5 Tips So Entrepreneurs Can Manage People Too?

At the initial set-up or launch phase you may not have considered that you will need to manage others. At the early stages as an aspiring entrepreneur the only staff within your business may be yourself. However as your business expands it is likely that at some stage you will be managing others. Whether this is through hiring freelance workers or permanent employees at some stage you are likely to managing others'.

It is likely that unless you have been involved in a management role prior to your journey as an entrepreneur you are unlikely to have experience in people management. If your business is to grow successfully and as part of this you need to employ others then you will need to be able to lead and motivate them so they join your business and contribute to its continuing success.  So how can entrepreneurs manage people as well as their business? Below are some tips:


Recruit those who share your vision:
Management of people starts as early as the recruitment stage. It is important that you decide what type of individual in terms of attitude, personality, skill set and experience you require. However most importantly you need to ensure the individual shares the same vision as you and is both competent and motivated to achieve this vision.


Motivate:
It is important that you are able to motivate those who you employ. Motivation is the drive we have within us that helps us to achieve our aims. Individuals can be motivated finacially or by having a sense of purpose, being given responsibility, learning new skills and being apart of something successful or by achieving success. Obviously one key factor within motivation is to know the people you employ and learn what motivates them.



Goal Setting:
This is linked to motivation as setting goals with your employees can help increase motivation. SMART goal setting is a common way of setting goals and increasing motivation.


Delegate effectively:
If you delegate in a way where the individual knows what is expected of them and what the required standard is then they are more likely to complete the task given. One key element of delegation is to set deadlines so that the individual knows when to complete the task by. SMART goal setting can be an effective way to delegate. Particularly if the task being given is a complex one as this allows it to be broken down in to manageable chunks.



Communication:
It is essential that when you manage others you communicate effectively. Communication ensures others know what is expected and allows you to monitor others'. It is quite often found that when mistakes happen or a task is overlooked or forgotten about it is because somewhere there has been a breakdown in communication. Remember communication can take a number of forms such as email, communication books, telephone calls, memo's and team meetings to a name a few examples.


Reflection and self awareness:
If you are new to management you need to reflect on how you are managing people. This will allow you to evaluate how successfully you are managing. In addition to this you need be self aware in order to establish what skills you have and what skills need developing to make you an effective manager.

In addition to the tips given in this post you may also find it helpful to read What Are The Traits Of An Entrepreneur? There is information within this post to outline what skills can support an aspiring entrepreneur.