People Are Humans

Suffice to say that moving into a management role is sometimes the only way organizations can reward people who are performing well at the individual level. What that means is that often times, people who were good at and enjoyed their individual level role are asked to move into a management role that requires much more interaction with people.

i-love-meRegardless of how you have found yourself “in charge” of others work and/or career development, one of the lessons I’ve learned is that to lead people you actually have to like and appreciate humans in general… and all of the things that “being human” brings along with it.

That doesn’t mean that you have to like everything your team says or does, or that you have to like everything about people ALL the time. It does mean, however, that a part of you must enjoy talking with people, solving problems between people, figuring out how people can successfully work together, etc. It is about becoming a people person.

If you don’t like people and would rather not talk to them all day long, then you might want to re-think accepting a management role.

Even those of us that relish interacting with people sometimes become frustrated with all the “people” problems that seem to confront us on a daily basis. You have to work hard to make sure that you don’t turn all your interactions with people into communications with people that have problems. Make time to connect with your people who are doing well, solving problems, anticipating problems, and coming up with solutions. Go out of your way to drop in on people that give you energy rather than only visiting people that take energy from you.

Interacting with humans can be fun!

What things are you doing to make sure you get some enjoyment out of working with people?

Bookmark People Are Humans

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Kris Krueger, PhD is an Associate for a global strategy & technology consulting firm
She works with clients to transform their organization and deliver results

Email | LinkedIn | Blog

 

 

L2L Contributing Author

2 Comments

  1. Reut Schwartz-Hebron on January 27, 2009 at 5:10 pm

    Thank you Kris for a beautiful post!

    Looking forward to more…

    I don’t actually like interacting with all people– my way of enjoying it is being very selective about the people I hang out with. My personal prefrence is those who are bluntly honest and direct but have pure positive intentions. Regardless of personal prefrences I find selecting the people around you to fit your “zone” (as a manager, business owner and even as an employee) to be one of the most important components of success.

    Reut



  2. susan little on January 28, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    You definitely have to be a people person to be in a leadership role, I say leadership there is a big difference. Managers can probably be not as people oriented. A true leader understands that each employee is a different kind of person. A great leader knows how to handle the many types of issues and obstacles that come along with “managing” people. You cant internalize those issues, it usually isn’t about you. Big step for the leader to realize that the world doesn’t evolve around them, it evolves around the employee. Its tough when your life is in the hands of so many, Isn’t it?



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