The 5 Things Great Managers Sense about their People, Every Day

Using all of your senses, to help you test how your people are feeling in your business, is a learned skill. Once you start to use it, your abilities to notice become refined and you have a background sensor working for you, day after day.

As a precursor to having the quick route into how your people are feeling each day, it is a big help if you have open and honest relationships with them to start with. This comes from keeping in regular conversation with them, being true to your word and understanding that it is not always your business that is the most important thing in their lives. Make a start on getting these right and you will be well on your way!

By sensing the following five things, you will build rapport much more easily and learn what's going on with your people quickly, time after time.

  • Mood
    The first, easiest and most powerful thing to sense is mood. As part of your morning welcomes to your people, naturally engaging in conversation will give you a hint about mood. Take care here, many people are overly sesnitive to fault and blame here. It is easy to blame yourself through assumption. It is easy to blame others for behaving 'stupidly'. The truth of mood is usually somewhere in-between or neither. A 'sense' of mood gives you a heads-up on how you might be exepcted to behave with that individual during the day. This can be varied pace, focus, challenge and urgency, amongst others. Know your people well and you will build a picture. Note, a good boss, will not avoid dealing with things which need dealing with, it's more about the 'how you do it'.<
  • Workload
    Holding great, open conversations will give you a feel for where they are in their workload. This is a 'good thing' to know and with experience you can judge what it means to each of your people. For example, some of your people will find it hard to say 'no' to you, the intimidating boss that you are (just kidding - I hope!). And that often means they can't cope with the workload they take on. Getting sensitive to how each individual on your team responds is very important to you, and to them. You can help build their saying 'no' skills by encouraging honesty and reality and feedback - to you! Conversely, some people need much more workload to get the best from them - they thrive on the energy they get from a full to-do list. Your sensing their individual needs makes the difference.
  • Health
    We all have off days. Sometimes it's subclinical flu; sometimes it's a bit of dodgy catering (as Dickens would say, 'a peice of undercooked beef'). Whatever causes it, we feel under the weather. As a manager, you can get a feel for this if you know your people well enough. And let them know it's OK to have a slower day sometimes. Hey, they've shown up, so lighten up and let people make their own pace on a bad day - by recognising this as their need right now you will build a reserve of trust in you, that will be in your favour in the future.
  • Relationships
    It happens. Sometimes things get a bit strained. It might be between you and one of your key people, or it might be between two of them. We are all individuals and because of that we bring richness to our organisations and team. But - and it is a big but, the downside is that we can sometimes have different viewpoints - and that's OK! If you are managing a team of your people, you will develop an understanding of just who is getting on well enough with whoever else - and conversely, you will develop a sense of who isn't. Intervene with care. Choose the right time and place. It is worth the trouble to prepare and also to avoid it going on too long. By having a good ability to pick up on clues, you will be in the advance party to get things rolling positively again. Don't let things drift for too long.
  • Home
    Without effort, your people will bring their whole lives along with them to work. And sometimes they will need some help with their 'domestics'. Now, it does require some skill to tackle these issues with them. Often it is best to appreciate their needs, listen a lot and use great coaching skills to help them see solutions. You will try hard not to become their 'advisor'. But by being able to sense that they have troubles and need a little of you to help them, it works well for building your business relationship - and that is an investment which pays off. Taking care not to be too open here will pay dividends. You need to have a fall-back position where you can draw the line on your responsibility to them, yet be there for them.
    By knowing your people in ways that only come from keeping in close, intimate touch with them, you will soon get to know them well, day by day, by honing and using your senses.

    Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com (Note to editors. This article may be edited for use in your publication or newsletter as long as a live link to the website is included)

    ...helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow...

    In The News:


  • pen paper and inkwell


    cat break through


    Todays Employees and Their New Needs: What You Need to Know

    Today's employees are not only interested in security or in... Read More

    Innovation Management ? The Need For Knowledge Managers

    Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

    How To Get What You Really Want

    As a small business owner, entrepreneur or independent professional, it's... Read More

    I Am Not A Number - Why Too Many Change Projects Fail

    Many of you will recognise this quote from the 1960s... Read More

    Prepare A Winning CV

    There is every chance that elements of this article may... Read More

    6 Shared Factors of Successful Executives

    These factors where determined by interviews with and books from... Read More

    DIVERSITY is a BIG word -- With A HUGE Business IMPACT

    Second thought! Just in case. YOU or someone you personally... Read More

    Three Foundation Stones for Building Organizational Integrity

    When the stock market crashed in 1929, there were a... Read More

    Dont Wait for Tax Time to Look at the Bottom Line

    A curious thing happens to entrepreneurs in the spring of... Read More

    Top Ten Tips About People Management

    To get the best results you have to be very... Read More

    Time Management Tip: Stop Micro-Managing Employees

    If I was a fly on the wall what would... Read More

    Turbo Charge Your Career With The Most Powerful Leadership Tool Of All: The Leadership Talk Part 3

    To develop and deliver a great Leadership Talk, you must... Read More

    ISO 9001 Compliant Program: Steps to Build

    Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However,... Read More

    Delegating Responsibility

    Too many managers waste both time and energy performing tasks... Read More

    Let the Intern Do It - Affordable Help for Your Business

    Do you have more projects than time? Help might be... Read More

    How To Conduct Effective Meetings

    Before you call your next meeting, the FIRST step is... Read More

    Business Fails When We Do Not Talk

    You may remember being told as a child, "Keep quiet!"... Read More

    Performance Appraisal - Ten Stupid Things Managers Do To Screw It Up

    Performance appraisals aren't fun. But a lot of the time... Read More

    6 Simple Steps to Dealing with Difficult Managers

    The challenge of managing difficult managers can be rather daunting,... Read More

    Do You Really Care What People Think?

    You had better care! Because what people think usually leads... Read More

    Are You Using the Right Form of Energy?

    As we near the end of summer, here is a... Read More

    Communicating with Case Studies

    A few weeks ago, a couple of colleagues and I... Read More

    Five Tips for Analyzing an Income Statement

    In today's article, we'll be looking at the income statement,... Read More

    Making Change Work

    Shaky FoundationsWhilst over 60% of businesses will be looking to... Read More

    Contract Management Software: the Solution to the Problem of Coordination

    Charles Petrie, from Stanford, released a short article entitled "The... Read More

    Presenteeism: The Hidden Costs of Business

    (prez.un.TEE.iz.um) nPresenteeism, a relatively unknown concept, is the complement of... Read More

    Group Meeting Disrupters

    MEETING DISRUPTERS: If two participants are carrying on a personal... Read More

    Success: A Wholistic Perspective

    The world has always been mixed with the... Read More

    How To Decrease Downtime and Increase Productivity

    All maintenance activities of the workforce must be documented, this... Read More

    Five Principles of Effective Communication

    The problem with communication is the illusion that it has... Read More

    ISO 9001 2000, Getting Started on The Route To Registration

    ISO 9001 2000, Getting startedBefore starting the ISO 9001 2000... Read More

    Hire The Person, Not The Resume

    "? [get] the right people on the bus, the right... Read More

    Leaders Versus Cheerleaders

    Everyone wants to describe themselves as a leader. Everyday, new... Read More