Tips for managing people for the first time

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Mark Hellery, Regional Sales manager London, Reed Specialist provides advice on maganging people for the first time

Managing a person or people for the first time can be quite a daunting prospect. It means that you have responsibility for the performance of others as well as yourself. The best tip for PAs would probably be to think about your previous managers; which did you, and didn’t you like? What was it about the way you were managed that you preferred and has helped you to further your career in the direction that you wanted?

You may be heading up a new team of admin and clerical staff or starting a managerial role at a new company, in which case the most important task is to get to know everybody individually. Although you may be managing a team of people collectively everyone is different and will need some of your time.

Perhaps a more tricky situation is taking over from your own manager, or taking on a new role managing colleagues or friends. Tread carefully, don’t suddenly change your ways, for example declining after work drinks that you would never miss before may start to create a gap between team and manager.

1. Build relationships with everybody from day one – don’t delay meeting your new team, these are the people that you rely on and will rely on you, put them first.
2. Manage expectations of team members, don’t make promises you can’t keep. Your team may quickly lose faith and motivation, honesty is the best policy.
3. Get to grips with any conflict or resentment within the team from the start. This could be a result of your promotion, or between two of your team members. If you don’t have the confidence just yet to tackle conflict head on, have a chat with your HR team, your manager or think about attending a course specialising in conflict management.
4. Look at individual, team and company objectives. A new pair of eyes might be able to identify and weaknesses. Consult your team, they may have great answers to solving any systems or introducing new procedures. This will also help you to realise different team members skills sets.
5. Communication is key, make sure you have open dialogue from the start. Make your team aware that mistakes will happen from time and the best thing to do is keep you informed. That way you can react together and you will be able to demonstrate loyalty to your team during potential difficult times.
6. ‘Practise what you preach’ and ‘don’t delegate what you wouldn’t do yourself’ are two great tips you might hear from time to time. Put yourself in the shoes of those you are managing, part of your role is now to keep others motivated and engaged in their tasks, not colleagues for you to give all your dull jobs to.
7. Don’t forget to praise employees who go out of their way to do a great job and exceed expectations. Similarly when it comes to being let down by one of them team, tread carefully and always keep it private.

Reed Learning provides a course specifically tailored to the needs of PAs and Office Managers taking on a management role called Effective Office Management. The role of the PA and Secretarial staff is always evolving and enlarging, the roles of Team Secretaries are crucial to the efficient running of any office.

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Notes to Editors

Reed Specialist is the UK’s leading independent specialist provider of administrative, clerical and support staff.  Assisting jobseekers and Employers for over 40 years, a combination of a national network of over 150 branches and the industry-leading website, reed.co.uk which receives over 1 million job applications per month, mean that Reed Specialist has the widest selection of skilled candidates and job opportunities available in the UK.

Contact

Reed Press Office
0845 241 9249
press.office@reed.co.uk

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