When a team member in a SME business is promoted to a management role, their excitement about their career progression is often tinged with feelings of self doubt and nerves about the people management side of things. These jitters are perfectly understandable, particularly if promoted team members do not have previous experience of managing a team of workers. Whilst their ability to do the job itself might be beyond doubt, the people management that accompanies many management roles entails human resources considerations that the newly promoted may not have anticipated or encountered.
Without even realising they are doing so, many new managers can initially fall into the trap of not being authoritative and assertive enough in their desire to befriend their staff. On the other side of the coin, recent promotions can go the heads of some new managers, who take a no-nonsense and forthright approach to unwelcome extremes.
Until they have learned to master the art of people management, it is unlikely that either management style will strike the right chord with team members. In cases of over friendliness, managers may be perceived as easy touches, lacking in credibility and respect. Bombastic managers, whilst not seeking to score highly in the popularity stakes, might fail to engage the support of their team due to lack of empathy and unnecessary bullying techniques. In some cases, this can genuinely intimidate team members to a point that they feel unfairly treated enough to instigate employment tribunal against their employers.
At NorthgateArinso, we have an abundance of time served employment law and human resources expertise at our disposal. We offer common sense and practical guidelines that are of enormous benefit to newly promoted managers that do not have human resources knowledge. These guidelines are also ultimately of benefit to companies that have promoted new managers and staff members that work on their teams.