I’ve had the pleasure of working with some great managers and one of the things I really loved about their management style was their devotion to the team. As a manager, there’s a ton of things you need to get done, but the most important one is to make sure your team is doing well and has everything needed to complete their tasks.
The three questions that I love to ask my team often are:
- How are you today?
- How can I help?
- What do you think about it?
How are you today?
It’ such a simple and often overlooked question that can mean so much to the other person. Making sure your team member is doing well and feeling good tells him or her that you care, that your only concern is not to just get the job done but to make sure the person doing the job is feeling well and is in shape to get the job done. The longer you work with someone, the easier it will be for you to know how the person feels without even having to ask, but I like to ask anyway. Like I said, it takes a few seconds to ask, but can mean so much more.
How can I help?
Even though managers mostly delegate tasks and track the project progress, they should also be there to help. As a manager, you should always set aside some time to offer assistance to your team member. They may not need it, but like asking how someone is, offering help shows that you care. If it turns out they actually need help, it can be a great bonding and learning activity as well.
What do you think about it?
People love sharing their opinion. When working in a team, everyone should feel free to offer their opinion anytime there is a discussion and even if there’s not. Asking for someone’s opinion in a meeting encourages everyone else to jump in and it shows that you value your team’s opinion, which is very important as they are the ones doing most of the work and will have more information to offer. Sometimes, it will happen that the person has nothing additional to share and that’s OK. It’s the thought that matters and it encourages collaboration, which is essential for team work.
How do you show your team you care? What are some of the techniques you use? I would love to hear more about it so feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.
Keep learning and growing.
Sneza
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