Effective personnel management is one of the hardest tasks for any manager but it's also one of the most important.

Managing large teams can feel like a never ending task. The minute you think you have a grasp of the team's availability and capabilities, something changes and it can feel like going back to square one.

You need to approach the different aspects of personnel management in the right order, at the right times, for the best chance of success.

In this post I outline my 5 Steps to Effective Personnel Management. Read through and see how they compare to your processes.

If you're struggling with personnel management then you might require some Management Skills training. In particular, our Management Skills for New Managers course is perfect for identifying and improving gaps in your management skill set.

Step 1: Understand Your Team

In today's flexible working day, it can be time consuming keeping managing schedules. Keep a live calendar to record leave, meetings, training days and other absences to stay flexible with your team

Make sure your team is aware of what changes can be made with and without authorisation to create a platform for flexible working that doesn't affect plans.

Keep a close eye on competencies. It is essential to work with your team to understand who is able to complete which tasks. This is something that can be achieved by tracking in-house training.

Step 2: Allocate Resources

When assigning projects or tasks, use your calendar and sheets as above and make sure work is distributed evenly.

It can be tempting to call on the same few team members for the same tasks - but this can overwork your best staff and does not give a chance for other employees to improve their skills.

Give new team members, and those with recent training, the chance to develop their new skills. You will need to give them more attention than your best team members but this is essential for nurturing new talent and not overworking top talent.

Step 3: Monitor

The more personnel you have to manage, the harder it is to make sure that they are all working productively.

Put motions in place to measure employee performance this could include time records and regular reporting and leads to more informed performance appraisals.

You need confidence that the return from your team is as high as it can be. Regular performance appraisals lessen the risk of issues escalating and ensure that all team members are in the right role.

Step 4: Identify Gaps

Effective monitoring will allow you to quickly identify skill gaps in your team.

If there are certain tasks that are not being performed to high standard this may indicate a training requirement.

If your team is worked to the absolute maximum then you may need to employ additional resources into the team.

Step 5: Make Confident Decisions

Once you know your team's availability and competency, and are confident that tasks are being performed in the most efficient way, you will be able to easily respond when you are asked to assign to projects or resources.

If your team is approached with a new challenge or project, you will be ready to react with informed feasibility, timescales and outcomes.

Confident and organised personnel management depends on following the above steps. This way, you will be fully aware of the resources at your disposal and will be in the best position to deal with changes and challenges.