific skill that needs to be learned.
2. Resolving conflict within the team
Conflict can occur between members of the team.
People management skills include:
'Being able to remain impartial and find working compromises between two warring factions within the team'.
Teams can only function where harmony exists between its members. Disunity can fracture the working relationships and render the team useless. So managers must learn the skills of:
- Compromise - Finding an acceptable middle ground between two extremes.
- Negotiation and arbitration - Finding what are the negotiable variables that exist in any situation of conflict.
- Managing the emotions of others - By careful and intelligent use of language, voice tone and body language.
3. Organising work
All the members of a team must work in an intelligent and integrated fashion, so that their joint effort is co-ordinated to achieve their joint targets.
That means the manager must be able to:
- Prioritise
- Delegate
- Make good decisions
- Plan ahead
Failure to do so properly will mean that each member of the team will create their own individual 'to do list' and the co-ordinate team function will splinter.
People Management Skills Summary
People management contains the four skills of: Prioritisation, planning, delegation and decision making. Each one is a study in itself:
- Prioritisation: Judging tasks according to utility and deadline pressure.
- Planning: organising resources in the best way that will allow for the achievement of the goal.
- Delegation: assigning the right task to the best person.
- Decision making: Picking the best option from many options, and having the courage to act on the decision, once it is made.
Failure to do any one of these skills properly will weaken the overall performance of the team.
We teach all of the above skills on our two-day People Management Skills training course.
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Definition: people management skills
In business, people management skills are a skill set that enables a leader to draw the best from every worker. They rest on four pillars: staying logical with tough personalities, settling clashes fast and fairly, structuring work through clear priorities and plans, and matching tasks to people while taking timely, firm decisions.
Show CG4D Definition
- Uses logic and facts to guide and motivate each personality, even difficult ones
- Removes team conflict quickly through impartial negotiation and compromise
- Structures work with clear priorities and forward planning
- Matches tasks to people, delegates well, and makes timely decisions
Article Summary
Leaders who treat difficult staff with logic, end conflict fast and organise work through clear priorities unlock a calmer workplace and, according to Gallup, gain 21% more productivity and 22% more profit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions that frequently get asked about this topic during our training sessions.
What are people management skills?
How do I handle a cynical, argumentative team member?
Why treat staff according to facts, not feelings?
What steps resolve conflict between two team members?
How can I organise work to keep the team aligned?
Why is prioritisation vital in people management?
What makes a delegation decision effective?
Thought of something that's not been answered? Ask Us Today!
Did You Know: Key Statistics
The 2024 CIPD Good Work Index finds that 42% of UK staff say poor line management is the main cause of their work stress, up from 34% in 2022. Gallup’s 2024 State of the Global Workplace study shows teams led by trained people managers deliver 21% higher productivity and 22% higher profit than teams without such leadership.About the Author: Chris Farmer
Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years' experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.
Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.
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