Understanding People Is the Skill We Don't Teach Enough

There is one thing I have found myself saying more and more over the last few years.

It doesn't matter whether I'm delivering Leadership and Management, Train the Trainer, Coaching Skills or working one-to-on on all levels.

Every conversation comes back to people, it always does from every angle.

It’s not systems or policies. To add to that qualifications are never a thing it is always people.

When I reflect on my own career, from the RAF through to Target Training Associates, see our website. I realise that almost everything I've ever done has been about helping people understand themselves and, perhaps more importantly, understand other people. All under different labels which makes me smile.

Yet I find it fascinating that whilst organisations invest huge amounts of time developing technical knowledge, leadership skills and professional qualifications, very little time is spent helping people genuinely understand human behaviour.

For me, that's where the biggest opportunity sits.

In This Article You Will Learn

In this article we'll explore why understanding people is becoming one of the most valuable workplace skills, how it improves leadership, coaching and communication, and why it has such a significant impact on performance across every organisation. It has been slow and is slow but as they say small steps.

We Don't Work With Processes...

We work with people, yet why is this second??

Every organisation has processes, systems and some excellent training programmes.

Yet the challenges I always hear from managers are rarely about systems.

Instead, they sound something like this.

"Why won't they take ownership?"

"Why does one person thrive whilst another struggles?"

"Why did they react like that?"

"Why isn't the team working together?"

“I am struggling with people in my team”

“I don’t understand why”

These aren't process problems, they're people problems, and that's why they are often much harder to solve. We work on relationships in all our leadership and management programmes 

We Often Judge Behaviour Before We Understand It

One observation has stayed with me throughout my life career, we're incredibly quick to judge behaviour. I wrote a blog last week on this area alone.

So imagine this scenario, a team in a meeting.

Someone doesn't contribute in a meeting, straight away there is a judgement. We assume something like they lack confidence?

Then someone challenges every idea, so we may assume they're difficult.

Someone else resists change, we assume they have a poor attitude.

Sometimes we're right, the fact is often we're not.

Behind almost every behaviour is a reason.

Experience, pressure, fear, confidence, past experiences, values, personality.

The more I coach people, the more convinced I become that behaviour is usually the visible part of something much deeper. The challenge is that we rarely stop long enough to find out or don’t know how to pull it out in a conversation. See here our coaching services

Great Leaders Stay Curious

One of the biggest differences I see between good leaders and exceptional leaders isn't knowledge, it isn't experience, it isn't even confidence.

It's simple curiosity.

Curious leaders and managers ask questions before making assumptions, they look to understand before trying to fix

Having great coaching skills create space rather than rushing to solutions.

Curiosity changes conversations, more importantly, it changes relationships.

And as we know when relationships improve, performance usually follows.

Understanding People Changes Everything

When we begin to understand people better, something interesting happens.

Yes, you guessed it communication improves which means trust grows. Which then means feedback becomes easier. Teams collaborate more effectively and conflict reduces.

People begin to feel heard rather than managed.

That doesn't happen because someone attended another training course.

It happens because they begin looking at people differently.

I've seen this countless times during Leadership Development programmes, Coaching Skills courses and Train the Trainer workshops. We believe all managers and leaders should know how to train, coach and mentor. See here for information on our train the trainer

All three areas are totally different and need to be understood.

People don't suddenly become different, our understanding of them changes.

And when that happens, our conversations change too. Think of the savings that are made.

People are not always difficult they are just not understood.

Is This the Future of Leadership?

Artificial Intelligence is changing how we work we have written plenty of blogs on this area, we have ran CPD sessions on all three of our academy’s to educate people.

Knowledge has never been easier to access, and processes are becoming more automated.

Information is available in seconds, years ago we had to hunt information out by going to the library. There are plenty of libraries in a phone now.

Ironically, I believe this makes understanding people even more valuable.

There is no doubt the organisations that thrive over the next decade won't simply have the most knowledgeable leaders.

They'll have leaders who understand motivation, trust, communication, know when to coach, when to challenge, when to train and when to simply listen.

Those skills will always remain deeply human and will be needed so much more.

Why This Matters

If there is one lesson I've learned throughout my life, it is this.

People don't all think the same, they don't communicate the same, they don't learn the same.

They don't respond to pressure in the same way.

And that's exactly why leadership and management can never become a checklist.

Understanding people isn't a "soft skill." My recent blog on this alone hit 10,000 impressions in the first couple of days, basically it was about how we should change this name.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is understanding people important in leadership?

Leaders who understand people communicate more effectively, build stronger relationships, improve employee engagement and create higher-performing teams.

How can managers improve their people skills?

Managers develop stronger people skills through coaching, reflection, leadership development, listening and learning to understand different behaviours rather than making assumptions.

What are the most important leadership skills today?

Communication, coaching, emotional intelligence, decision making, adaptability, people management and understanding human behaviour are among the most valuable leadership skills in today's workplace.

Why do organisations invest in leadership development?

Leadership development helps managers improve communication, build confidence, motivate teams, manage performance and create positive workplace cultures.

How does coaching improve workplace performance?

Coaching develops self-awareness, encourages better conversations, improves problem solving and helps individuals perform at their best.

Final Thoughts

When people ask me what Target Training Associates does, the obvious answer is Leadership and Management, Coaching and Train the Trainer.

But perhaps there's a simpler answer.

We help people understand people, this is a huge part of what we do.

Because when people understand themselves and those around them, they communicate better, lead with greater confidence, coach more effectively and build stronger teams.

In my experience, that's where lasting performance improvement really begins.

If you would like to learn more about our Leadership and Management programmes, Coaching Services or Train the Trainer courses, we'd be delighted to help.

Contact us here on Tel 0800 302 9344 or via the link below.

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