The people/employees (human capital) are the driving force for the success of a company. You may have a great product, plan or direction for your company but without the right talent/team members, targets and objectives would be impossible to achieve. Acquiring talents especially those with special set of skills can be costly. Therefore, people management is important to retain these talents. I have personally witnessed over the years how hardworking, skilled professionals are driven over the edge because they feel overworked and underappreciated. Some top level management even display favouritism and some others practise the "you scratch my back and I scratch your back" culture which I despise. Nowadays, with the development of popular social media sites, many talents are being head hunted by huge corporations. Let's look at Pos Malaysia for instance. Pos Malaysia has recently employed Mr. Charles Brewer, a highly regarded individual in the logistics industry, as their CEO to revamp their business model. Mr. Brewer is in the midst of gathering highly skilled individuals to join his team. Those who know Mr. Brewer and have worked under him, have no qualms leaving their high paying jobs to join him because of his fantastic people management skills along with his vision.
So here are the key components of people management:
1. Planning, acquiring and training new team member.
2. Understanding and knowing each member's strength/skills.
3. Collaborating with the entire team so everyone is on the same page.
4. Resolving problems/conflicts head on.
5. Effective communication from top down.