Human Resource Management Skills to Thrive as a Manager

After a certain amount of time in a field, you likely have the experience and technical skills to get the job done.

While these skills are extremely important to your professional development, to take the next step and become a great manager, you also need to develop an entirely different set of skills.

These additional, but equally important skills are known as "people management skills" and must be honed through experience and practice.

What are people management skills?

People management skills, also known as "soft skills," are more difficult to define than technical skills. They include skills such as communication, confidence and patience, to name a few. In other words, these are the skills you need to deal with, communicate with and lead your people as a manager to achieve optimal results.

A manager with these skills can make the difference between a frustrated, confused and underperforming team and a productive, motivated and engaged team.

Why are people management skills so important?

Companies are made up of people of different ages, from different backgrounds and with different ideas about how to work. This means that different groups within your company will be motivated by different things and will work best in particular ways.

To ensure that each team member reaches his or her maximum potential, managers need to develop a set of people management skills. These skills are needed not only to motivate individual team members, improve productivity and boost morale, but also to provide support and reduce stress in times of change, disruption or uncertainty. Since all of this must be done by aligning individual career goals with corporate goals, the only effective way to do this is to have a broad range of people management skills that can be used for different people and different situations.

Overall, the manager/employee relationship is positively influenced by strong people management skills. By leveraging and developing these skills, you can provide your employees with the support and motivation they need to perform, grow and take on new challenges.

Below are the 9 people management skills you need to succeed as a manager:

Trust
As in any relationship, trust is important. And the manager/employee relationship is no different.

It's essential that managers show their employees that they trust them, which can manifest itself in many ways.

Micromanagement is a source of frustration for many employees. Obviously, with your years of experience, you are able to spot work processes that could be improved for greater efficiency before others see them. But by constantly monitoring your teams, you risk losing sight of the big picture and boring your team members.

Instead, try assigning a task, outlining expected outcomes, allowing time for questions, and letting people know you're there to help if there are more questions.

As a manager, if you show your employees that you trust them, they will take ownership of their own work and only ask you for guidance when they need it. Not only will this make processes more efficient for you, but they will also be able to work without any interference. This allows your team to grow and feel more confident in themselves, which helps your employees develop as people and in their careers.

Good communication
Good communication skills are essential to being a good manager and can mean the difference between confidence and uncertainty in times of change.

Communication skills encompass almost every management task; great leaders must be able to present ideas and visions to inspire others, emphasize the importance of tasks, discuss next steps with staff and get along with those around them.

By honing these skills, your employees will have greater clarity on their tasks and greater transparency of the company. This translates into greater efficiency and can also lead to better employee retention.

Ability to motivate
We all know that not all tasks at work are exciting - everyone has tasks they look forward to and are motivated for, and others they dread and put off until the last moment.

It is in these dreaded tasks that people management skills come into play.

When it comes to these less exciting tasks, you need to create a rationale or argument as to why something should be done in a certain way and why it is important - for the goals of the individual and the company.

To successfully create this rationale, you need to build on your employees' emotions and what matters to them. By identifying the talents, abilities and strengths of individuals, you will find what makes your team tick.

Then use your findings as a reason for action - for example, if your employee is motivated by career development, you can design a new project as a stepping stone to get there.

Patience
Managing a team can sometimes be difficult and you often feel like nothing is going in the right direction.

While this can be frustrating, it is vital as a manager to have patience.

While some people are born more patient than others, it is a skill you can develop. When a difficult situation arises or mistakes are made, keep a cool head, control your emotions and act calmly. Try to take a deep breath and take a few seconds before responding.

By keeping your cool, you won't react in a way that could break trust and damage relationships. The ability to respond appropriately and not emotionally will be seen as an important asset by others, and your employees will feel comfortable bringing their issues to you.

Ability to give credit
At some point in your professional life, it's likely that you've found yourself in a situation where someone higher up than you took credit for a task you worked hard on and cared about. It's frustrating, isn't it? Not only does it lead to negative feelings, but it also reduces the likelihood that you'll make the same effort again.

As a manager, it's essential to know when and how to give credit and praise to the right people. This helps build motivation and trust between you and your employees.

Make sure you know what your employees are working on, how they are spending their time and track their results. When you are aware of your teams' individual efforts, you can easily show that you see and appreciate them, and give them appropriate credit.

Recognition for work done can be done through regular one-on-one meetings or through the use of a recognition tool. Using a recognition tool ensures that your recognition and appreciation is visible throughout the company and allows you to celebrate people who do great work on a larger scale.

Problem Solving Skills
What would a workplace be like if there were never any problems?

Problem solving is an essential part of a manager's job. Whether it's being able to plan your employees' work schedules or figuring out why staff turnover is higher this year, there are always problems to solve.

A good manager strives to identify and overcome various problems before they become bigger ones, and doing so requires exceptional attention to detail. By spotting problems before they reach their peak and identifying the root of the problem, you take the pressure off your employees and superiors.

Accountability
At the end of the day, when you're the manager, it's all up to you. This means that you are not only responsible for your work, but also for the work of your employees.

Good managers take responsibility when things go wrong and take little credit when things go right. When employees see their managers take responsibility for their actions, they appreciate it and give it back.

When employees and managers take responsibility for their actions, processes run more smoothly and work is done efficiently. In addition, if employees know their manager has their back, they won't want to let them down.

Positivity
Attitudes are contagious and it is up to managers to ensure that a positive attitude, not a negative one, is spread throughout the workplace.

As a manager, you need to ensure that team morale is high. Try to reduce stress and keep things fun at work by holding friendly competitions, such as offering a bonus for reaching a milestone or challenging the teams. You can organize and reward these competitions with recognition software to ensure the entire team is involved.

Honesty
Your employees want to grow, so you need to give them the feedback that will help them improve. But the only way feedback will lead to real growth is if it's honest.

That means being truthful, in good times and bad.

When you give feedback, try to understand what happened and why it happened the way it did. Then you can give honest and helpful feedback without being critical or negative. Not only will you be showing honesty and trust to your employees, but you will also be contributing to their development without damaging their morale.

It's important to remember that if you are honest with your employees, they will return the favor, allowing you to work better as a team.