Importance of People Skills in Successful Management

‘People skills aren’t important, are they?’

There are many 'people skill' issues facing organisations. We need to identify the core problems facing teams to establish an appropriate plan of action and remedy.

Problems affecting the performance of teams:

• Promotion to a position which was not compatible with existing skills and attributes
• Lacking managerial directive to educate and train employees in various work areas, such as client and team contact
• Performance standards were not established for client contact
• The system of performance feedback and appraisals was not operating in a fair, equal and consistent manner.
• Morale within the team is beginning to diminish and conflict between team members is imminent
• Management lacks the presence of formal performance standards for employees.

The longer term impact of these core problems may have a detrimental effect on the performance of employees, thus resulting in reduced productivity and efficiency of the team.

• Although the client service team continued to provide a professional level of service, morale was beginning to diminish. Poor staff morale over time will result in lack of direction and initiative from team members which ultimately will reflect in poor performance.
• Conflict between team members is imminent as a long term consequence- the classification of employees developing groups of ‘favourites and enemies’ may have the potential to destroy or displace members and the cohesion of the team.

1. To identify learning and development deficiencies, the first process is to conduct a skills audit. This audit allows the organisation to assess the current skills each individual staff member brings to the team.

2. The next stage is to compare the findings of the skills audit and compare them to the organisation’s skill requirements. Skill requirements outlines what the