Effective Communication Skills for People Managers

A three-page cheat sheet covering the four communication skills people managers use every day.

1. Knowing yourself as a manager. How a manager describes their own working style — preferences, patterns, frustrations, expectations. Articulating these shortens the decoding work reports do every day. Includes the four self-questions to answer and how to share them in kickoff 1:1s.

2. Knowing your reports. Building an accurate picture of each report through observation, open questions, and active listening. The other half of the same shared story.

3. Giving feedback. The three things every piece of feedback needs — clear evidence, clear impact, clear next step — and the three questions worth answering before delivering it.

4. Having difficult conversations. Performance issues, sudden change, conflict. How to prepare, how to pace, and how to listen for the emotion underneath what's being said.

Each skill comes with a reflection question — the same questions used in the live session. The cheat sheet works on its own as a reference, and it works as a memory aid for anyone attending the session.