The top skills that make a successful HR manager

What makes a top-of-the-game HR manager? HR professionals are the ones in charge of internal development, and a lot of other activities under their belt. Find out in this blog.

 

 

The world is changing fast: So are its people. To succeed as an HR manager, you’ll need to have a strong grasp of both technical and soft skills, turning human capital into business power. A successful HR manager is involved in diverse tasks with a goal to increase internal efficiency and lay the groundwork for culture and values onwards. What skills are needed to become a capable HR manager? Read this article to find out.

 

 

There’s little doubt that communication is among the top skills an aspiring HR manager should master. 

Both verbal and non-verbal cues during the communication process can affect employees in many ways. As the main communicator company-wide, it is up to HR professionals to establish trust and confidence between themselves and other workers. Achieving communicative purposes, HR managers can build and foster a healthy, forward-going workplace.

In fact, the more proficient an HR is in communicating, the better environment they help contribute at work. 

 

 

 

Administrative skills involve leadership, team management, and task delegation. 

One big part of a human resource manager is managing people profiles. This can range from:

- Storing employees’ information

- Organizing and updating personel’s records

- Preparing HR documents (onboarding materials, contracts, and more)

Since this means working with large databases, it is important that these managers are able to plan ahead of time. Also, they should be able to delegate tasks to team members, and have an eye for detail. 

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that although this (short) list looks like repetitive work, it plays a key role in business operations. HR managers will bridge the gap between the employees’ and company expectations by providing guidance and support. Managing important documents so that workers can better adapt to the working culture, HR managers can transform the business environment into a less stressful, more supportive space.

 

 

Without expertise, the job of an HR manager can be difficult. HRM knowledge mastery can be further broken down into two areas: Business acumen and empathy.

 

Also known as business savviness, this is the ability to align oneself with the organization’s goals, missions, and strategies. Business acumen allows HR professionals to be quick-thinking and flexible, especially with the changes in the market and internal activities. This aims to give them a clearer picture of the organization, from which HR managers can develop key strategies to increase sales. 

 

Empathy suggests the level of understanding among human beings. As an HR manager, this skill should be on the top of your list. An empathetic approach can draw you closer to the employees’ needs, problems, and wants, giving you a better overview of human capital in the workplace. From these insights, you can work out a strategy to incorporate both internal forces and relevant market trends to drive businesses.

 

On a one-to-one basis, an empathetic mindset affords the HR manager more understanding of their employee’s problems, thorough behavior assessment, and appropriate feedback. There are not many things that can beat a worker’s satisfaction and trust, knowing that their HR team takes great care of their concerns. Understanding the root cause of hardships and suggesting the right course of action is how you empower them to grow. 

 

 

Without strong cost-accounting methods, HR managers run the risk of under-funding or over-funding organizational activities. 

Budgeting can help facilitate internal training activities, departmental learning, and company-bonding events. Oftentimes, budgeting comes at the end where a plan has been approved. The HR manager then calculates and justifies costs induced. They also have to put employees’ and the whole organization’s gains to settle on an amount that makes sense. 

Typically, a company spends around 2-5% of its budget on employee training. It is the job of prospective HR professionals to make the most out of this number.

 

 

Coaching is a huge part of strategy-planning because it enables trust between stakeholders. From this foundation, the HR manager can lay out necessary steps to help solve employee’s problems with their expertise. During the process, an open attitude and attention to detail plays a collaborative role.

Arden Coaching suggests four cornerstones for effective coaching:

 

This is when the HR professional and employee have the first few talks. The goals of these conversations are to get a better sense of what that worker has been going through, and how the coach can help in this situation.

 

To let this happen, workers need to trust the individual doing the coaching - HR manager. A healthy work culture that encourages communication between these two can help a lot. That’s why we more than once emphasize the role of clear communication: To let employees know that there’s a team of professionals to help in times of difficulties. 

 

It’s now time for you two to put in efforts and make things happen, step-by-step. Basically, co-creating the relationships involves sharing each other’s expectations, and finding out how you can achieve that. 

So in the first few meetings, make sure you allow the workers to share their problems as honestly as possible. Be open to their experience and let them know you’re actively here to help. 

 

Make sure you understand the problems in-depth that your worker is facing. To achieve this, an HR manager should have active listening skills to identify the issues at hand.

After finding out the problems, you can ask more detailed, customized questions to figure out a way that might work for your help seeker.

 

Now that you have a goal in mind, both the coach and the employee should put in efforts to reach their target.

For an HR manager, it’s your responsibility to help your colleague out using your knowledge in people management. Make sure you monitor the process, meet and discuss key touchpoints in your journey. Evaluate these mini results along the way so that you know how much progress has been achieved.

 

Note that coaching isn’t a one-off event in your business journey. Being the leader that you are, you’ll need to design appropriate coaching sessions based on past learnings. This can help you grow your career substantially. 

 

 

And not just jobs that you can find. Waw Asia also provides a huge resource for remote workers who’d like to start an HR career.

All you need to begin your track is to:

- Sign up for an account

- Choose your subscription plan

- Find and apply to authentic remote jobs

Be a part of our growing community of remote workers at Waw Asia!