Leaders/Managers who "care" about staff
Discussion
nonsequitur said:
Countdown said:
Jasey_ said:
The best thing you can do for your team is ensure there are no tossers in that team (including yourself).
That's a very good point. The issue is that nobody, but nobody ever considers themselves to be the tosser. It's always the "other person" who's at fault. Which in turn suggests that good managers/leaders need to be quite "self aware"?I was the tosser in our team of pancake makers.
I now have my own business, but have worked in many others before that.
The things I have tried to uphold is that you employ the whole person, what is affecting you outside of work, affects you inside of work. Too many businesses are just not interested in anything that happens outside those 8 working hours, it’s a huge mistake. But it’s also important to realise who comes to work to forget the troubles outside that door, the sick mother, kids in trouble etc. So you need to know boundaries too & they are different for everyone. If someone does confide in you, respect that trust & never betray or exploit it.
Even in a very automated business people are your biggest asset.
The things I have tried to uphold is that you employ the whole person, what is affecting you outside of work, affects you inside of work. Too many businesses are just not interested in anything that happens outside those 8 working hours, it’s a huge mistake. But it’s also important to realise who comes to work to forget the troubles outside that door, the sick mother, kids in trouble etc. So you need to know boundaries too & they are different for everyone. If someone does confide in you, respect that trust & never betray or exploit it.
Even in a very automated business people are your biggest asset.
Genuine appreciation of hard work does it for me, forget the feigned interest in my family/private life or small talk - it's unconvincing.
Most of the bosses I've had have inspired little or no loyalty, being just technocrats with targets, but I worked in NZ for 3 years and my boss there (English) was a more engaging character, willing to take the team out occasionally for a social event, collaboratively set targets with individuals (and reward performance with significant bonuses) and be willing to chat and socialise and generally act like a normal human being.
Money is also a great motivator, but getting pay rises and/or promotions as an engineer seems to usually be like getting blood out of a stone.
Most of the bosses I've had have inspired little or no loyalty, being just technocrats with targets, but I worked in NZ for 3 years and my boss there (English) was a more engaging character, willing to take the team out occasionally for a social event, collaboratively set targets with individuals (and reward performance with significant bonuses) and be willing to chat and socialise and generally act like a normal human being.
Money is also a great motivator, but getting pay rises and/or promotions as an engineer seems to usually be like getting blood out of a stone.
Being public sector I have no control over my staff's pay other than a performance rating that may mean the difference between 0 / 0.5 / 1 / 1.5% pay rise at end of year. So I more or less have to find other, non financial ways of keeping people happy, productive and incentivised.
This involves regular chats about non work things (although 'banter' has been banned by the fun police), flexibility in terms of working at home, annual leave etc good variety of work and recognition of good work.
Promoting a good social network between colleagues is important for us and there are lots of married couples in our office as a result. There's about 250 people crammed into 2 floors of open plan office so it doesn't take long to get to know people.
We are perhaps too caring as an organisation though as we find that individuals who have kids whose partners work in the private sector, our employees are always the ones that have to take the emergency days off when the kids are sick, not the partner in the private sector.
This involves regular chats about non work things (although 'banter' has been banned by the fun police), flexibility in terms of working at home, annual leave etc good variety of work and recognition of good work.
Promoting a good social network between colleagues is important for us and there are lots of married couples in our office as a result. There's about 250 people crammed into 2 floors of open plan office so it doesn't take long to get to know people.
We are perhaps too caring as an organisation though as we find that individuals who have kids whose partners work in the private sector, our employees are always the ones that have to take the emergency days off when the kids are sick, not the partner in the private sector.
The thing is you either genuinely care about people and the team you lead or you don't. My old boss didn't and it came up on an employee survey. He then suddenly started to do things differently which came across as awkward and forced. He admitted even his wife says he isn't naturally personable and comes across as blunt and distant!
An example is in emails he would normally use:
Toon,
I need the global helpdesk stats for July.
Boss.
That then changed overnight to:
Dear Toon,
I need the global helpdesk stats for July.
Best regards
Boss
The tone of the mails was still the same however. In meetings he would try and force banter and a bit of friendly chat rather than just getting straight to the point but again, it wasn't natural and came across as being a bit weird and creepy. I give him marks for trying.
For me, as an ex IT Manager, I always built trust as a natural extension of my personality. If someone in the team had gathered some figures for me or gone above and beyond on a project, I'd publicly recognise them for it rather than claim that I, or "my team" had got it done . E.g. "Frank came in on Saturday and managed to get the server updated without disrupting the business" rather than me taking the credit as the boss.
I was also flexible when the team came to me with personal issues rather than forcing them to work to rule/policy. If someone puts in the extra hours and effort when required and they came to me with a problem, I wouldn't throw the HR handbook at them.
An example is in emails he would normally use:
Toon,
I need the global helpdesk stats for July.
Boss.
That then changed overnight to:
Dear Toon,
I need the global helpdesk stats for July.
Best regards
Boss
The tone of the mails was still the same however. In meetings he would try and force banter and a bit of friendly chat rather than just getting straight to the point but again, it wasn't natural and came across as being a bit weird and creepy. I give him marks for trying.
For me, as an ex IT Manager, I always built trust as a natural extension of my personality. If someone in the team had gathered some figures for me or gone above and beyond on a project, I'd publicly recognise them for it rather than claim that I, or "my team" had got it done . E.g. "Frank came in on Saturday and managed to get the server updated without disrupting the business" rather than me taking the credit as the boss.
I was also flexible when the team came to me with personal issues rather than forcing them to work to rule/policy. If someone puts in the extra hours and effort when required and they came to me with a problem, I wouldn't throw the HR handbook at them.
This is something I'm really trying to change where I work at the moment: there's a huge difference between management and leadership. Caring about staff doesn't mean making sure they are happy outside work, it's making sure they're treated like a person at work, not a resource. People have good and bad days, resources work 8 hours a day. People like to be engaged in their work, resources need to be told what to do. People like to have direction and believe in what they're doing, resources need to be directed. Leaders see people, managers see resources.
This is something I feel I’m particularly good at, mainly as I do care about the members in my team - greatly so. I’m naturally empathetic. I chat to each member in my team every day, discussing their hobbies, interests and anything happening in their life outside of work. It also helps to remember tidbits and bring these up in conversation - shows you care and have listened.
I’m an IT Manager ( or at least for the next 3 months!
). I will never give someone a job I cannot do myself. A member of my team said he appreciated this, especially if he requires assistance. He claimed a previous manager of his frequently passed off jobs onto him, mainly because the manager couldn’t do the job himself. He began to resent this behaviour.
Praise certainly helps too. Everyone wants to feel as though they are doing a good job! If this is the case, recognise it and praise them! It’ll do wonders for motivation ...
Personally speaking, I do need to work on the difficult conversation side of things.
I’m an IT Manager ( or at least for the next 3 months!
). I will never give someone a job I cannot do myself. A member of my team said he appreciated this, especially if he requires assistance. He claimed a previous manager of his frequently passed off jobs onto him, mainly because the manager couldn’t do the job himself. He began to resent this behaviour.Praise certainly helps too. Everyone wants to feel as though they are doing a good job! If this is the case, recognise it and praise them! It’ll do wonders for motivation ...
Personally speaking, I do need to work on the difficult conversation side of things.
jimmsy said:
This is something I'm really trying to change where I work at the moment: there's a huge difference between management and leadership. Caring about staff doesn't mean making sure they are happy outside work, it's making sure they're treated like a person at work, not a resource. People have good and bad days, resources work 8 hours a day. People like to be engaged in their work, resources need to be told what to do. People like to have direction and believe in what they're doing, resources need to be directed. Leaders see people, managers see resources.
I like that attitude.Pity there are way more managers than leaders.
I look at the small stuff to the business which is the big stuff to the individual. So a holiday at short notice because they forgot their anniversary etc. You have no idea how many of the young lads that I work with on my department forget about it. xmas off for the ones with kids new years off for the ones without is a popular option too.
It’s a tough call at times
As a team member, all I really want to know is, what does the manager want me to do? How to do it? (just like last time usually), and when does it need to be done by? Does the manager know what’s involved, and the various risks associated with it? If all good- I’ll crack on.
Don’t ask me to do “a report of a few pages”, is it a quick 2-page summary, or a magnum opus publishable piece of work that could stretch to nearly 40 pages? FFS, don’t tell me afterwards, or edit it so often I’m now changing things again and again and again because the manager can’t make their mind up - surprisingly common.
On my current contract, no—one has sat down with me and discussed my work load or what I’m doing for over 12 months. How I’m doing, enjoying the work? (I don’t) etc… As long as the calculation reports keep coming – they are happy. We have a weekly stand up “what’s going on” meeting which is reckoned by almost all to be a complete waste of time. Its defence work, so remember, it’s YOU, the Great British taxpayer, that is paying for this gross (and it is gross) inefficiency.
As a manager (both staff and contract) in the past, I didn’t want to get THAT involved in what people did in their spare time, as I didn’t want them to get involved in what I was doing in mine. If it was going to impinge on their ability to complete their work, then I really did need to know, preferably with as much advance notice as possible. Then arrangements can be made to minimise disruption. Its surprising how little disruption it does cause with a decent chunk of notice.
One lad had been bought a really good driving day at Silverstone for his 30th off his parents. I was asked by my superiors to tell him to cancel it as someone was needed to go to South Africa on business (he was asked for by name) and it was over his birthday weekend. I argued that as the company was scrapping his birthday present, the least they should do is honour to replace it, and then some. The directors honestly thought, he should just suck it up and accept that it was just part of his job. I said they were making a fundamental error of judgement and it would cost them dearly – he was so pissed off, he would have walked out. Eventually they paid for a better driving day for him.
I spent at least half an hour with everyone on the team (14 of them – too many) every week, and a round-the-table discussion with all present going through what they did last week, what they were doing this week, and what they were planning to do next week. I did this so the document control/manual writers (the office bottle neck) knew what their work load would be. It became obvious to all who was organised and who wasn’t. If someone had done a great job, then it was made public. 75% knew what they were doing, how to do it, and when it had to be done by. So, I just let them get on with it. Most of my efforts was spent keeping the other 25% on the required track. Did it work? On my last 2 weeks, the team were really hacked off as they had realised that the manager (that I temporarily replaced) was away on secondment, he was coming back and it was back to “incessant bullying” as they called it …
"Leaders see people, managers see resources." One to be quoted back at some I’ve met…
As a team member, all I really want to know is, what does the manager want me to do? How to do it? (just like last time usually), and when does it need to be done by? Does the manager know what’s involved, and the various risks associated with it? If all good- I’ll crack on.
Don’t ask me to do “a report of a few pages”, is it a quick 2-page summary, or a magnum opus publishable piece of work that could stretch to nearly 40 pages? FFS, don’t tell me afterwards, or edit it so often I’m now changing things again and again and again because the manager can’t make their mind up - surprisingly common.
On my current contract, no—one has sat down with me and discussed my work load or what I’m doing for over 12 months. How I’m doing, enjoying the work? (I don’t) etc… As long as the calculation reports keep coming – they are happy. We have a weekly stand up “what’s going on” meeting which is reckoned by almost all to be a complete waste of time. Its defence work, so remember, it’s YOU, the Great British taxpayer, that is paying for this gross (and it is gross) inefficiency.
As a manager (both staff and contract) in the past, I didn’t want to get THAT involved in what people did in their spare time, as I didn’t want them to get involved in what I was doing in mine. If it was going to impinge on their ability to complete their work, then I really did need to know, preferably with as much advance notice as possible. Then arrangements can be made to minimise disruption. Its surprising how little disruption it does cause with a decent chunk of notice.
One lad had been bought a really good driving day at Silverstone for his 30th off his parents. I was asked by my superiors to tell him to cancel it as someone was needed to go to South Africa on business (he was asked for by name) and it was over his birthday weekend. I argued that as the company was scrapping his birthday present, the least they should do is honour to replace it, and then some. The directors honestly thought, he should just suck it up and accept that it was just part of his job. I said they were making a fundamental error of judgement and it would cost them dearly – he was so pissed off, he would have walked out. Eventually they paid for a better driving day for him.
I spent at least half an hour with everyone on the team (14 of them – too many) every week, and a round-the-table discussion with all present going through what they did last week, what they were doing this week, and what they were planning to do next week. I did this so the document control/manual writers (the office bottle neck) knew what their work load would be. It became obvious to all who was organised and who wasn’t. If someone had done a great job, then it was made public. 75% knew what they were doing, how to do it, and when it had to be done by. So, I just let them get on with it. Most of my efforts was spent keeping the other 25% on the required track. Did it work? On my last 2 weeks, the team were really hacked off as they had realised that the manager (that I temporarily replaced) was away on secondment, he was coming back and it was back to “incessant bullying” as they called it …
"Leaders see people, managers see resources." One to be quoted back at some I’ve met…
I run a construction company with between 12 and 20 employees in our teams. I know where they live, how they live, what their hobbies are, what their partner does, how old their kids are and also their individual personalities. Basically, I care about them.
If I sense a problem whether it be a grumpy start to the week or indifference, I'll have a chat, put my arm around them (metaphorically) and let them know that their wellbeing is my concern. I just gave my lead foreman 2 days off paid to sort his son out after a bitter divorce. I do not want him in work on a dangerous construction site thinking about something other than his work.
It is the paternal approach which works best, even with people older than I. As long as you realise that you are effectively running a creche for grown-ups you cannot go wrong in my current experience.
If I sense a problem whether it be a grumpy start to the week or indifference, I'll have a chat, put my arm around them (metaphorically) and let them know that their wellbeing is my concern. I just gave my lead foreman 2 days off paid to sort his son out after a bitter divorce. I do not want him in work on a dangerous construction site thinking about something other than his work.
It is the paternal approach which works best, even with people older than I. As long as you realise that you are effectively running a creche for grown-ups you cannot go wrong in my current experience.
I've been in my current management role for nearly 18 months now. I was told today by my manager that I am doing a good job, whether that means much who knows?
I'd like to think I do a good job. I take an interest in my colleagues in my team, will go into bat for them, tell them when I think they have done a good job, but I also tell them when I think they've dropped the ball etc. I am flexible; If someone needs to work from home or leave early then I let them. I haven't said no yet as their hasn't been a business need to. If they're ill they let me know, I wish them recovery. I've taken them to the pub a few times and paid out of my own pocket. One of my team has been promoted after I praised them to my manager on how they had taken the initiative after a big change in the department. I want what is best for my team. but they need to show that they want it too.
Whether this makes me a good leader / manager, well, that's not for me to decide.
I'd like to think I do a good job. I take an interest in my colleagues in my team, will go into bat for them, tell them when I think they have done a good job, but I also tell them when I think they've dropped the ball etc. I am flexible; If someone needs to work from home or leave early then I let them. I haven't said no yet as their hasn't been a business need to. If they're ill they let me know, I wish them recovery. I've taken them to the pub a few times and paid out of my own pocket. One of my team has been promoted after I praised them to my manager on how they had taken the initiative after a big change in the department. I want what is best for my team. but they need to show that they want it too.
Whether this makes me a good leader / manager, well, that's not for me to decide.
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