It is often said that people leave managers, not jobs. Could this be true of your workplace? If the people you have in leadership roles haven’t polished up on their people management skills, then you could be losing young talent to competitors quicker than you had hoped.
Staff are often promoted in the workplace because they are highly skilled or knowledgeable about their role. But with promotion often comes more responsibility and leadership of those in less senior positions.
Getting People Management Right
Getting people management right can mean a workplace with higher morale, higher productivity and a higher rate of staff retention. Getting it wrong can mean the opposite is true.
People management is at the heart of effective organisational performance. In dynamic and culturally diverse UK workplaces, people management skills are crucial for motivating teams, ensuring good productivity and fostering a positive work environment.
The expectations placed on managers have become more complex. And if you are employing Gen Z and Millennials it is important that you, as an employer – and any management team you have in place – understand what young people are looking for and expecting from you in the workplace.
Let’s explore why quality people management matters and how it can benefit your company in the long term. What can managers do to ensure young talent remains with the company?
Communication Skills
Clear & Transparent Communication
Communication is perhaps the most vital skill for any manager. In the UK workplace, where employees come from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds, clear and transparent communication can help to prevent misunderstandings and ensure everyone is working towards common goals.
Excellent communication is about being able to articulate expectations, provide regular updates and encourage open dialogue. Young team members need to be able to feel they can raise any issues they might have – or any ideas they come up with – to the management team.
This includes both verbal and written communication; the ability to communicate across different formats. In a world where many young people are working in a hybrid set up or are working remotely all of the time, being able to communicate via emails, meetings and virtual calls is increasingly important.
Active Listening
Effective communication is not just about speaking. Active listening is of equal importance. Good people management is about managers being able to listen to employee concerns, feedback and suggestions. Then acting on it.
Active listening builds trust and shows respect for the team and this is particularly valued by young people in the workplace.
Occasionally, there could be times in the workplace when some team members take issue with each other and active listening by a person in a leadership role can go a long way to resolving any issues before they escalate.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to understand, use and manage your own emotions, as well as being able to recognise and influence the emotions of others. High emotional intelligence can help managers build stronger relationships with each individual member of their team.
Self-Awareness & Self-Regulation
For good people management, managers need to be aware of how their own emotions affect their behavior and decision making. Being able to control impulsive reactions, to stay calm under pressure and approach situations rationally are fundamental aspects of self-regulation.
If managers lose their temper and their ability to think clearly when there are high pressure situations in the workplace, this causes unease amongst the team. And, eventually, some will go on to look for other jobs where the atmosphere in the workplace is healthy and happy.
Empathy & Social Skills
Empathy enables managers to understand what motivates employees. This is helpful and effective when offering support to younger staff and for resolving any conflicts that might occur.
New, younger members of staff want to feel valued, feel a part of the team and feel like they are being listened to. Social skills – including persuasion, collaboration and team building – help in creating inclusive environments where people feel valued.
When you are a manager of a team that has a mix of younger and older members of staff, empathy can help you to see where others are coming from.
Leadership & Vision
Good people management is about leadership and vision. It is about inspiring, encouraging and guiding a team rather than micromanaging and not allowing room for young recruits to show initiative and innovate.
Strategic Thinking
Good leadership involves seeing the bigger picture. Strategic thinking also includes adaptability. This means being able to pivot and guide teams through change which is especially important in the post-Brexit, post-pandemic UK economy.
And in the current world climate where there is so much upheaval and uncertainty.
Being A Good Role Model
Good people managers are people who “walk the talk.” Demonstrating integrity, fairness and consistency helps managers gain credibility.
By modeling positive behavior such as punctuality, respect for others and showing that you are open to continuous learning, you set a standard for less senior members of staff. It can be particularly useful for younger members of staff who have had little or no experience of the workplace.
Conflict Resolution & Negotiation
Disagreements are inevitable in any workplace. Good people management means having the ability to resolve conflicts constructively, ensuring they do not escalate and impact morale, productivity and the ability to retain staff.
Mediation Skills
Managers should act as impartial mediators, listening to all sides and guiding discussions to identify root causes. Obviously, throughout this process, managers need to maintain confidentiality and fairness.
Negotiation
As well as trying to resolve any workplace conflicts, managers also need to be able to negotiate workloads, priorities and timelines. Good people management means being able to do this through compromise and active listening to the needs and wants of your team, all while maintaining the trust and engagement of all parties involved.
Delegation & Empowerment
Especially where younger members of staff are concerned, they want to feel trusted and empowered in the workplace. Good people management means being able to give tasks to new young recruits and trust them to do their job and make decisions independently without you micromanaging them.
Matching Skills & Tasks
Effective delegation involves aligning tasks with team members’ strengths and career goals. Which tasks will allow your top young talent to be challenged in a way that will help them to grow and develop their career further? Getting this right promotes engagement and competence.
And the trick is to ensure clarity in expectations, timelines and outcomes whilst again avoiding micromanagement.
Supporting Autonomy
Empowering employees to take responsibility improves motivation and job satisfaction. Support independent decision-making whilst providing guidance when it is needed.
Performance Management
Managing employee performance effectively is essential for achieving organisational goals. In the UK, performance management is increasingly seen as a continuous process rather than an annual event.
Setting Objectives
Setting realistic goals helps to provide direction and accountability. Good people management is about ensuring that objectives are aligned with broader business goals and that they are clearly communicated.
Feedback & Appraisal
Young people who are new to the workplace will appreciate regular feedback that helps them to understand how they are performing and where they can improve.
Constructive criticism, when delivered respectfully, supports growth and development. Young people will feel valued and feel that they have your support if they are progressing in their role; whether that be a graduate position, an Apprenticeship or a part time student role.
Diversity & Inclusion
We have written in the past about building a more diverse and inclusive (D&I) workplace in the UK workplace. Good people management is about those in leadership roles being sensitive to differences in background, communication styles and expectations.
Understanding Bias
Recognising and addressing unconscious bias is essential to building inclusive teams. Managers need to be aware of how their decisions may inadvertently exclude or disadvantage certain groups.
You can read more about unconscious bias and actions you can take to minimise the risk of it in this article.
Inclusive Leadership
Inclusive leaders actively promote equality, ensure all voices are heard and create psychologically safe environments.
This enhances collaboration, innovation and can boost staff retention; especially among underrepresented groups.
Change Management
How do you react to change? In an era of constant transformation driven by technology, legislation and, of course, global events, change management is a crucial people management skill.
Communicating Change
Good people management is about being able to explain the rationale for changes within the company, what impact those changes will have and how employees will be both affected and supported.
Clear and honest communication can help to reduce uncertainty and resistance.
Supporting Transition
When change does occur, a good people manager will provide support, training and reassurance. Being empathetic and recognising and addressing employee concerns encourages engagement during transitions.
Coaching & Development
Gen Z employees are increasingly focusing on career development and lifelong learning. Managers can play a key role in facilitating career development for younger members of the team through different approaches to coaching and mentoring.
Career Conversations
Good people managers should have regular development discussions with team members; helping them identify strengths, set career goals and explore learning opportunities. This is especially important for young, inexperienced members of staff and it demonstrates that the organisation invests in its people. This is key for boosting staff retention.
Coaching Skills
Coaching is as much about asking the right questions as providing answers. Asking questions encourages self-reflection and problem-solving.
Good people managers who take time to coach younger members of staff can go on to build more capable and confident teams.
Developing People Management Skills
Good people management skills do not necessarily come naturally to everyone. But, as with other skills training, it is possible to develop your skills with training and learning.
Formal Training
Many UK organisations invest in leadership development programmes. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) offers a variety of leadership qualifications where you can choose the best fit for the type of job you do. Qualifications are studied for at approved CMI centres across the nation.
Likewise, the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) also has a range of courses and qualifications centred around leadership in the workplace.
On-the-Job Learning
Real-world experience, mentoring and job rotation offer valuable opportunities to develop people management skills.
Feedback from peers and those you are leading can also help you to improve your people management skills and grow as a leader.
Effective people management drives performance, enhances employee satisfaction and builds resilient organisations capable of adapting to change. It also boosts your employer branding and reputation, meaning future recruitment drives could give you the best chance of landing the top young talent.
If you are looking to recruit students, Apprentices or Graduates to your company, contact us about placing your job ad with e4s and reach an engaged, targeted audience.
