5 Soft Skills that help you Manage your Team
Managing people can be a big challenge. Not everyone can, should or wants to be a manager. It all comes down to hard and soft skills. There has been a huge discussion on whether IQ or EQ is more important for managers and recent developments and research is now showing, that it is EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) that matters most.
No matter how much training in university you have had, how much research you have done or how many MBA’s you have, managing a team of individuals is hard work and requires a wide spectrum of abilities, most of which you learn on the job — and sometimes the hard way. Managing a team is not a task but a determination. It is about managing people’s feelings and that is difficult.
As a manager at Taskworld, I deal with people from dozens of different countries and cultures. They have different values, feelings, strengths and weaknesses, fears and hopes. In many cases, colleagues do not always openly share these things, which can make managing tough. The subtle nuances of culture and emotion can be a huge challenge in understanding a diverse team and getting them to work together to achieve a goal.
Based on my experience in management at Taskworld for nearly four years, I have identified five soft skills that can help managers, especially young managers who are starting their career, to find success.
Empathy — Step into the shoes of your team members
As I mentioned before, managing is all about understanding people. It may not be easy but it is not impossible. A good manager is empathic and considers his or her team members’ feelings when making decisions.
Empathy is all about putting yourself in one of your teammates’ shoes. By doing this, a manager can better understand alternative points of view. This may not only help to avoid hurt feelings, but may provide more perspective and well-rounded solutions. Everyone wants to be heard but the best thing you can do as a manager, is to listen.
Please let me give an example that we faced at Taskworld. While preparing the hard launch of Taskworld in the marketing department, we discussed the features which needed to be there before we could launch with the other departments — development and design. As we are a big team, with a lot of different personalities from different nations, we spent a lot of time in endless debates and had difficulty agreeing. Everyone was talking, yet no one seemed to be listening.
So what did we do to solve this situation? We talked less and listened more, trying to understand each other’s point of view by explaining why each specific feature was important to each team. We did allow for questioning each other, but always came back to the ultimate goal: How would it affect the people using our software and how would it affect the product itself?
When we looked through the eyes of others on the team and let go of our egos, we saw the big picture for what it really was, and were able to come up with a list of features we could all agree on.
Self Awareness — “Know The Self”
Before understanding other people’s feelings, it is essential to first understand yourself. This is key to becoming a successful manager. Self awareness is mostly described as the ability to know one’s strength and weaknesses, goals and values and the ability to recognise your impact on others.
One example: You manage a group of five people and you know that there is one person on your team who is very creative, has wonderful ideas but on the other hand, is shy and scared to share with others. As a consequence, the other team members are not aware of that person’s valuable ideas. You, as an outspoken person, a potential strength, should speak out for this person and introduce the ideas, but give the credit to the shy team member. By doing this you give support and appreciate the contribution of the team member, which drives success for the whole group in the end.
Knowing yourself can support you in managing and in many other situations. If you could use a bit of guidance on the subject or are curious to find out more about yourself, the Myers Briggs test identifies 16 different types of personalities. This test can help you to understand your strengths and weaknesses and help you on your way to management bliss!
Self Regulation — Control your emotions
Good self awareness leads to the next soft skill that can help you as a manager -self regulation. Without passing the stage of self awareness, it will be hard to master self regulation.
A good manager does not allow negative emotions like impatience, anger or frustration to take over the way they deal with their team. We are all human but by setting a good example, you can keep your team positive and motivated. Identify your weaknesses and triggers, and have a plan for stopping emotional outbursts in their tracks. Once you are aware of those risks, you can proactively take counter measures.
Imagine the following situation: Your manager is an impatient man and you like to explain things in detail. After a couple of minutes, your manager gets annoyed and shows this to you by rushing you to finish your description. As a result, you would feel pressured and not appreciated as you put a lot of work in getting all the details just right. A good manager would be aware of this and show patience, as he or she would know that you like to pay attention to all the details. The manager would sacrifice a bit of their time to make sure you feel appreciated and if they really had an issue with the way you presented, they would make time to coach you in how to present more efficiently.
Always stay mindful of your emotions and feelings and use your intuition. Step back when emotions are taking over, take a breath and look at the big picture. Give time and space to calm down before making reactive decisions.
Be a Motivator — Foster and promote a positive attitude
Being successful in business is about reaching goals and as a manager, it’s your job to guide and support your team to get to the finish line. Good managers are great motivators and they know how to get the best work out of their team members.
I will always remember my first boss who always had warm words for everyone, who helped those who were feeling down or unmotivated. Give your team all the support they need, nurture personal growth, help them to improve their skills and define clear career goals together with them. Give them the feeling that you appreciate their work and that they are important for the department and the whole company.
Keeping your team motivated is crucial and influences the productivity. I found some of the simplest things are the best motivators to my team — small outings, company trips or after work activities. Take your team for lunch, have a drink after work or meet up for a fun round of bowling.
Don’t we all appreciate warm words, signs of appreciation and the feeling of being needed? Show it and you will be rewarded with a motivated team that helps you to reach your personal goals and those of the company! You can do it!!!
Social Skills — Treat your colleagues like your family
Again IQ is great, but EQ pulls it all together. A good leader holds his or her team together, and the mood within it. A strong leader doesn’t give orders for their teammates to follow. Teammates will work hard and follow a leader they can respect and a leader who looks out for them. A strong leader cares about the team members, asks how they are, how their weekend was and how the family is doing.
Treat your colleagues as you treat your family and friends, they are kind of like your second family. You might not realise it, but you probably spend more time with your team than with your girl- or boyfriend, husband or wife! Make sure you build relationships with every team member and nurture those relationships.
There will be good and bad times, that is normal. As life has its ups and downs, so does working life. Treat everyone in your team with respect and always show a good will and a positive attitude. When your colleagues benefit from your excellent leadership, those benefits will come back to you ten fold. Keep up the great work and manage on!
About the Author:
Patrick Wings is from Cologne, Germany. He is a travelling addict (41 countries and counting), passionate cook and a big comic fan. He is an enthusiastic, positive thinking, data and performance driven full stack digital marketing manager, specialising in strategic marketing and experienced in managing multicultural teams.
More about Patrick at www.patrickwings.com.
