Leaders/Managers who "care" about staff

[Countdown]

Just doing some reading on Crisis Leadership theories and what makes good "Leaders". One of the factors is the relationship that Leaders build with staff by demonstrating they "care" about them.

Given that PH has many people who operate in Senior Leadership roles I wondered how you showed you "care" (other than by paying them well). I'm curious mainly because I'm fairly sure it's not something I do well.

Alternatively, if you've had a great Manager, what was it about him that made him "Great" ?

ETA: Actual real-world examples (rather than just quoting management theories using Google) would be good

ETA2 : How do you inspire "loyalty"?

Edited by Countdown on Saturday 17th August 19:09

[Countdown]

greygoose said:

IMHO it would involve getting to know the staff (obviously depends on the size of the organisation) but managers who know the names of people when they meet them, ask a question relating to their lives (how is wife/kids, what about team they support etc) seem to be better regarded than those who wander past everyone and just talk to the manager of wherever they are visiting.

Other things like looking after staff with illnesses, sick relatives, deaths in the family etc go down well too. Saying thank you is appreciated by most people, if there is a bonus then even more so.

Fair points - When you put it like that it sounds so obvious

[Countdown]

SimpleSimonSays said:

I don’t really know, as I’ve only just taken on a team, and it’s the most challenging thing I’ve done in my career to date, but making time to discuss issues outside of the regular project meetings is something I’ve always appreciated, so will be carrying forwards with regular one-to-ones.

I also like to try and be flexible about time - either giving people TOIL, allowing home working, variable start and finish times. There’s a balance here, some people will inevitably take advantage, but I hope it shows understanding that there is life outside work.

As much as possible, try and support what each team member wants to do. Obviously this is business / project / skill level dependant, but generally I’ve found people want to do interesting work and be supported with training.

Be open and honest, don’t BS. If someone can’t have something / do something / has done something sub-optimal(!), have the conversation early and explain clearly. Not necessarily showing “caring”, but I think showing respect through openness and honesty is important.

All of this is much easier to say than do...

A lot of that chimes with me tbh.

I've been a manager for over 20 years and the "people" aspect is what I've always found most difficult, especially going into an existing team that's been together for 5 years +.

[Countdown]

LosingGrip said:

I've had one manager who cared about their staff. She would do anything she could to help you, and in return you would do as much as you could to help them.

Others couldn't care less. One wouldn't let me finish 15 minutes earlier to go and see my brother in hospital before visiting time was over.

Re the bit in bold my current boss is like that. She's Group Director of Resources (so covers HR, IT, Estates, as well as Finance) and her ability to manage a diverse range of men (who are all older than her and who display various combinations of alpha-male and autistic characteristics) is really impressive. She never takes anything personally, accepts that mistakes get made gives out loads of credit in public. At the same time she's quite firm/clear in what she expects. She also trusts her team implicitly. I could quite literally not turn up to the office all week and she wouldn't be worried.

[Countdown]

rog007 said:

The ‘loyality’ query is a little simpler; be loyal to your staff. Whilst this won’t garner 100% loyalty from your staff to you or the cause, but only by being loyal can you get any level of loyalty in return.

It can be a problem being loyal to staff when their attitude to work is different to yours. I have one person in my team who thinks the organisation should 100% comply with the rules whereas i have said "we're a support service and we need to show flexibility". As a result of this he gets a lot of negative feedback, on the other hand he's only "following orders"/complying with Policy.

The other issue that impacts "loyalty" is how promotions/pay rises/bonuses are allocated. You try to be consistent but people take it very personally.

[Countdown]

valiant said:

Used to employ staff. Easiest win for me was when I had taken over a new branch I inherited a very established team. One of them was on long term sick (totally genuine) and wouldn’t be back for some time. Held a review with her with and brought in the one lady as witness/ note-taker who I knew wouldn’t keep her mouth shut afterwards. Sick employee was close to exhausting company sick pay and was extremely worried about paying her bills and might have to come back early even though she was evidently not fit for work.

“Nonsense! You’ve been with the company for XX years and are an asset, it’s now time for the company to look after you. You’ll be paid until you’re better and you’re not to come back a minute earlier than that.”

Word got round and they couldn’t do enough for me and turned into the most loyal workforce a boss could ask for. Yes, it cost a few quid in wages but the trade-off was worth many, many multiples of that.

Thanks for this, it's an interesting real-world example. I have to admit my first thought was that your approach could open a "can of worms". For example;

1. What will you do if there's a case of Long-term sickness absence that you feel isn't "genuine"? (Our HR team have told us that Managers are not qualified to decide what IS and ISN'T "genuine". If the employee has been signed off sick by their GP then it's genuine). So, would you waive the Company sickness policy for all cases, or would you pick and choose?

2. What's the risk of your team thinking that you have "favourites" where you apply company policy in some cases and not in others?

3. What's the risk that you're going to be seen as a "soft touch" where you've granted somebody lots of paid leave when people in your team think that the employee is taking the mick? Bear in mind that in the majority of cases your team won't be privy to the facts of the illness or how Management have tried to support the employee. They'll hear a 2nd-hand or 3rd-hand version which will be biased to fit somebody's agenda.

Some of the words I'm hearing in peoples responses are Fair/Honest/Transparent/Consistent and there's a risk that your approach might not meet some of those.

[Countdown]

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"?