Question: Caring and growing people seems good in theory, but what should managers DO to effect it?

Answer: Leaders are not necessarily clear as to what caring for and growing their people means practically. We have found the following 20 ideas on getting started on the road to legitimacy to be useful for those in authority who would like to work at becoming people that others “want to” rather than “have to” work for:

1. Get to know your people as human beings, not just human resources.
2. Make yourself available to your people.
3. Set up one-on-one meetings with direct reports in which you suspend your agenda for theirs.
4. Ask each of your people what, if they got it from you, would enhance their contribution – and deliver what you can.
5.  Demonstrate genuine concern for personal circumstances while still holding people accountable for their contribution.
6. Take away the obstacles/reduce the administrative “stuff” which takes managers away from serving their people and non-managers away from serving their customers.
7. Clarify and agree with each of your people what s/he is uniquely accountable for.
8. Do not tolerate mediocrity but rather set and insist on high standards.
9. Audit less and “watch the game” more.
10. Push decision-making authority, and with it accountability, as far down the organisation as possible.
11. Stop checking on everything that people are doing; trust your people more.
12. Respect the line of command.
13. Build some leadership measures into the scoreboard.
14. Spend time coaching people in your team.
15. Demonstrate gratitude (praise and reward) for what people have given.
16. Ensure that people are making more decisions independently of you than they were making six months ago.
17. Ensure that people’s reward matches their contribution; make the consequences to those who have gone the extra mile significantly greater than for those who have been careful.
18. Consistently censure for carelessness and discipline for deliberate malevolence.
19. Give people regular, honest feedback which enables them to be the best that they can be.
20. Remove people who are incapable from their roles, it is the caring thing to do.