Brief Summary
This video outlines seven essential people skills for managers and leaders to cultivate for effective team management and leadership. It emphasizes the importance of these skills in bridging the gap between technical expertise and successful leadership, addressing common pitfalls that technically skilled individuals face when promoted to management roles. The skills covered include reflective listening, assertive communication, managing different performance levels, encouraging idea sharing, motivating through strengths, navigating team rivalry, and building inner confidence.
- Reflective listening to improve understanding and manage conflict.
- Assertive communication for clear direction and boundary setting.
- Tailoring management approaches to different performance levels.
- Encouraging idea sharing to tap into team knowledge.
- Motivating team members by assigning tasks that align with their strengths.
- Navigating team rivalry to prevent toxicity.
- Building inner confidence to overcome challenges.
People skills for leaders
Managers and leaders need both technical and people skills to be effective. Technical skills are job-specific and gained through education and experience, while people skills are essential for managing and interacting with team members to maximize their performance. A common issue arises when individuals are promoted based on technical skills but lack the necessary people skills, leading to difficulties in areas such as assertiveness, performance management, and conflict resolution.
Why do new leaders fail?
Aspiring managers and leaders are often promoted due to their high level of technical skill, but this skills-based promotion can lead to failure if they lack the necessary people skills to manage and lead effectively. While they excel on the technical side, they struggle with assertiveness, managing different performance levels, and navigating team rivalry. This deficiency causes their superiors to question their leadership potential.
How to listen well
Reflective listening involves mirroring and paraphrasing to demonstrate understanding and confirm comprehension. It enhances understanding of ideas and problems and aids in conflict resolution by fostering empathetic conversations. Mirroring involves copying the speaker's body language or repeating key phrases, while paraphrasing means restating the speaker's message in one's own words to ensure clarity. To practice reflective listening, allow the speaker to fully express themselves without interruption, focusing on key phrases and points for mirroring and paraphrasing.
How to be assertive
Assertive communication involves expressing feelings, wants, and opinions honestly and directly. It is beneficial for providing clear direction, setting boundaries, saying no when necessary, and handling pushback. To assert oneself, use clear and direct language, be courteous and polite, and deliver bad news directly.
Managing different performance levels
Teams often consist of individuals with varying skill levels, leading to different performance levels. Managers need to tailor their approach to each person, providing more support to underperformers and autonomy to high performers. Neglecting underperformers can result in continued mistakes and slow professional growth, while micromanaging high performers can stifle them. To effectively manage different performance levels, become familiar with each team member's skill level, adopt a supportive approach for underperformers, and give high performers the autonomy they need.
Getting people to share ideas
Encouraging team members to share ideas is crucial for leaders to tap into their knowledge and experience. Group meetings provide an opportunity for everyone to contribute their ideas. To encourage idea sharing, openly express the desire to hear their ideas, show that you have heard and understood their contributions through reflective listening, avoid immediately rejecting ideas, and thank people for sharing. These actions help establish psychological safety, making team members feel confident and comfortable sharing their ideas.
Motivate through strengths
Motivating team members involves assigning work that aligns with their strengths. People are more motivated when they are involved in work they are good at and enjoy. To fuel this motivation, identify the strengths of team members and assign tasks accordingly. Tools like the Clifton Strengths Assessment by Gallup (paid) and the High Five Test (free) can help identify these strengths.
Rivalry and competition
Rivalry and competition can arise in teams with diverse personalities, and if ignored, it can become toxic. This toxicity can lead to resentment, lack of collaboration, and even employees quitting. To navigate rivalry, address it promptly by having one-on-one conversations with those involved, identifying the root cause, working out a solution, and monitoring their progress.
Manage your inner confidence
Inner confidence is essential for leaders to overcome challenges and new situations. Leaders may initially feel confident when promoted, but they can lose confidence when faced with difficult situations, questioning their suitability for the role. To maintain confidence, view challenges as learning opportunities and develop new skills as needed.
