Employees are more aware of their work-life balance and office culture than ever.

If they don't feel valued at work or feel the work culture is depressing, they don't think twice about quitting and look for another job.

It's becoming harder to retain specialized professionals, and companies are now realizing and looking for ways to make their talent stay.

85% of the workers are likely to quit after unfair performance reviews.

You don't need specific people management skills; caring for your team is about showing them a shared vision and valuing their efforts.

Eight myths about people management that every manager must know

People management is a broad area to cover. Think of everything related to the employee experience at your company.

Your goal with your team should be to get them to work together effectively with continuous improvement.

You may already know some of these myths but have a look and see if you are missing something.

1. Performance reviews are done to identify bad performers

The traditional review system that many companies still use is our yearly performance evaluations.

This generally involves filling out a form describing achievements, and skills learned, etc.

It's not a reliable way to support your employees, especially if they collaborate.

You must inspire a collective effort in your organization.

Of course, you need to recognize high-performing individuals, but everyone should practice continuous improvement.

With continuous feedback and performance evaluation based on the goals and OKR management, employees get to know their shortcomings and what they must do to improve their performance.

2. The company needs a few highly talented professionals

Indeed, some high performers in the team contribute significantly to the business's success.

Many companies hunt for these few people. Therefore, HR at companies started talent development programs.

You may want to look for a high-potential person that can take the senior leadership position at your startup.

But the truth is that these high-performing professionals work through others. They may have innovative ideas, but they must build a great team to execute them.

It's best that your teams clearly understand the business goals and are well-aligned to achieve them.

3. Promotions and bonuses can motivate workers

Why would someone decide to stay in the company?

Because they feel they are valued there.

Great compensation, bonuses, and promotions can motivate employees for a short time, but when they start to get into the routine, they get more involved in their jobs.

And if their jobs are not fulfilling, it cannot inspire them to improve or do better work.

Workers also consider other factors such as work-life balance, work culture, health insurance, management, etc.

4. HRM is responsible for hiring

Many organizations may give the HRM staff power to make decisions on hiring employees.

Sometimes experienced and long-stayed HR professionals may acquire political power or strong persuasion techniques.

But the fact is that not the HR personnel but the supervisor of the to-be-hired professional makes the hiring decision.

HRM's job is to assist the team leaders or supervisors in hiring the right candidate by helping them screen candidates.

5. Employee surveys reflect true stories

You have to look at more than the employee surveys. 

Workers are pretty conscious when they write their surveys. They want to share factual information that will not be used against them.

On the other hand, if your employees are satisfied with the work culture and their expectations from the company, they may not hold the truth and mention it in the surveys.

You can also make these staff surveys more effective by making them anonymous and ensuring that you welcome criticism.

6. If your employees don’t openly talk, they are not hiding anything

Many factors influence employee behavior. For example, if the work culture has created management fear, most employees won't speak openly about their work and environment.

They may also not give feedback on routine problems and other work aspects to focus on their tasks and avoid wasting time.

You have to foster an organizational culture where every team member can speak up and criticize some work. Make the workplace psychologically safe for your workers.

7. Past employee behaviour is a good predictor of future behaviour

Most companies prefer people with a consistent work history. People with fewer career gaps and those who did not change many jobs.

But that is not true.

You cannot ignore other human factors that affect behavior and outcomes due to a change in habits.

An individual must be pretty consistent in their behavior so that someone can rightfully predict their future behavior.

That is not the case. Some professionals have taken significant failures and career gaps and still learn, improve, and change their behavior (and skills).

You must analyze an individual based on the critical skill set required for a given job. Don't assume.

8. The team needs bigger goals to make a business successful

Using goals management to drive business growth is essential, but what happens when your employees cannot make sense of the assigned goals?

You have to realize when the goals start being over-stretched, the business cannot provide enough value to its customers, and the buyers start churning.

Stretch goals may not be super helpful for businesses generating decent profits, but they can make or break startups wanting to grow fast.

Choose goals that define critical priorities for the business and break them down into short periods. Maintain the workforce alignment with those goals to boost their performance.

If you want to scale up your business with goals and an OKR-based strategy and need someone to guide you in executing that strategy well, a software platform with dedicated consultation is the right approach.

JOP provides a software platform to manage the business and team goals, performance, and more, along with expert consultation.

Take a tour of the website to know more.