Not to mention, it’s riddled with worry and self-doubt as you spend a huge proportion of your day wondering if your people hate you or love you. And that’s not a rabbit hole you want to go down. Instead, there are key steps to follow and things you can do to take the guesswork out of managing your team.

You’re only as good as your people

A team of people who bond and get on can achieve anything, even if they’re not all incredibly skilled individuals. A team of highly skilled individuals who don’t bond won’t achieve anything. The way your team bonds and responds to one another will determine how successfully you’ll all be. Pick good people, and even if they aren’t the most skilled, upskill them. (Within reason of course). Pick people who you like personally and who you get on with. Pick people your team will respond to, and bring your team into that decision-making process. The aim is to have a team of people who act as one seamless machine.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Pick good people, and even if they aren’t the most skilled, upskill them.” quote=”Pick good people, and even if they aren’t the most skilled, upskill them.”]

Communicate

As much as you possibly can, and about everything. It’s your responsibility to ensure the people who work for you, and follow you, understand exactly what is being asked of them, as well as the wider company objectives and the way they get paid and are incentivized. Without understanding, they won’t work hard for you, and without the right amount of communication, they won’t understand. How you talk to your team, and how often you do it, will lay strong or shaky foundations.

Follow through

On every single thing you say you’re going to do. It builds trust and respect, and you’re going to need those things to have the buy in of the people you’re managing. Don’t be the manger that is always changing meetings and cancelling appointments.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Don’t be the manger that is always changing meetings and cancelling appointments.” quote=”Don’t be the manger that is always changing meetings and cancelling appointments.”]

Be open

The greatest leaders are always the ones who can evolve, change, and do things differently. You’re not always going to be right, and just because you’ve been doing something a certain way, it doesn’t mean it always must be done that way forever. The people around you will bring so much to the table, especially if you’ve picked great people.

[clickToTweet tweet=”The people around you will bring so much to the table, especially if you’ve picked great people.” quote=”The people around you will bring so much to the table, especially if you’ve picked great people.”]

Be honest

Being in a position of leadership or authority generally means there will always be difficult conversations to be had, especially when you put a load of humans in one room every day of the week and expect them to all get along. Naturally, disagreements will happen, people will make mistakes, and you’ll be forced to handle tough situations. Do it all with honesty. Your team deserves it, and they expect it. It gives them permission to in turn be honest about the way they feel. You can achieve a whole lot more when everyone is saying what they really think and feel.

One-to-one matters

Make sure you schedule one-to-one time with your employees and try to make it informal. Go out for a coffee, take a walk in the park, or have lunch together. Whatever it is, take some time to chat in an informal environment together. It will give your employee the chance to open up outside of a ‘conference room’ environment and ease any tensions.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Give your employee the chance to open up outside of a ‘conference room’ environment.” quote=”Give your employee the chance to open up outside of a ‘conference room’ environment.”]