You may have recently started your own business, or have been promoted to a higher position. One of the biggest challenges you’ll face is managing staff members, those people who help the gears of a company keep churning. As a new manager, what should you know before taking on the role?
There’s a lot more to managing staff than just dishing out work and signing off paychecks or leave. For one, you’re going to have to treat your staff as people and not machines, but besides that, here are a few things to take note of.
Adjustment periods take time
Not all of your staff members will understand the company and its processes when they join, regardless of long they’ve been in ‘the industry’. Each and every new staff member will need time to get used to and understand the products, work environment, and their fellow colleagues.
Typically, employment contracts are carried out for three months while testing if the new hire is right for the company or not. It can take between three to six months for a new employee to adjust to the job, and a further few months to integrate into it. Don’t push this learning period, but rather nurture it.
Training always helps
Be sure to make sure staff receive adequate training in whatever position they’ve been employed, as well as other parts of the company. There’s no use in letting a new employee try to figure out things for themselves when there are a number of processes in place.
If the staff member has shown to be exceptional, be sure to invest in their future, even if it’s just a sales and marketing course. By the company paying for the staff member to study further, it can benefit from the additional knowledge and tertiary education. This gives your team a greater edge in the business world. Be sure to compensate employees accordingly.
Each ‘person’ is actually a person and not a machine
Humans work at their own pace. They are flesh and bone and not cold machines. Be aware of how many hours a staff member is working, and how many hours you expect out of them as well. Very few people can work every single full hour from 8am to 5pm for five days a week.
Encourage staff members to take breaks, chatter, and surf non-work related websites in order to destress themselves. While this may not seem productive, it will go a long way to ensuring they are happy in the company.
Similarly, not all staff members will be eager to work after-hours as they have families and their personal time should be respected. Don’t praise those who work until midnight each morning as it sets unrealistic standards.
Let staff be staff
You may like to work in silence, but not everyone does. Humans need to be able to talk about their lives, what’s going on in the company, as well as joke amongst themselves. Keeping them chained up in absolute silence or under incredibly strict rules won’t get you anywhere.
Those under you may begin to resent the authority, which in turn leads to a less productive workforce. Respect is earned, not given.
You aren’t always right
There’s a good chance you’ve been in ‘the industry’ for a number of years, whether it be financing, agriculture, or retail. Over that time you’ve amassed a wealth of knowledge from the different roles you’ve taken on and the people you’ve dealt with. Thing is, it’s time to accept that you aren’t always right.
When it comes to managing staff members, be sure to always hear out their ideas on long and short-term problems and improvements. Those with an outside perspective may have a different solution to someone who has 10-years’ worth of experience. You don’t know everything and you need to understand that.
Take a chance
The ideal candidate for a junior position may be someone who has a degree and over a decade of work experience, but that’s not realistic. Your fantasy of the perfect employee is a fallacy. Take a chance on someone who is enthusiastic, willing to learn, or is self-taught. This is an age where not everyone can afford to have a tertiary education, and where experience means more than credentials.
Be sure to always be fully aware of your staff and those around you. Putting your nose to the grindstone may be your prerogative, but it may not be theirs.