What New Entrepreneurs Need to Know about Managing People

Becoming an entrepreneur requires a lot from a person, especially if they start a business that will feature employees other than themselves. In such situations, not only does one become responsible for other people (and their families), but he or she also has to know how to be a boss and a manager. Some people are born leaders and they inherently know how to manage people. For others, learning this is a process.

Today, we will try and point out to a few more important things fresh entrepreneurs need to know about managing people.

People Make Mistakes

The first thing to keep in mind and one that can save new entrepreneurs a lot of time and nerves is that people make mistakes. People make more mistakes than anyone would believe. When running a new business, this becomes painfully obvious to the owner. The most important reason is that your employees will simply not care as much about his new venture as you will.

Think about the companies you worked for. Did you really, really care about what happens to the company? Maybe you did. Good for you. For the majority of employees, this is not high on the list of things to worry about.

This is important to keep in mind because new entrepreneurs find that balance between letting people off the hook sometimes and coming down on them when it is obvious they are simply careless. There is a certain level of professionalism that you expect from your employees and they need to meet it. However, it does not pay off to go crazy over every little mistake they make.

People Don’t Like Other People

Okay, this one sounds a bit harsh. It is not that people really dislike other people, but in a work environment, they tend to be less agreeable than in any other. For example, two people who would be perfectly at a party or something like that will get into fights at work. Sometimes these fights will be in the open and other times they will be more hidden, but they will be there. There is a lot at stake in the workplace and people tend to get nervous when things are not going the way they envisioned them to.

As an entrepreneur, you need to know how to defuse these situations so that no one feels like you took sides. Even if you obviously agree with one of the employees, you need to be as neutral as possible in front of the company. Later, you can take each of the “warring” parties to the side and tell them what you really think.

A boss needs to remain neutral.

People Do Not Like Change

Even people who say they like change do not really like change. Sometimes enough people agree that a change is necessary, but they do not exactly love it. They adopt the change because it makes sense to do so.

The same is true for your employees. Like all other people, they will not like change. If anything else, this is even truer for people who work at a certain company and who got used to a certain way of doing things. No matter how this change will affect them, they will not like it.

Let’s imagine a situation where you hired a few more people on top of your existing staff and now there are too many people and too many tasks for you to keep in check in Excel. You decide to start using an online schedule maker and you ask your employees to get on board.

Even though it will make their lives so much simpler, they will start complaining, saying how you only want to control them and how this makes their job more complicated.

There are two exceptions — if the change is them working less or making more money. These are the only two changes that your employees will agree to with big smiles on their faces. Everything else, you will have to work for.

This is why you need to be able to explain to your employees while certain changes are good and to really paint a very clear picture that this will benefit them. If it really doesn’t, do not lie to them.

Be Honest.

In the end, it is all about being honest and treating your employees the way you would like to be treated.

Originally published at Entrepreneur News and Startup Guide.