People Management
In a team that consists of several people, people management is indeed needed regardless of the context of the group. Therefore, I will try to discuss people management in this article.
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What is people management?
People management is a ‘skill’ that is nice to have by team members; thus, the team can build each other up to work together in a better environment.
There are some aspects that are fundamental to the people management concept, such as:
Make friends
Any humans need to be friends with each other. Humans are social creatures, after all. Especially when you are working in a company, or when you are just working in a team for a school project, you need to be friends with your teammate. The question is, how to make friends in the first place? Maybe some of these tips can help you:
- Realize your fear is in your head
If you don’t have any idea or any potential friends in mind, your first step starts here. The first stage is cultivating a positive mindset towards meeting new people. Meeting new people can be a frightening experience for some of us because we’re worried about making an excellent first impression. The more we consider it, the more terrifying it appears. This initial anxiety grows into a mental fear that takes on a life of its own and unintentionally prevents us from establishing new relationships. - Start small with people you know
Meeting a large group of new people can be scary if you haven’t been socializing much. If that’s the case, start small. Start with your inner circle of friends, i.e., folks you are better familiar with, to make the work easier. Some ways to do this: reach out to acquaintances, get to know your friends’ friends, accept invitations to go out - Get yourself out there
The next step will be to extend to people you don’t know once you’ve become more acquainted with your inner circle of friends. Some ways to do this: attend an online meetup, attend workshops/courses, volunteer, go to parties, online communities, etc. - Take the first step
If you are already in a company or a team for a project, your first step starts here. Someone has to make the initial move once you’re out there with other people. If the other person does not initiate a conversation, take the initiative and say hi to know each other better. Give the other participant a chance to tell you about himself or herself after you’ve shared something about yourself. A simple question like “How is your day?” or “What did you do today/last week?” is an excellent conversation starter. It will be easier to connect once the ice has been broken. - Get to know each other
Exchange questions to know each other better. Some questions to consider: What does he/she do? What are his/her hobbies? What has he/she been up to recently? What are his/her upcoming priorities/goals? - Be yourself
Don’t change yourself to make new friends. Be yourself. That way, potential new acquaintances will recognize you for who you are and determine whether or not they want to pursue the friendship further. True friendships are formed when both individuals accept each other for who they are. - Be there for them
Be there for your friends where you can. Do any of your friends need help currently? Is there anything you can help them with? How can you better support them? Please treat them with emotional generosity. Give because you want to, not because you feel obliged to. - Make an effort to stay in touch
Maintaining a friendship requires constant struggle at the end of the day. Great friends distinguish themselves from hi-bye buddies by their willingness to put out an action. Once in a while, invite your friends out. It may not be necessary to meet every few days or once a week, depending on the strength of the friendship; catching up once a month or every few months may suffice.
Anyway, we have to keep in mind the scope that we first set for our new acquaintance. If you don’t feel comfortable doing all of this, e.g., just for a colleague, it’s okay. However, following these tips should help you in making new friends. Good luck!
Understanding people
Empathy is commonly defined as the ability to understand other people’s feelings. It takes more than merely perceiving other people’s feelings and emotions to understand them. It also entails genuinely caring for them and their problems.
Skills that you need to understand people better:
- Take emotional clues from nonverbal communication such as body language, tone of voice, and other nonverbal aspects.
- Pay close attention to what others are saying and double-check their knowledge. What is meant by double-checking their knowledge here is actively checking their understanding. It includes actively listening, clarifying, and reflecting about what others are saying so we would not have miscommunication or make things worse. We must take in mind that to understand others well, we have to listen with the intent to understand, not with the intent to reply. Sometimes it’s better to stay silent, understanding in silence, rather than reply but not really in line with what’s said earlier.
- Demonstrate empathy for others and an understanding of their viewpoints. They take care not to offend others by saying or doing the wrong thing, and they recognize that not everyone shares their viewpoint.
- Help others in an appropriate way for them, based on their knowledge of their needs and feelings.
People Management in PPL 2021
During PPL, I always tried to apply aspects of people management to my team. Starting from trying to make friends with members I didn’t know before and understanding each of them. Well, at first, we didn’t know each other 100% yet. However, because we are a team, we inevitably have to get to know each other and become friends. Due to the pandemic, we cannot meet each other face-to-face. So that we get acquainted through the group chat line or occasionally hold online meetings either through zoom, google meet, or discord if there are things that need to be discussed and getting acquainted with each other.
Apart from getting acquainted and being friends, I also try to understand my group members’ physical and mental conditions. If there is a severe problem or thing that needs to be discussed, I will try to speak appropriately according to the mental capacity of the team members. Since we can’t meet face-to-face, I can’t see the team members’ body language; therefore, I have to rely on the tone of speech and some patterns in the chat. It’s a bit difficult compared to meeting face-to-face, but I keep trying and keep learning to understand team members and not be judgmental.
That’s all for today’s article. Hope it can help whoever does really needs this. Thank you for reading! :)
Reference:
Author:
Glenda Emanuella Sutanto
PPL-D 2021