Learning people skills ....

I was in the first session of a management/leadership training class yesterday. Most participants were managers of a group of people and had been on their job for a while. We were all asked what we wanted to take away from this class. It was quite amazing to hear most participants say they wanted to learn how to improve their people skills/ gain people skills needed to manage a group! All I could think when I heard that every time was - " Were these people or the people who made them managers in the first place out of their minds?" To me, one of the first qualities to be in a people management position is people skills and here was a group of managers who wanted to gain people skills after they had done their job for a while... I feel sad for the employees these people have been managing!

Another though running through my mind was - at the end of this class, are these guys and gals going to be "better" people and hence better managers? I honestly dont know the answer.. In anycase, I am really looking forward to this course and hopefully there are lots of things I can take away from this class that can make me more effective on my job..

The most ironic aspect of all this was - many people in that group were not managers when I first came to know them and they had a laundry list of things they thought their managers should be working on and on top of the list was - "they should learn some people skills!!!" Happy learning to me and my classmates!