Essential Tips for First-Time Employee Management

Building your own business is fun and fulfilling. But let's be honest: Some things can also be a bit nerve-wracking. For example, implementing document management systems. If you've never organized documents systematically before, it can be a daunting task. You may not know where to start or how to ensure efficient access and security of vital business information.

That's why we've created this guide. It's designed to help you understand how to manage employees effectively, leveraging detailed employee information to foster growth and productivity. This way, both you and your new employee can concentrate on advancing your business with confidence and clarity.

The Role of a Manager

Managers are, first and foremost, leaders in their companies. They set the to-do lists for their employees, create work schedules, provide support and coaching, and set the strategic goals for the company.

They typically have a split focus between running the company, managing employees, and being a mentor who helps their employees develop and improve their performance.

That's why managers have to wear many hats.

Responsibilities of a Good Manager

First Point of Contact. A leader acts as the first point of contact for employees and guides them through onboarding, training, integration into the new company, and ongoing development in their role.
Coach and Mentor. Managers provide guidance, support, and feedback to their employees and help them grow professionally.
Performance Evaluator. Leaders regularly evaluate their employees' performance, provide constructive feedback, and set goals that help the employee do more for the company. This can also lead to decisions about promotions and additional compensation.
Communicator. Leaders set the pace for open and effective communication within the organization and ensure that employees understand their roles, the company's goals, and their contribution to the company's success.
Problem Solver. Managers assess and address challenges and concerns that may arise within their team, helping to foster a solution-focused environment. They remove obstacles for their employees and help them achieve their goals.
Culture Builder. Leaders help create, embody, and protect the company's values and culture. You play a critical role in onboarding new employees to that culture and making sure it's beneficial for all employees.

The way you lead your employees doesn't necessarily have to be the same as anyone else's. Everyone has their own leadership style and vision of how they want their company to be for their employees.

If this list of tasks sounds daunting, remember that good leaders aren't born, they're made. You can and will develop into an effective leader for your employees.

What makes a good leader?

Effective management isn't something that's innate to everyone. It's a collection of skills combined with certain personality traits that are honed over time through effort, trial and error, and learning from what works and what doesn't.

The profile of a "good manager" typically includes a combination of the following skills and traits.

1.Empathy

Employees, like leaders, have their strengths and weaknesses, areas where they have confidence and areas where they have doubts. A good leader is able to recognize these feelings and offer support or motivation where needed. Empathy allows managers to build strong, trusting relationships with their employees. This fosters a supportive work environment.

2.Inclusion

Good leaders know that diversity makes a company strong and that including all employees helps them reach their full potential. This starts on day one of hiring. Learn what makes them unique and promote their strengths and unique experiences. This way, you will help your employees reach their full potential.

3.Strong communication

Clear, timely and effective communication in the workplace is crucial to being a good leader. This is how you communicate expectations, explain new concepts and processes and make sure employees know everything they need to know to achieve company goals.

4.Adaptability

Any small business owner will tell you that change is the only constant when running your own business. Markets change, new competitors emerge, economic conditions change, and new opportunities arise. Small businesses need to be flexible to respond to these changes. Managers also need to be able to effectively lead their employees through uncertainty.

Adaptability as a manager and business owner means not only changing your strategy, but also what you tell your employees to do (and how you support them).

5.Decision Making

Managers need to be able to make balanced and informed decisions quickly and decisively. You probably have to make hundreds of micro-decisions every day, in addition to the larger ones that affect the future of your business.

Good managers are able to quickly assess the situation before them, identify possible solutions, weigh the impact of each option, and make confident decisions that best support the company's goals.

6.Listening

To effectively manage employees - and make informed decisions - leaders must actively listen. This means putting aside your ego and opinions when necessary to listen to different perspectives, issues and suggestions.

This will give you a wide range of options and opinions to use as a basis for good decisions. And it will allow you to effectively read between the lines and provide appropriate support to your employees (even when they don't specifically ask for help).

7.Leadership skills

Good managers are also good leaders. This means not only telling their employees what to do, but leading them by example. This includes motivating and coaching their employees to do their best, giving them more responsibility as they grow so they can take more ownership of their role, and being committed to their development as employees and people.

8.Time management

For small businesses just starting to build their workforce, time is often at a premium. You may not have many resources at your disposal. And you and your employee may have to juggle several different tasks at once.

Effective time management is therefore crucial to being a good leader. It helps you prioritize tasks, set deadlines and tasks, and ensure that the most important work is always completed on time.

9.Delegation

Many of the skills above culminate in the ability (and willingness) to let go of certain tasks and delegate them to your employees. Small business owners often want to take full responsibility for all areas of their business. After all, it's their (and your) baby. But as you grow, that level of control is unsustainable.

Good managers know how and why to delegate tasks appropriately, and are able to trust their employees to get the job done. Again, it's important to mentor and develop employees appropriately. As they develop, you'll find it easier and easier to delegate critical tasks, and that's exactly what will drive your company's growth,

10.Continuous Learning

We'll say it again. Good managers are made, not born. All of the skills and traits above can and should be nurtured and improved over time. A good leader knows where their strengths lie and where they need to improve.

If you're willing to learn and grow, both personally and professionally, you'll stay adaptable, informed, and prepared to meet the evolving needs of your business and your team.

Mistakes to Avoid as a Manager

We've talked a lot about what makes a good leader. But what about a bad leader? What actions or personality traits are potentially detrimental to good leadership?

How to Avoid Being a Bad Leader

Avoid micromanaging. Trying to control every detail of an employee's work will burn you and your employees out and get in the way of long-term employee satisfaction and development.
Give feedback. Failing to call out an employee when they do something negative or go above and beyond their duties undermines trust and transparency on your team. Open feedback - both positive and negative - leads to stronger workplace bonding and better performance.
Listen to feedback. Failure to listen and act on employee feedback can also undermine trust and show your employees that you don't value their opinions. This can damage employee retention and cause you to miss out on good ideas for improving your business.
Practice empathy and flexibility. A rigid management style that doesn't take into account your employees' personal needs, home lives and work styles can lead to dissatisfaction and poor employee retention. Be flexible and approach each employee with empathy.
Have the difficult conversations. If you don't have difficult conversations about performance issues, workplace conflict and other issues that need to be resolved, you're only making the problem worse.
Recognize achievement. Employees want to know that their hard work is appreciated. Failure to recognize and reward good work can be demotivating, affect productivity and possibly lead to resignation.
Don't overwork your employees. Assigning too much work or poorly managing workloads can lead to burnout. Understand the capacity of each employee and set priorities to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

This list is not exhaustive. A good rule of thumb is that you should try to avoid any behavior that directly or unintentionally upsets or demotivates your employees. Good leaders encourage their employees and support them in achieving their goals. This is how great companies are built.

Simplify employee management with IceHrm

Managers have a lot to juggle. Finding efficient and automatable workflows is key to staying productive and avoiding burnout as you grow. IceHrm offers a range of management tools to help you manage your team more efficiently.

These include:

Time clocks and timesheets: IceHrm ensures accurate tracking of hours worked, making it easier to run payroll seamlessly.
Workforce scheduling: Simplifies the creation and management of employee schedules, minimizes conflicts, and ensures efficient shift assignment.
Payroll integration: Streamlines the payroll process and makes it easier to pay employees accurately and on time.
Hiring and onboarding: Improves the hiring process and makes onboarding new employees more effective and efficient.
Employee satisfaction: Provides tools for better communication, feedback, and recognition to increase employee engagement and satisfaction.

Mastering employee management is crucial for business growth. IceHrm simplifies tasks like payroll, scheduling, and employee satisfaction.