I worked in retail management for over twenty two years. I was manager of a grocery store, supervisor over eight fast food restaurants, and manager of an IT department in a computer store. In each of these positions, I applied the lessons below that helped me to lead my team members and our employers to greater sales, growth, and bigger profits. Here are twelve tips that I believe anyone can use when managing people.
Manage yourself first
Before you can manage others, you first need to take care of yourself. Make your own schedule a priority and guard your time, setting aside a block of time each day that you dedicate to completing your own work without interruptions. And to further expand this thought, you need to prioritize your own mental, physical, and spiritual health as it is impossible to lead well when your own fuel gauges are on empty.
Get to know your team
The first step to effective management is understanding the people you are managing. Depending on their personality type, people respond differently to various leadership styles. And remember, there are no shortcuts to getting to know your team members, it requires time and commitment on your part to cultivate those relationships.
Delegate tasks
Learning how to trust others with key tasks allows you to focus on high-level management duties instead of micromanaging each responsibility on a project. Once you learn about each team member's strengths, weaknesses, experiences and skills, you will be able to accurately delegate jobs to the people who are likely to do them well within the given time frame. One of the phrases that still sticks with me years later is if you are a 25 cent person, don't constantly be doing 5 cent jobs. Yes, of course there will be times when you need to put on an apron and jump in to help your team, but if you find yourself doing this on a regular basis you have a major problem. You are being paid to work on 25 cent jobs, hire and delegate your team to do the 5 cent tasks.
