5 Ways to Show Your Team You Care

by Phil Gerbyshak on July 22nd, 2007

As a manager, nothing is more important to me than my team. I do everything I can to ensure my team is successful and has the tools they need to do what they do best.

Like all good managers, I focus on their strengths instead of their weaknesses, and I get them as much training as is possible.

But the thing that makes the biggest difference in my days as manager is the fact that I care about my team. I definitely care in the traditional sense that I think about their feelings, and that I am concerned for them as people in addition to as associates. My care goes more deeply than that, and I thought about it, and came up with 5 ways to show your team you care for them.

C = communication

Communication with your team is the key element to what you do. Don’t hold back information that can help them do their job better. If you get an e-mail that they need to know about, share it with them. Help them do their job better by communicating with them as often as you can. Don’t worry about oversharing with them. They are smarter than you think, so it’s better to communicate early and often with them!

One other important point about communication: Don’t speak in “managerease.” Speak in plain English (or whatever language your country speaks) and make sure people understand what you are saying. Ask your team questions to make sure they understand what you are saying, don’t just assume they get it!

A = authenticity

Being authentic with my team does NOT mean I gripe to them about managers above me. What it does mean is that sometimes I get frustrated. Sometimes my team gets frustrated. It’s okay to voice this frustration, in an authentic and helpful way. It also means sharing who you are outside of work, so show that you have a life too. I’ve heard other managers say “What I do outside of work is none of my team’s business.” To some extent, that’s true, but if you have other things you do, and your team hears about them from other people first, what good does not sharing the information do for you?

Being authentic also goes back to the communication piece: speak plainly and don’t use fake language to try to protect them. They’ll be WAY more mad at you if you hid something than if you tell them straight, at least in the long term.

R = respect

It goes without saying you need to have respect for your manager, and respect for yourself. But you also have to have respect for your team. If they ask you a question, don’t lie to them, answer the question, or say you can’t answer it right now. Lies are for losers!

You also need to have respect to trust your team’s decisions, even though the decisions they make will not always be the right ones. Be respectful enough to take the blame for their mistakes, because they made the best decision they could with the training and knowledge they had. If they are making bad decisions, maybe it’s because they don’t have the training they need to make good ones. That’s YOUR fault, not theirs!

E = empathy

Chances are, you were in your team’s shoes not too long ago that you can’t remember what they are going through. Admit it: Sometimes things suck on the front lines. Sometimes customers get upset with you for NO REASON! And sometimes you have to let off some steam.

That’s OK! Empathize with your team, and let them vent to you instead of on your customers. Share some of your war stories with them. Help them learn from what you went through. It wasn’t THAT long ago, was it?

Last, but first, is the all important…

! = Feedback

Share what you observe with your team. Ask questions to understand more. Ask them to share their feedback with you, about you, about the job, about what you can do better, about what can be improved. And give them the feedback they need to succeed. Feedback is a great way to make life easier, and less full of surprises, for everyone.

Take some time over the next week and think about how you can CARE! about your associates, by offering better communication, being more authentic, showing folks more respect, sharing your empathy, and offering great feedback.

[Phil Gerbyshak is the author of 10 Ways to Make It Great!, and can be found writing most days at Make It Great! with Phil Gerbyshak. If there’s ever anything he can do for you, just let him know, and chances are, he will!]

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