People Management: Factors to Consider to Be an Effective Manager

In order for a company to be successful, it, of course, needs customers, right? Yes, but from a management standpoint, you need staff in order for the business to run smoothly. And not just anyone… you want to make sure you hire the right people to work for the company. The biggest part of being an effective manager who can retain staff with excellent performance is to be an effective leader.

It’s a lot easier said than done, for sure, but it is an absolute necessity. As a manager of a team, it is your responsibility to work with your team to develop them. Studies have shown that employees are more likely to stick with a company when they can receive positive feedback as well as constructive feedback. Giving your team feedback will inspire them to improve and do better at their job and it will also show that you appreciate them and their hard work.

On top of giving feedback, whether positive or constructive, you will also be dealing with different personality types as well. Some people can handle constructive criticism very well… they look at it as motivation but others take offense to it so it’s one of those things where you sometimes might change your approach from person to person at times based on their personality type but it really depends on the type of manager you are.

Although there are various management styles across different industries, the overall essence of these management styles has the same end goal in mind: to motivate and develop team members to effectively work their jobs to achieve success. With that goal in mind, a manager will need to factor in a few considerations of their own job responsibilities to not only produce successful team members but also what to look for in new hires. Before we get into those considerations, let’s take a look at the different management styles you want to embody in order to be an effective manager.

Management Styles You Want to Have

Visionary Management Style

A manager with visionary management style communicates to team members with purpose and in a manner that the team believes in. This type of manager will present their vision to the team and motivate and inspire them to work hard to effectively execute the vision. As a visionary manager, once your team knows the vision, you allow your team the freedom to work on their own and on their own terms. A visionary manager doesn’t need to constantly check on their team members, as long as they can see that they’re doing their job; they will only check on the team to make sure they’re on right track to following the vision.

Democratic Management Style

A manager that has democratic management style allows their team members to be part of the decision-making processes with various team-related endeavors… this management style has a “majority rules” mindset. As a democratic manager, you genuinely value your team’s opinions and ideas and in doing that it makes your team members feel valued and it the manager-team member relationship.

Coaching Management Style

Think of a coaching management style like how the coach of a sports team strives to motivate their team members… it’s the same concept. A manager with a coaching management style aims to improve their team members’ professional development. This manager actually has a passion for teaching and it brings an overpowering sense of pride to watch their team members grow and improve their skills. This management style encourages promotions and more/bigger responsibilities, which allows managers to build stronger professional relationships with their team.

Transformational Management Style

The keyword in this management style is “transform.” A transformational manager believes that change is the only constant and keeping their team members ahead of the game is what will push them to the next level helping them to realize that they are capable of much more than their job descriptions and are capable of a lot more than they think. If you embody this management style your team members are more likely to be happy and you will definitely see an improvement in team performance.

This management style is definitely one that believes in rewarding their employees when they deserve it. If their team hits their goal or exceeds their goal, they really show appreciation to their team members by giving them pizza parties, gift cards and things like that. Some will even provide team members with “company swag” like stress balls for stressful days and coffee mugs with the company logo on them. It may not seem like much but team members LOVE gifts with the company name on it… it really makes them feel part of the team.

Management Styles You Want to Avoid

• Servant Style: This is a management style where you put the team members first and the tasks for productivity last… a big no-no when you want your team to be successful and produce results.
• Laissez-Faire Style: This manager monitors their team’s work and progress but offers no help. They expect a level of success but don’t provide any type of help or feedback to guide them along the way. This a “hand-off” type of management style.
• Autocratic Style: This manager will make impactful team decisions without giving their team a heads-up of the coming changes, and expect the team to immediately accept it or be okay with it. With this management style, if an employee doesn’t follow orders or are not able to adapt to the change right away, they’ll threaten that team member’s job.
• Transactional Style: This management style is a little tricky… it’s a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” A transactional manager offers incentives or rewards to their team members to get them to do their job, which is a huge no-no. Your team members should come to work, to work regardless. You shouldn’t have to use incentives to get them to do their jobs. Its perfectly fine to reward your team when it’s deserved but to use it as a way to be productive is unacceptable.

People Management: What You Need to Consider

Effective Communication

Have you ever worked with a company where the manager always yells at an employee to get their point across? Maybe you have, maybe you haven’t but there are people who manage people in that manner and it does the complete opposite of what they’re trying to accomplish. Careeraddict.com states that 70% of business mistakes are due to poor and ineffective communication. There are ways to effectively communicate with people to where you are able to get your team or employee to understand what you’re trying to say without raising your voice at them.

One of the ways to effectively communicate with your team members is to get a feel of your team members. Getting to know them and paying attention to how they interact with others will help you to know which approach to take with them if you need to coach them on performance or even to address them on things like attendance, breaks, or workplace behavior. You have to remember that you are dealing with several different personalities so you may need to adjust your approach to fit their personalities.

Recognizing the Power of Perception

Whether you’re the manager or team member, it’s important to recognize the fact that the way you may perceive something can be totally different from how someone else perceives it. You can’t control someone else’s perception; you sometimes can’t even get people to see your point of view simply because it just doesn’t make sense to you so the best thing you can do is try to put yourself in their shoes to try to see where they’re coming from. If all else fails, remember that you’re the manager and you have to do what’s best for that employee and what’s best for the team as a whole, whatever you decide to do.

Respect: Give It and Receive It

When it comes to your team, it’s perfectly fine to have a good and positive working relationship with them but there also needs to be a clear and distinct level of respect you command from your team members. This doesn’t mean you have to go around being a drill sergeant but it does mean that your team members need to know that it’s fun to have a little downtime at work to joke around and let your hair down for a bit but when it’s time to conduct business, you mean business.

“Practicing What You Preach”- Leading By Example

One motto that a lot of managers have is that they won’t have a team member do something that they wouldn’t do or haven’t done. It’s very important to lead by example for your team because if they don’t have you to be inspired by who else will they have? It’s not a “do as I say, not as I do” type of deal.

Being that you’re in a management position, you have already been in their shoes and can provide tips and feedback on things to encourage them based on your own personal experience. When your team knows that you’ve been in the same position as them, it inspires them to know that they can one day work their way up to a management position as well.