The role of a HR manager often comes with having multiple responsibilities. You could be required to support on-boarding, recruitment, annual performance reviews, pay & bonuses, career development to name just a few.
Interestingly, a recent 2020 report by Deloitte revealed that over half of all participants (55%) in the survey thought that HR will change dramatically in the next year to 18 months.
Separately, a report from JPMorgan Chase found that two of the top three challenges facing business leaders this year fall into the responsibility of a HR team finding talent with suitable skills and managing labor costs.
HR manager jobs are in significant demand too. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated there will be a 6% job growth by 2029. This number is higher than all other occupations.
Although the roles and responsibilities of an HR manager differ from company to company, the skillset needed by an HR manager remains almost identical, regardless of the size of business, sector, or location.
In this post, we are going to look at the three most critical skills needed to be a great HR manager.
Let’s take a look.
Communication
As an HR manager, it’s critical that you can communicate effectively and express yourself in the right way, both verbally and written.
As a HR professional, one of the key responsibilities is to run the recruitment process, which involves communicating effectively with candidates and future employees.
Another role of a HR manager is to listen to any issues employees may be facing and suggesting relevant ideas to support them. This requires effective one-to-one communication where you will be needed to gain the trust and confidence of the employees.
A HR manager will also help to design and produce policy handbooks for the company. This requires clear and concise written instructions that employees can understand.
In all communications as a HR manager, the most important thing you need to do is be completely transparent. For example, if the company is undertaking a restructuring or employee redundancy, this needs to be communicated early and often.
By being totally transparent with employees it helps to build trust, which over time, drives productivity and higher output.
Decision Making
The role of a HR manager involves making lots of important decisions on a daily basis. This could be anything from deciding if a new candidate is the right fit for the company or adding a new company policy to the employee handbook.
Being seen as someone who is comfortable making big decisions is critical if you want to become a successful HR manager. Making the right decisions helps to foster respect, prevents conflict, serves as motivation, and saves crucial time.
Making decisions also helps the rest of your team to feel comfortable that they have someone in charge who knows what it takes to make tough calls. This will help you garner the respect of the team and often helps to increase overall productivity.
Empathy
By the very nature of working in HR, you will often be helping employees with any concerns they have about salary, workload, conflict in the office, etc.
As a HR manager, you have to be empathetic so you understand the reasons why someone may have concerns before coming to any quick conclusion.
Sometimes it can just be that an employee needs someone impartial to speak to and get something off their chest. Or it could something more important like making a formal complaint against another member of staff.
Whatever the issue, it’s the HR manager’s responsibility to listen to the employee and take the relevant action.
Wrap Up
HR is an incredible field of work to be involved in as it gives you access to wide-ranging roles and responsibilities.
The role of a HR manager requires three critical skills if you want to succeed, communication, decision-making, and empathy.
If you possess these skills, the role of a HR manager may just be the right career for you.
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- 3 Critical Skills Needed To Be A Great HR Manager - March 23, 2021
