How to: Show You Care About Staff

It’s important that your staff know you care about them. This means getting to know them, noticing if they’re experiencing problems and being quick to offer help. It means investing in their development and giving them regular feedback. Caring for your staff will help to bring out their best at work.

What does this look like?

Managers who care about their staff:

monitor workloads so staff aren’t overworked
acknowledge and thank staff when they work hard
are interested in all aspects of team members’ lives
support staff when they interact with clients and patients
are genuine and transparent
let them know their expectations.

How can I do this?

1. Be a good listener

Don’t interrupt people. Let them finish talking before you respond.
Don’t offer solutions too quickly.
Don’t finish peoples’ sentences.
Be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others.
Summarise what people say to show you’ve understood.

2. Be open and accepting

Listen without judging.
Instead of thinking about whether you agree or disagree with what someone’s saying, listen to understand.
Assume that people are telling you something because they want to be heard and understood. Show you understand by summarising what they say.
Don’t offer advice or solutions unless it’s clear they’re wanted.

3. Share and disclose

When you share and disclose information, it can help to build connections and make people feel valued. Try:

explaining how you arrive at decisions—explain your intentions, logic and reasons
sharing your thinking on issues and asking staff for advice, if appropriate
sharing information that might help people perform their job or broaden their perspective
sharing some non-essential but interesting information (as long as it’s not confidential or private)
disclosing some things about yourself
discussing new tasks with people before assigning them.

4. Get to know your team

Make the effort to find out things about your team members that are unrelated to work. Ask about their interests, hobbies or family.
Find out what motivates each of your staff members.
Notice what upsets them and what’s important to them.
Try to predict how people will act in a situation.

5. Be more curious

Ask people what they think.
Be curious but not intrusive.
Ask probing questions like:
‘What if…?’
‘What are you learning about…?’
‘What would you change?’

6. Treat people equitably

You must treat your staff equitably, but that doesn’t mean treating them all in the same way. Everyone has different needs, goals and concerns. They will all respond differently to you. Get to know each person and treat them as unique individuals.

7. Support your staff

If someone regularly brings you problems, help them identify one problem you can help them with. Make them aware of counselling or employee assistance services if appropriate.
If someone’s angry, let them talk without saying anything except that you know they’re upset. Suggest that they write down problems and solutions to discuss with you.
If someone has an issue with another person, suggest they talk to that person, if appropriate.
Avoid saying what ‘should’ happen. Your role is to help the person be more positive.
Ask people what they enjoy about their role.

8. Signal that you care

Think about ways you could unintentionally be giving the impression that you don’t care.
Speak positively about your work and your role. Think about how your responses impact those around you. Avoid statements like:
- ‘I leave details to others’
- ‘l’m not very organized’
- ‘l’ve always believed in taking action and sorting it out later’
- ‘What I do isn’t important’
- ‘l’m always left to pick up the pieces’
- ‘I have to deal with the havoc’

9. Learn from others

Think about managers you’ve had in the past and whether you think they cared about their staff. What did they do that made you either think they cared or didn’t care about the team? What can you learn and apply yourself?