How can you grow as a people manager?

To grow; - Be humane - Understand people around you from relationship perspective - Communicate transparently & straight even if you are communicating uncomfortable decisions but explain with logic and objectives - Be a story teller to reflect on performance & relationship 1:1 - Kindle be approachable & be available for your people when they need you - Define your boundaries & communicate the same, while you need to be visible. This list is not exhaustive & we need to learn from our experiences & be agile & learn every single day..

To excel as a People Manager, it's crucial to prioritize the following: - Strong communication abilities - Embodying kindness and integrity - Self Learning - Constructive Feedback give and take - Displaying patience - Maintaining a professional and personal demeanor - Staying disciplined and going above and beyond for the team while adhering to company policies.

All Business starts and ends with “People” in the middle. Whether it’s people as your employee or as people your end customer. Someone wise once said, “Take Care Of Your People And Your People Will Take Care Of Your Customers / Business” 1) Always Genuinely Care For Your People. 2) Be Open And Honest. 3) Always Fulfill Your Commitments. Do What You Say (Or What You Promise, You Will Do). 4) Always Have Skip Level Meets And Open Houses / Town Halls.

Also avoid DUMB goals: 1️⃣ Delegated completely downward 2️⃣ Under-informed 3️⃣ Mis-aligned 4️⃣ Blame-driven A goal can be SMART and DUMB at the same time.

The phrase " People Manager" is an institution on its own. It is a marathon and not a sprint. One needs to constantly keep investing in this institution. The genuine efforts of investment ripes excellent fruits. I firmly believe and practice that all that this institution needs is a patient listener with multiple options as solutions and believe me it does wonders. Everyone is aware that their problems are theirs and only they can solve it but what is required is that comfort of someone being there to hold me if I fall is a great feeling. Being a people manager this comfort is the most sought for! If one is successful in providing that, I guess it is the most successful milestone in this journey.

"I have some feedback for you" often triggers a 😱fight-or-flight response in our brains. That's why it's crucial not to passively await feedback but to actively seek it out. Asking for feedback primes our brains to be receptive and alleviates the anxiety of uncertainty. Here are 3 tips to get higher-quality feedback to grow as a people manager: 🎯 Ask explicitly: Clearly define what specific aspect you want feedback on to gather precise insights that can benefit you. 🌐 Ask broadly: Seek feedback from a diverse range (360 degrees) of individuals to gain a comprehensive perspective. 🗓️ Ask often: Frequent, incremental feedback enables us to make minor adjustments and stay on the right course. (💡Research by NeuroLeadership Institute)

Effective feedback is critical for personal and professional growth. When giving feedback, be specific, use "I" statements, and balance positive and constructive aspects. Timeliness is crucial, as is selecting an appropriate setting. Active listening and allowing the recipient to respond fosters a productive discussion. When receiving feedback, maintain an open mind, ask for clarification if needed, and express gratitude for the input. Reflect on the feedback and identify actionable steps for improvement. Actively seek feedback from various sources. Stay calm, even when feedback is challenging, and follow up on progress. These practices create a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration within teams.

Sharing feedback and receiving feedback, both are essential role requirements of that of a people manager. While giving feedback, it’s advisable to: 1. Be compassionate, polite but firm 2. Focus on behaviours, and actions 3. Stay away from labelling the person/ team member 4. Focus on forward looking steps rather than what could have happened While receiving feedback, practise: 1. Staying humble and calm 2. Don’t negate or cancel 3. Ask questions to understand

Not only feedback is important, but feed forward as well. To manage yourself and your team is important to analyze points of improvement in past actions or projects and prepare yourself to guide your team for the next steps.

As a people manager one should not start right-away with the topic saying, “We need to discuss on your performance”. It’s a good practice to first understand the employees perspective by letting them speak openly without tainting their opinions. After understanding them, one should keep their points and post the discussion, both should come on a common ground for example: -what needs to be improved -what needs to be maintained -what needs to assessed for the next discussion. And so on..

It's important for people managers to recognize the balance between trust and support. While delegating tasks 1️⃣ As a manager, provide guidance and mentorship to maintain a balance between autonomy and support. 2️⃣ Think long-term. Encourage your team to stretch, take risks, and learn for future growth. Incorporating these elements can help you effectively delegate and empower your team, contributing to both short-term success and long-term development.

Delegating and Empowering allows leaders to effectively leverage the strengths and talents of their team members while also fostering their professional development and autonomy. By empowering individuals to make decisions and take ownership of their work, managers can cultivate a sense of accountability, confidence, and motivation among their team. Empowering team members encourages innovation, initiative, and a sense of ownership, which can lead to higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction. Ultimately, mastering the art of delegation and empowerment enables people managers to build high-performing teams capable of achieving collective goals while also supporting the individual growth and development of each team member.

I have been working on people manager capability for the last 6-7 years. And in my experience, this is the role that’s been burdened too much with myriad responsibilities & never-ending expectations. In my opinion, the most important skills of a successful people manager are: 1. The ability to delegate important and meaty projects to their team members without micromanaging or dictating the ‘HOW’, with enough stretch that enables the team member to grow 2. The ability to empower the team members with enough resources, knowledge, freedom and wherewithal - and be the wind beneath their wings.

Delegar tarefas é atribuir responsabilidades específicas para os membros da sua equipe. Esse ato é importante para que os colaboradores se sintam valorizados além de priorizar ações estratégicas para desenvolver a empresa. Então, o bom rendimento da equipe está associado à divisão de funções por parte do gestor.

Delegation without empowerment can put your team through undue stress. Provide guidance to your team and let them figure things out once you have delegated a piece of work. Let them have their own share of struggles and learnings, as it would help them become better professionals. At the same time, ensure that you continually back them. And let them know that they can ask for help as soon as things become too overwhelming or stressful for them. As a people manager, provide coaching to your team members & help them grow

Coaching teams involves a dynamic balance of guiding, teaching, and active listening. Guiding provides direction, teaching imparts knowledge and skills, while asking the right questions and listening allows tailored support. Effective coaching empowers team members for growth and aligns it with organizational goals. Besides, coaches themselves can benefit from ongoing learning and coaching to enhance their skills. Mentoring involves providing guidance, knowledge, skills, career advice, and personal support to a promising future leaders. Mentoring programs can cultivate talent, foster a positive culture, improve internal communications, and prepare for leadership succession.

One thing I've found helpful is when I did a full certification in coaching. It change how I coach and mentor my team. It expands my perspective, the way I see each member of my team improve and I'm able to lead them better. This certification guide me on managing difficult conversations, be open and truthful to my team The results- we work in better environment, we learn to express what we feel openly and not taking things personal. We learn that by improving ourselves and helping other people to grow, helps in creating more dynamic relationship as well as improving the quality of our work

I am a true believer that diversity and inclusion impacts the performance of the whole team. For Example, when dealing with a global team and you have team members speaking English as a 2nd or 3rd language D&I is essential. Communication in this setting is not just talking the same language, you have to know each others' culture and the meaning behind words. You are building a safe working environment for your team who won't be afraid to share their great ideas and opinions without the fear of being misunderstood.

É uma forma de abrir o leque para atrair talentos que, embora qualificados, muitas vezes não têm oportunidades. Esse tipo de visão torna as equipes muito mais ricas, já que une pessoas diferentes e com perspectivas e vivências distintas.

Investing in your own learning is an investment in your personal and professional growth, your team's development, and your organization's success. It's a commitment to staying relevant, adaptable, and effective in your role. By prioritizing learning, you set a positive example for your team, promoting a culture of learning.

If you stop learning, you stop growing. Make a commitment to develop yourself in an area regularly (quarterly, annually). Key to this is creating action steps to actually put to practice what you're learning. Share insights from the book you read with coworkers. Implement practices from the seminar you attended. Doing this ensures that you're actually growing and being developed, and not just doing things to make you *feel* like you're growing. Investing in your own learning pays outsized dividends not only for yourself, but for your team and organization.

It is as important to grow yourself as it is to grow your team. People managers should continuously look out for courses/ certifications/ workshops to upskill themselves and stay on top of their game. While this might sound easy, it’s often hard to implement given the bandwidth crunch & multiple priorities that managers have to juggle. So, how to accomplish this? Identify one theme every year that you wish to work on. It could be something that comes up in your feedback surveys, or a theme that you have identified alongside your leader/ manager or a skill that you wish to develop. And then focus only on that throughout the course of the year. Keep evaluating your progress and adjusting, as needed. Be patient while you are at it.

Always be truthful to your team Being truthful to your team is a boon in itself, because it is your team who supports you when situations are not favourable to you. As a manager if we resort to lies, subordinates will realise it one day and then the loss of faith developed is almost un-repairable. Being truthful is difficult sometimes when managers have to resort to unplanned work completion or extended targets from higher management. But the trust of subordinates on you is 'the' thing which can take you out of these situations if explained truthfully. Never talk at the back of someone as it may create doubt in one's mind leading to trust issues. Trust among team members bind them together for goal completion. Trust can move mountains.

To grow as a people’s manager, these are my learnings; - connect on a personal level - learn to empathise - build trust that leads to respect - show care with good intent - learn to admit mistakes - respect other’s opinion - solicit feedback and suggestions - create a supportive work environment - engage in team building activities to foster collaboration - show the team how things are done - admit if you don’t know something, this will lead to new learnings - be humble - say thank you for little things - empower your team and trust their capabilities - support team’s decisions - celebrate small wins - give credit where its due - most importantly, be a good human.

Dedicating time per quarter for your training and learning is important.There is always a new thing to learn about technology, new ways of management, inclusion ...etc. You have to set a goal of consuming new knowledge.

Listen to all your team players at all times, learning is for everybody, embrace the changes and experience the moment in your growth.

Be a part of your team, not on top of it. If you only want to lead to call the shots, you're not the right person to be a leader. You need to want to lead the team to build and support everyone involved in that team. Successful leadership is about self-sacrifice for the good of those you lead.