What people skills do managers need when working with people who may be working in different places and/or at different times?

To understand this, it’s helpful to take a close look at the underlying skills involved in being an effective manager. A lot of it is to do with communication and relationship-building.

The following exercise unpacks some of these key management people skills, and is designed to get you thinking about how as a manager you interact with people in your team and other stakeholders. This can be done individually, but it also works well as a group workshop exercise.

On the grid below, assess your people skills as a manager on a 1-5 scale, where 5 is excellent and 1 is not good at all. “DK” is for “don’t know” – it’s good to be honest about this and you may seek the views of others.

Then think about the techniques you use now. Do you have quick conversations across a desk, send bluntly worded emails, gather people into a morning huddle, etc?

Then think about when your team members are working in different times and places, and with new communications technologies at their disposal, how this would change – if at all. For example, think “What more would I need to do inspire and get the best out of my team – and actually how good am I at this at the moment?”

 Rethinking face-to-face meetings table

People Skill	How good am I?	Technique(s) now	Future technique(s)
Being understood	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Listening skills	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Influencing/motivating	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Inspiring/getting the best out of people	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Trusting others	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Involving others	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Building team spirit	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Delegating	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Assertiveness	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Coaching/mentoring	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Developing team’s skills and capabilities	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Setting appropriate objectives	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Giving feedback/appraisal	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Detecting performance problems	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Detecting personal problems	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Problem solving	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Resolving disputes	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Decision-making	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Persuading	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Negotiating	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Disciplining/having awkward conversations	1   2   3   4   5  DK
Add in any others below:
	1   2   3   4   5  DK
	1   2   3   4   5  DK

1 = Not good at all, 5 = Excellent. DK = Don’t know / not at all sure