Caring, with a Capital C

So, on the heels of my most recent post “WHY Employees Break the Chain of Command,” in which I essentially bashed [some] managers for their inertia and breaches of confidence, I will now make up for that by discussing the manager who CARES.

I don’t mean the manager who is pleasant, funny, nor who smiles at the right times and says thanks for all your hard work. We can all do that on any given day.

People will go anywhere and do anything for that person who cares like they really mean it-and, puts that caring into action.

~ Howard Behar *

I consider myself a generally kind and compassionate person; at least I try to be. I cannot say the same about me as a manager of people. I faced the fact a long time ago that I am too task-oriented, too deep into the details to see or “care” what other variables exist, and too insistent that the job get done.

BUT, that does not mean that I have not had a few caring managers, myself. Two come to mind, in fact – they each had as much at stake in reaching goals and satisfying the bottom line, but they never allowed that to cloud their judgment when real human issues arose – family crises, personal meltdowns and human mistakes. They managed to the human factor as the rule, not the exception.

Caring… is not a corporate skill, it is a human skill.

~ Howard Behar *

They cared, one employee at a time and one issue at a time. And you know what, the businesses they each manage did not fail as a result of all kinds of willy-nilly peace love and happiness. In fact, they stand strong today with loyal teams and a culture of carefully cultivated caring.

So, when at work, put the people with whom you work first and their effort will follow…

Wishing You Success,
Natalya

* Stay tuned for future posts in my aptly entitled “The Starbucks Series”, inspired by Howard Behar, and his book: _It’s Not About the Coffee_…