There is always difference between a boss and a leader and if you are a manager, you will mostly strive to be the latter.
That is the best way to bring out the full potential of your subordinates. Different people follow various strategies to be the leader, but the most effective of it is having a one on one session with your colleagues atleast once in a week.
Make this meeting an informal one, with no professional talk, get to know more about your employees and let them know that you are there to support them.
An article in themuse.com gives the example of Erica Baker, an engineer at Slack, who started a twitter thread recently that inspired bosses from all over to share the best questions they have for their one-on-one meetings.
'I’m doing a lot of research into managing lately, as I’d like to move into a management role in the near future,” says Baker.
Talking about the twitter thread, Erica has said that it was apart of her research in to managing as she would like to get in the role in the future.
'I’ve learned that management styles and the ways managers approach one-on-one’s vary widely. I wanted to expand the pool of people I got feedback on this subject from. Great ideas and thoughts can come from anywhere, right? So I figured, why not ask Twitter and see what kind of responses I get?' she was quoted as saying.
The questions that were posted on her twitter thread were more focused on the empathy, compassion and respect instead of being professional.
'I feel like a one-on-one is the place where you can stop talking about project planning and technical details and really get into human interactions that not only further understanding between manager and employee, but also build trust between the two people, which is critical for a good working relationship. Using that time to just do more planning seems like a wasted opportunity' Erica has said.
So next time in a one on one session make sure you gauge how your employee is feeling and make them feel better and more confident.
