Managing People

The capacity to discuss highly sensitive and emotionally charged issues is a fundamental aspect of proficient line management. It plays a crucial role in managing performance, fostering attendance, and enhancing team dynamics.

Get guidance and practible steps for employers and line managers on effectively managing challenging or difficult one-to-one conversations with staff.

This guide will help you to stay in control of:

• the situation, by putting clear boundaries in place
• your emotions, by giving you the confidence to face whatever problem comes your way
• the action you plan to take

From time to time all managers will encounter conversations that they may perceive as challenging to navigate or feel ill-prepared to handle. Scenarios of this kind include:

• Addressing poor performance.
• Addressing unacceptable behaviour.
• Investigating reports of bullying.
• Giving developmental feedback.
• Turning down employee requests.
• Dealing with sensitive personal issues.
• Managing a grievance or disciplinary process.
• Informing an employee that their job is at risk of redundancy.

With the right preparation, mindset, and skillset, you can maximize your capability to navigate the conversation effectively. This enables you to guide it towards a successful conclusion that is acceptable to all parties involved.

Charity Job provides some guidance on how you can support your team including;

• Tips for conducting a performance review.
• How to support neurodivergent employees.
• How to improve employee engagement.

This guidance from CIPD will assist you in adopting a management approach that promotes good health, well-being, and engagement within your team. Your behaviour and the culture you create will significantly influence the work experience of your team members. The guidance and exercises in this resource focuses on key behavioural areas to help you effectively manage your team, saving time and achieving improved results. This not only benefits the well-being of your team but also contributes to your own well-being. Includes five key behavioural areas;

• Being open, fair and consistent
• Handling conflict and people management issues
• Providing knowledge, clarity and guidance
• Building and sustaining relationships
• Supporting development

CIPD share some insight and support materials for people professionals to help ensure that managers are managing people well. This can have a range of benefits for you and for your organisation including engaged employees with better productivity, better employee retention, reduced sickness absence or fewer grievances and disciplinaries. When managers engage in positive and healthy management practices, they can proactively prevent people management issues from arising, thereby minimizing the need for the people manager and HR team to invest time and energy in dealing with them.

The management or leadership style refers to the approach through which managers wield their authority in the workplace to attain objectives. It covers how managers plan and coordinate tasks within their responsibility, with a particular focus on their interactions and dealings with colleagues and team members.

This resource from CMI introduces various renowned models and approaches, offering an action checklist to assist managers in evaluating, enhancing, and adjusting their individual management practices and styles.

The Cranfield Trust’s blog provides ten tips for managing wellbeing of remote and hybrid working charity teams. The tips and insights are based on the experience of a charity moving to a hybrid working model.

ACAS provide a variety of guidance, covering:

• how to manage and monitor performance
• Keeping in touch
• training and development
• equipment and technology

health, safety and wellbeing – including reasonable adjustments

This resource will support you to think strategically about how to make remote working work well in practice. From understanding what your employees’ current issues might be, to thinking through how to communicate with a remote team.