Moving into a new role can be both exciting and challenging.
As a new people manager, you’re taking a huge step forward in your career with new responsibilities and expectations. Luckily, new managers can follow tried-and-true strategies like utilizing employee recognition programs, prioritizing strong communication, normalizing two-way feedback, and taking time to get to know your team members to set teams up for success from the first day.
Emphasize Strong Communication
In any leadership role, effective communication is essential to employee satisfaction and productivity. Unclear or lacking communication can lead to miscommunications that result in decreased productivity and even create tension between team members. New managers who emphasize strong communication from day one can establish clear expectations, avoiding future frustrations.
While strong communication is especially important for those in leadership positions, new managers should emphasize strong communication from all team members. Managers should utilize their employee recognition program as an effective tool to engage their employees in improving their workplace communication.
Normalize Two-Way Feedback
Feedback is a necessary part of growth for managers and other employees alike. To ensure employees are doing the best work they can and to grow as leaders, managers should normalize two-way feedback from the start.
When employees don’t feel like they are receiving the feedback they need to best perform their jobs or have anyone listening to the problems they are experiencing, they are more likely to seek out another position. Normalizing two-way feedback allows managers to keep employees engaged and satisfied with the work they are doing and the growth they are seeing in their professional abilities.
Two-way feedback also allows new managers to grow and develop their management styles and provides managers with a chance to catch and find solutions to issues employees are facing as they arise, improving retention and satisfaction.
Get to Know Your Team
The most effective people management approaches will vary from team member to team member. As a new manager, take some time to get to know the people you’re working with, their career aspirations, communication styles, and how you can best facilitate their jobs as their manager.
Even if you have worked with your team members previously, taking time to speak with them about management styles and current workloads will prepare you to best support them.
Getting to know your employees goes beyond just understanding the role they play in your organization. According to a Gallup study, new managers who make efforts to learn about their employees’ aspirations and passions outside of their careers are more likely to have employees who feel engaged and comfortable at work. Sharing information about who you are outside of management and taking time to get to know who your employees are outside of their roles will show them you care about the people you manage, and set you up for long-term success. When this personal connection is paired with recognition and rewards, the impact goes even further.
Recognize and Reward Your Employees
Recognizing the hard work your employees do is a seemingly small step you can take that has a massive impact on your team’s cohesion, productivity, and overall job satisfaction. Utilizing an employee rewards program is a great way to show them you value the work they are putting in and to offer motivation to continue the good things they’re doing.
Rewards can even be used to reinforce the other effective people management tips mentioned above, such as rewarding employees who provide feedback.
Xceleration makes it easy for new managers to meaningfully recognize their employees with our customizable platform. Contact us today to start building a customized employee rewards system.