Lead to Succeed: People Management Best Practices

Whether you're managing a team of five or fifty, good people management skills are critical to retaining employees, boosting productivity and increasing engagement at work.

In this blog, we'll dive into:

• The importance of people management.
• The top people management skills.
• Tips for effective people management.
• The best people management software you can use to optimize processes and improve employee productivity.

📌 10 Best Team Management Software

TL;DR: People management best practices

• People management is important for retaining employees, boosting productivity and increasing engagement at work.
• Essential people management skills include relationship-building, negotiation, decision-making, accountability, and change management.
• Managers can improve people management skills by setting clear expectations, building a feedback loop, implementing a reward and recognition program, addressing poor performance with emotional intelligence, and using communication and collaboration tools.
• The top 6 people management software solutions include Scribe, Connecteam, Leapsome, Deel, Rippling, and Lattice.

What is people management?

People management is the process of training, motivating and directing employees to optimize workplace productivity and promote professional growth.

Why should you care about people management?

People management is about providing resources and support to employees that improve their job satisfaction and engagement at work.

The goal is to create a positive work culture where employees continuously develop and nurture their skills through mentorship, collaboration and effective communication. Recognizing and providing a reward to your employee for a job well done is an essential aspect of this, as it reinforces positive behaviors and contributes to a motivated workforce.

That's why you also need to have strong employee onboarding in place making them feel welcome from the beginning.

Here's how managers can coach and support their teams.

📌 ‎Related resource: People, Process, Technology: A Framework for Leaders

People management boosts employee retention

Replacing an employee costs nearly one to two times their annual salary.

How does good people management impact employee retention? Reducing employee turnover and improving job satisfaction, which positively impacts the company’s bottom line.

People management causes less stress and burnout

People management focuses on improving the health and well-being of the employees, bringing down job absenteeism and abandonment, and ensuring happier, more fulfilled employees. 

People management leads to better engagement

Practicing people management skills such as effective communication, giving feedback and building relationships can improve employee engagement and drive better performance.

People management fosters strong communication and collaboration 

Good managers communicate transparently, consistently and frequently, establishing personal and authentic connections.

This fosters a greater sense of collaboration among employees. More team members can step into managerial positions to take full ownership of their work and responsibility for their outcomes.

📌 ‎Related resource: How to Build a Team: 6 Steps to Success

Essential people management skills

As remote or hybrid work becomes a norm, managers need to develop team management best practices to maintain, build and improve workplace communication. We've listed the important ones below:

1. Relationship-building

Actively listening to your employees when they share their thoughts — and then implementing their feedback is the first step to developing and nurturing employee relationships.

Managers should pay attention to verbal and non-verbal cues. Gestures such as nodding and facial expressions show you're present and engaged in the conversation. As a practice, ask follow-up questions to get more clarity and develop a better understanding of the situation.

2. Negotiation

Whether it’s resolving conflicts, discussing a salary hike or extending a project deadline, negotiation is an essential skill for managers to improve workplace relationships. 

Being a good negotiator means you can resolve conflicts quickly, reach an agreement and build a long-standing relationship based on mutual trust and respect. 

3. Decision-making

Whether big or small, managers need to make decisions that impact organizational performance and success.

Good decision-making requires analyzing the problem and developing solutions aligned with the company's goals and objectives.

Managers should involve employees in decision-making to eliminate bias and improve the quality of decisions. This will make the employees feel heard, seen and valued, improving engagement and commitment at work.

4. Accountability

Managers find it hard to hold people accountable for their actions, as per a study in the Harvard Business Review.

To create a culture of accountability, managers need to set clear boundaries and communicate their expectations.

Setting goals and OKRs can help employees to prioritize and focus on what’s important and foster team alignment and synergy. 

5. Change management 

Managers play an important role in addressing concerns related to organizational change and ensuring quick and painless adoption.

Frequently communicating about the transition with the direct reports can ease uncertainty and make them feel comfortable.

As a manager, you should display your support towards the change and coach them throughout the transition. Identify and manage resistance and show employees why the change is needed and how it will benefit them too.

Using change management models and a change management toolkit can help you address any barriers of change. Check out our list of the best change management extensions to help facilitate smooth transitions.

How can you improve your people management skills?

Well, team management isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. It depends on multiple factors, such as organizational goals and values, types of resources and leadership styles.

Here are some best management practices that first-time and experienced managers for managing teams:

1. Setting clear expectations

This Gallup survey reveals that half of the employees don’t know what’s expected from them at work. Setting expectations with the employees and communicating what’s expected in a role can set them up for success.

How can managers set clear expectations?

• Give employees a detailed rundown on their roles, who they will report to and where they fit in the organization’s structure.
• Tie in the "why" and explain the purpose behind the job. Tell them how their job fits within the company's goals and vision, and how they can help the company grow and become profitable.
• Conduct regular check-ins to review the progress, identify potential hiccups and tweak the scope of the work as necessary.
• Set timelines to meet project goals and expectations. 
• Deploy software solutions to keep track of employee engagement, performance and behavior. 

Scribe Tip: Whether you’re onboarding new hires or scoping out expectations, Scribe can streamline processes and help you create step-by-step guides in seconds.

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2. Building a feedback loop for continuous improvement

Managers who provide consistent feedback to the employees see a 2.5x increase in the engagement rate at the workplace.

Constructive feedback isn’t a one-way street—managers should also seek employee feedback to improve organizational processes and build a positive and collaborative work environment.

How can managers give feedback to employees?

• Make active listening the norm. 
• Ask for feedback in the weekly one-on-one internal meetings.
• Create a safe and open space where employees can raise their concerns and provide them with the support and resources to overcome the situation. 
• Leverage AI tools to analyze employee feedback and behavioral patterns and implement constructive solutions.

🎓 Dive deeper: 6 Best Practices for Better Team Management

3. Implementing a reward & recognition program

The key to an engaged workforce is delivering consistent and meaningful recognition that makes employees feel appreciated and improves their job satisfaction and quality of work.

• Creating a unique employee reward and recognition strategy.
• Acknowledging employees’ contributions
• Fostering a positive work culture.

This is backed by the research from Deloitte that found that recognizing employees at the workplace improves their productivity, engagement and overall performance by 14 percent.

How can managers recognize and reward good work?

• Use employee recognition software that rewards employees with tokens and coins when they hit their targets.
• Recognize and appreciate employees’ milestones and achievements in the town hall, offsite and weekly meetings.
• Make recognition fun and interactive with gamified initiatives such as leaderboards, badges and sugar cubes.
• Support and fund wellness initiatives such as gym or fitness club membership, online consultations and medical care. 

4. Addressing poor performance with emotional intelligence

How does emotional intelligence impact effective people management? Delivering criticism with caution and care is essential to reducing employee turnover and improving engagement.

Managers need to identify the exact reasons for poor performance and formulate an action plan to help employees improve their performance.

What are some team productivity strategies?

• Give immediate feedback.
• Treat employees as a partner in problem-solving. Ask them why they are faltering and how you can assist them.
• If they’re going through a personal challenge, such as a relationship or mental health problem, show them your support and ask them what they need from you.
• Practice active listening. Remain unbiased and practical while addressing poor performance.

5. Make use of communication & collaboration tools

Lack of effective communication and support from managers is one of the major challenges, especially for remote employees, resulting in poor engagement and dissatisfaction.  

Using instant messaging apps and video conferencing can improve employee connectedness and boost collaboration.

How can managers set clear expectations?

• Set expectations on the frequency and mode of communication.
• Once a week, managers should conduct check-ins where employees can raise their concerns, ask questions and share feedback.
• To prioritize work-life balance, managers should introduce wellness initiatives and ensure the workload is manageable.

💡15 Best Management Practices (+ Examples) for Today’s Leaders

Top 5 people management software solutions

Whether it's tracking employee work hours, creating and assigning tasks, or measuring performance, investing in the right team management software can streamline processes and workflows, and keep your workforce engaged and productive. 

Here are the top 6 people management software:

1. Scribe

Managers are responsible for scoping out roles and expectations and ensuring the employees have the necessary tools and resources to improve their performance.

Documentation is the first step in standardizing processes and workflows to help your team unlock better performance, improve communication and boost productivity.

Scribe's documentation generator can help you create robust documentation in seconds.

Turn on the browser extension and go through your usual work process. Scribe generates a step-by-step visual guide in seconds that you can share with your employees for better communication and collaboration.

Here's an example of a Scribe new hire checklist for managers:

Scribe solves the problem of remote onboarding, allowing teams to create wiki-like pages to document and store information that can be accessed anytime.

Lance E., Senior UX Designer / Product Manager, had this to say about Scribe:

2. Connecteam

Designed for HR managers, Connecteam makes it easy to train employees, create and assign tasks, recognize their achievements, and document and manage administrative files. Features include:

• Creating customizable forms and checklists.
• Time tracking and PTO request management.
• Building onboarding and training materials.
• Performance evaluation.

3. Leapsome

Designed for business owners and HR managers, Leapsome can help with goals, OKR management, 360° annual reviews, employee learning, onboarding, 1:1s and team meetings, and employee recognition. 

You can set up fully-customizable employee engagement surveys to collect employee feedback and insights.

4. Deel

Deel enables companies to manage their global workforce with a cloud-based payroll and compliance solution. You can hire, onboard resources and pay full-time employees or independent contractors in a compliant and hassle-free manner.

The software provides a centralized view of the entire workforce and provides access to relevant information whenever needed. As an HR manager, you can integrate Deel with the other accounting and reporting tools to optimize HR processes and improve the team's productivity. 

📌 Choosing the Best HR Software for Your Business

5. Rippling

Rippling effortlessly manages all people operations in one place—from employee payroll, attendance, and compliance to time tracking, benefits, and more. 

The software is especially useful for the onboarding process and offers extensive features at every step of the way—offer letter, employee handbook, electronic signature, payroll setup, and the benefits section, which makes it easy for employers to hire new resources.

6. Lattice

It’s especially useful for teams looking to improve their 360° performance review process and create a culture of regular feedback, career growth and development and employee recognition.

Get the best out of your employees with effective people management

People management can be difficult, but with the right techniques and skills, managers can create a productive work environment, leading to happier, more fulfilled employees.

Whether you need to build training documents, onboard new resources, create SOPs or how-tos, or assist customers, Scribe can generate a complete document of the workflow with annotated screenshots, texts, images, and other media links.

Want to try it out? Check out our free documentation generator and get started today!