Solutions For The Four Common Challenges Managers Have to Face

Being a manager means wearing many hats. You are a seasoned industry professional, a therapist, a project manager, a crisis resolution specialist, and the list goes on. However, challenges arise every day and how you overcome them determines your worth as a manager, both to the company and the team you manage. Here are four of the main challenges managers face and how to overcome them.

1. Mediating Workplace Conflicts

Interpersonal issues can be a morale-destroyer, and they can range from something as small as someone heating up fish in a microwave to workplace bullying. Often, these issues start with something minor and escalate if left unchecked. 

It is your job as a manager to make sure these conflicts are resolved. Make sure you are approachable and your team knows to come to you with concerns, however minor they may seem. This will allow you to get on top of the problem before it escalates. In many cases, disputes between staff members can be resolved with a conversation between the aggrieved parties, but in others you may need to call in HR or legal. 

Make sure you have clear HR policies in place and that those policies are communicated regularly to all staff. Having regular meetings with HR on your own to make sure you are up to date on the latest changes in workplace legislation and your own policies can also help.

2. Proving Your Team’s Worth

The past five years have been a roller coaster for the job market, going from labor shortages to significant attrition. While you can’t manage economic forces, you can focus on keeping your team happy with their roles and your managers happy with their performance in the face of economic headwinds. In an attrition-heavy landscape, you need to know how each employee contributes to the success of your business and the best way to do that is with objective data. 

Prodoscore can help provide insight into employee productivity for 1:1 discussions and self-coaching opportunities. Managers can use this data to craft a template for how top performers are spending their days or to identify people who are disconnected from the business and find ways to help. 

Productivity data can also be used to signal when employees are reaching their critical limits, at which point you can make a business case for hiring either outside contractors or new employees to lighten the load. The current hiring landscape looks good, with a wealth of top talent out there looking for work. 

While Prodoscore is primarily designed to help companies reward the good, you can also use it to coach employees who are underperforming, and those with sustained poor performance can be put on PIPs and marked for attrition if they don’t improve. 

Using data to make personnel decisions takes the emotion out of the equation, prevents favoritism, and makes you look like an even more effective manager to your own bosses.

3. Keeping Team Members Motivated

In a flat economy, it can be tough to motivate your team. Addressing employee fears about layoffs, implementation of performance bonuses, and fostering a supportive work environment are just three ingredients in the complex recipe of employee engagement. 

While it may be a more employer-centric job market, employees who don’t have access to reasonable benefits are less likely to be engaged in the business. Make sure not to scale back on essential things like mental health treatment, healthcare, paid time off, flexibility in work hours, and other items that employees value. Most people are fine with “extra” things like yoga classes and free snacks in the break room being removed, but not core benefits they are using regularly. 

Make sure you’re having regular check-ins to let your people know how the work they are doing is helping the company. This will make them feel valued and like they are a significant part of business success - which of course they are, but it can be easy  to lose sight of. Visibly rewarding wins in a public way can help individual and team morale.

4. Having the Hard Conversations

While you’re balancing all of these ingredients, it is important to stay authentic. If the company doesn’t hit a goal, don’t try to rationalize it or flub it off to market forces. Keeping your team engaged includes enlisting them to solve as well as celebrate successes. Don’t try to manage bad news on your own - involve your team and make them part of the solution.

It’s the same with unpopular edicts you have to hand down from your company’s top brass. Set aside whether or not you like the initiative you are tasked to move forward with or the information you have to convey. Ask questions about the rationale behind it so you are ready with answers. An example of this could be something like scaling back paid time off or increasing sales targets. Get the metrics behind the message so you can present a by-the-numbers case to your team. 

Being a good manager means overcoming challenges every day. If you can be authentic in your management style and have data ready to back up your decisions, you’ll be well-armed to face even the toughest challenges business can throw at you. 

Do you want to get the data you need to be a better manager? Prodoscore, our employee productivity monitoring solution, can help your company improve by identifying the work patterns of top performers and much more. Contact us to book a demonstration!