Encourage collaboration and teamwork with a recognition program that is effective and enjoyable!
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Whether you’re managing a team of 1 or 100, follow these simple steps to make sure you hit the ground running.
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Becoming a manager for the first time?
Whether you’re managing a team of one or a team of one hundred, you’ll need the same skills to thrive in your new role.
Stick to these tips for first-time managers to make sure you hit the ground running.
There isn’t such a thing as first-time manager training. But if there was, the very first lesson would surely be in the one skill you need above all others to be an effective manager: people skills.
Once you’re a manager, it’s your job to have the awkward conversations, take the lead in one-to-ones, and to resolve conflicts in your team. And it’s on you to inspire your people to do their best work, too.
You have to hold your reports accountable when their work isn’t up to scratch. And you’ll often have to fight your top performers’ corner with your bosses when it comes to landing them a pay rise or promotion (that’s right – you’ll still have to manage your manager).
And that all takes top-notch people skills to get right.
Stepping into your first people manager role soon?
Make sure you take these simple – but not easy – steps to hit the ground running as a first-time manager.
It’s important to recognise that everyone deals with conflict differently.
Some people aren’t shy about making their colleagues know exactly how they feel. Others might seem totally content on the surface, and you’ll only find out they were silently suffering after they’ve handed in their resignation.
One of the most effective things you can do to help handle the inevitable conflicts that will inevitably crop up within your team is to build close relationships with each of your reports. That way you’ll quickly spot when things aren’t sitting right with them and simmering tensions start to appear.
There’s no shortcut here – you’ve got to put in the time and effort to get to know your employees and understand their needs and communication style.
A great starting point is to quiz new staff on this during your onboarding process through a new hire survey. A few questions about how they’d characterize their communication style can go a long way here, especially when you follow this up by taking a genuine interest in who they are as people and what kind of things get under their skin.
Taking the time to do this will pay serious dividends, as it will allow you to spot interpersonal problems around the office early and tackle them straight away before tensions reach boiling point.
Try Assembly today to make tracking and recording how your reports handle conflict easy.
Not all your employees are going to be on the same page about everything. Which means that conflict is always going to be part and parcel of the working experience.
But your team will have far fewer interpersonal problems if everyone has a strong relationship with one another.
We’re a lot quicker to forgive and forget a serious misdemeanor by one our nearest and dearest than a small slight from a stranger. That’s just human nature.
So, do everything you can to foster a positive and supportive company culture, and make sure to give your team ample opportunities to bond.
The most effective way to build goodwill with your reports is to simply make time for them. Set a weekly one-on-one meeting in stone with each of your staff where they can discuss anything at all that’s bothering them – big or small.
When interpersonal conflicts do crop up, keep in mind that it’s far more important that your teammates are all comfortable communicating directly and cooperatively with each other than the specific conflict being resolved.
So, make sure no bridges are burned during disagreements, no matter how heated they get. Steer the conversation to common ground, and if things reach an impasse, encourage your staff to agree to disagree.
This will be a lot easier for your team if they know, like, and trust their colleagues. When there’s a shared history and a mutual respect, conflicts over specific issues will be a lot easier to navigate.
70% of employees say productivity and morale would improve if managers simply said “thank you” more.
Plus, organizations that double the number of employees that receive recognition for their work on a weekly basis experience a "24 percent improvement in quality, a 27 percent reduction in absenteeism and a 10 percent reduction in shrinkage”, according to a Gallup poll.
However, the same Gallup poll shows that 65% of employees haven't received any form of recognition for good work in the last year
Take the time to recognise your reports’ efforts in your one-to-ones – as well as outside of them, of course – to help ensure your staff stay happy and productive.
But bear in mind that not all praise is created equal. In fact, over half of employees say they prefer to receive feedback in an immediate one-on-one conversation with their managers.
And the more specific your praise is, the more meaningful it will be to your staff, as it will show you’re really paying attention to their efforts rather than paying lip service to them.
Book a demo of Assembly to make recognizing your teammates as easy as possible.
It might seem counterintuitive, but your employees will thank you for bringing up areas they can improve on.
In fact, research suggests that people want corrective feedback even more than praise if it’s provided in a constructive manner.
However, most managers find it hard to pick their staff up on their flaws.
Giving employee feedback doesn’t have to be awkward though, especially if you follow these simple steps:
If you fail to support your reports’ career aspirations, they’re liable to leave your team. In fact, 41% of workers have quit a previous job due to the lack of progression opportunities.
So, while you might not want to do this during every one-to-one, but you should be regularly touching on your staff’s career trajectory in your catch ups with them
Having an open dialogue with each of your team members about their career growth and how they feel that’s developing is one of the most effective things you can do to keep your staff engaged in their work and wanting to stick around.
Don’t make the mistake of leaving a candid discussion of your reports’ career aspirations until their annual review. Instead, invite them to let you know how they’d like to grow their career at least once a quarter and then do what you can to make that happen for them.
Try Assembly to see how easy it can make tracking your reports’ career aspirations so you can help them achieve them.
Following this first-time manager advice will lay a solid foundation for a happy, engaged, and loyal team that will feel comfortable coming to you with any problem they face. And once that strong foundation is in place you’re bound to find being a first-time manager a lot easier.
Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.
Explore Guide
Yes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.
There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.
Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.
The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.
We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.
At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.
The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.
We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.
Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!
While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.
Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.
Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.
That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.
They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.
No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.
Please schedule time with an expert and we will help you to get all your questions answered
