Imagine you are sitting for your final exam and your teacher is looking right into your answer sheet.

Well, I usually pay random visits to my clients’. There’s this particular CEO I paid a visit early in the morning recently. He’s an early bird…

I bumped into him in the hallway and what I saw quite amazed me.

A janitor happened to go about his work and the CEO had stopped. He claimed that the janitor wasn’t cleaning as usual and was in a somber mood.

Apparently, this janitor is always happy and works enthusiastically but on this day it didn’t seem so. I found it quite interesting that the CEO takes note of everyone in the organization and even notices when they have a challenge.

Remember, your team members are not units of production. They are people who also have hopes, dreams, fears, and struggles.

Each one of them deserves to be treated with respect, dignity and a caring heart. “Love your team” Treat them like family, and they will act like family.

Practice this and let me know how it goes for you. And drop me a comment if this was helpful.

Guess what, here are a few interesting points I picked from @Brigette Hyacinth. Am sure you’ll pick a lot from them.

Show that you Care

If you treat people only as the means to an end, you’ll never have their loyalty. Treat your people right. It doesn’t mean being overly attentive or soft but demonstrate that you value people.

It doesn’t take much to show people that you care.

If you have an employee on extended sick leave or who lost a family member. Pick up the phone and call them. Be genuinely sympathetic. It will mean the world to them. This is something they will never forget. 

Connect with your Team 

Be visible. Make your presence felt. Don’t just lock yourself in your office for the whole day and only communicate with staff when you want something done.

How can you motivate the troops when you are out of sight?

Come down from the mountaintop and mix and mingle with your subordinates. Sit at lunch with them. Get to know your team. Empathy and listening go hand in hand. Listening forms the foundation of good relationships. Why? Because it shows you care.

Advocate for Staff  

Exhibit loyalty to your employees. In some cases if a complaint is made against an employee, the manager is quick to jump in, and suddenly all the good the employee has done is cast into the sea of forgetfulness.

Don’t be the judge, jury, and executioner. Don’t throw your people under the bus, let them know you have their back. Managers also lose credibility when they refuse to hold themselves accountable, point fingers and palm of the blame on others.

Be Fair and Neutral 

We know too well about office politics and favoritism. It’s really sad when employees can tell who will be getting the next promotion based on a manager’s relationship with some employees.

Unfair practices relate to how vacancies are filled and disciplining inconsistently. This fosters low engagement. Give constructive feedback rather than criticism. Don’t give preferential treatment to some employees and ignore others.

Conclusion:

Leadership is about people. If you don’t have a passion for people, you have no business leading them. In a perfect world, employees leave their problems at the door.

In this not-so-perfect world, they bring them to work. We need leaders who will practice empathy.

Put this work to work and let me know how it goes. Otherwise, drop me a comment if this was helpful to you.