~by Haley Lynn Gray~
Managing people can feel like a minefield, particularly the first time. It’s less complicated than it looks, though it is harder to do consistently than anyone admits.
Here’s what I’d tell anyone taking it on.
1. Be genuine
If you’re fake, everyone knows. People read authenticity faster than almost anything else, and a manager performing a personality is exhausting to work for.
Being genuine doesn’t mean volunteering everything. You choose what you share — it just has to be genuinely yours.
2. Be truthful
If someone asks you something you can’t answer, say you can’t answer it. Not evasively — plainly. “I can’t discuss that” is respected; a vague non-answer is noticed and remembered.
That isn’t licence to be brutal. Truthful and kind are compatible. But what leaves your mouth should be true, because people revisit everything you’ve told them once they catch one thing that wasn’t.
3. Be clear about what “good” means
Most underperformance I’ve seen was actually unclear expectations. People can’t hit a standard nobody described.
Say what the outcome is, when it’s needed, and what finished looks like. Then ask them to explain it back — it takes a minute and prevents most of what goes wrong later.
4. Give feedback close to the event
Small and soon beats large and late. The annual review that introduces a problem someone has had for eleven months is a management failure, not an employee one.
Praise specifically, in front of others. Correct privately, quickly, and about the work rather than the person.
5. Let people do it their way
If the outcome is right, the route being different from yours is not a problem. Check early rather than hovering — look at the first draft, not the finished thing, so corrections are cheap.
Hovering teaches people to wait for you, and then you’ve created the bottleneck yourself.
6. Deal with problems while they’re small
The conversation you’re dreading gets more expensive every week you postpone it. The person is usually aware something’s wrong, so the delay isn’t sparing them — it’s sparing you.
And your good people notice what you tolerate. Nothing demoralises a team faster than watching someone get away with it.
7. Take the blame, share the credit
When it goes wrong publicly, it’s yours. When it goes right, name the people who did it.
That’s the whole arrangement, really. It’s also what earns you the benefit of the doubt when you eventually need it.
The one that underpins the rest
Know what each person actually wants — recognition, autonomy, security, growth, flexibility. Managing everyone the way you’d want to be managed is the commonest mistake there is.
Ask them. Most people will tell you, and almost nobody has been asked.
