Culturedation: Developing your People Managers for your Company Culture

Being a People Manager is more than just a fancy position title.

Upon transitioning to a People Manager role, the incumbent now has subordinates reporting directly to him/her.

With this, the incumbent is no longer just accountable for his/her own workplace performance, but the workplace performances of the subordinates and collectively the team as well.

The People Manager is thus, a critical role not to be taken lightly as part of creating a continuous positive workplace environment for your company culture.

How do you develop your People Managers?

1. Mindset Shifts For Your People Managers

It is vital for the People Manager to realise and be instilled a needed mindset shift in what is now required of him/her in terms of responsibilities and expectations.

As earlier mentioned, the People Manager is now not just responsible for his/her own wellbeing, but the wellbeing of his/her subordinates too as part of managing them, collectively managing the team together.

For example, a scenario where a Sales Consultant (individual contributor) transitions to a Sales Team Manager (people manager) position:

  • Prior to this, the Sales Consultant's primary focus is to simply achieve individual sales targets as an individual contributor
  • Upon transitioning to Sales Team Manager, the primary focus is now the collective sales performance of the Sales Team, comprising together overseeing his/her subordinates' respective sales targets

2. Upskilling With People Management Competencies

An excellent Individual Contributor does not necessarily mean an excellent People Manager, with different skills now needed to be successful in managing people.

This is because as a People Manager, it is no longer enough to be able to execute job tasks himself/herself well, it is equally important (if not more) to be able to oversee and manage subordinates towards executing job tasks well.

Hence, People Managers now need to be upskilled with various people management competencies, such as:

  • Aligning subordinates with team objectives
  • Leading and motivating subordinates
  • Team conflict management
  • Effective delegation of tasks

3. Ongoing Support For Your People Managers

Transitioning to a People Manager can be challenging, especially for those who have been accustomed to handling matters the 'Individual Contributor way' (e.g. completing job tasks himself/herself) instead of the 'People Manager way' (e.g. delegating job tasks to subordinates when appropriate and monitor progress).

Thus, it is crucial for your People Managers to receive adequate and continuous support as they adapt to this new role, which arguably is a more people-centric role as compared to their more job tasks-centric role previously as an Individual Contributor.

With this in mind, some initiatives you can consider:

  • Peer Groups for your people managers to connect and learn from one another
  • Mentorship for your people managers by your senior leaders
  • Executive Coaching for your people managers

Concluding remarks

The journey in developing your People Managers is not without challenges but if done well, it truly is an impactful and rewarding one, not just for your People Managers but the ones being managed by them too.

Develop your People Managers towards managing people right, and you are a step closer to your right company culture for your people.

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