Being a
According to business management consultant Perceptyx, employees are 2.5 times more likely to be fully engaged in their workplace if they are led by what they described as their "best managers" versus their "worst managers." In fact, employees are 5.7 times more likely to say they belong in the organization if they are under good leadership.
But the key to being a
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"You're growing the next generation of future employees for your sector," says Nathan, a first-time manager who oversees post-graduate interns who are often hoping to work full-time at Highwire. "If their foundation is not intact, the walls they build on top of that foundation will fall."
Leaders with decades worth of experience agree. Sandra Moran, chief marketing and customer experience officer at
While easier said than done, all three agree that in order for the business to succeed, people often have to come first. EBN spoke with these leaders to learn how they are building a strong foundation for their companies and beyond.
Build trust
For Subramanian, leaders cannot build a strong foundation without prioritizing trust and transparency in professional relationships. While it may be easier to expect people to blindly listen and follow directions, in reality, many workers want to understand the motivations and goals behind their tasks, explains Subramanian.
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"I'm in the water rowing the boat alongside my team — I'm not standing at the bow telling them how to row it," he says. "I've been at Fortune 100 companies and smaller organizations, and this mindset has worked every time."
Subramanian makes it a point to constantly
"I don't rely on one approach but tailor my communication to the team members to ensure I'm not over or under-connecting," says Subramanian. "I also share a lot of things with my team so they can see me as an individual with a family, kids and a pet just like anyone else. I share books with my team and read along with them. I share what I did over the weekend, I take time off, and encourage them to do the same."
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Subramanian will switch between chats, emails and phone calls depending on the team member's preference, all while maintaining a more personal connection with them. Subramanian notes that if leaders truly want productive, engaged employees, it takes some flexibility. But trust doesn't come easy, and leaders should be prepared to work for it, says Subramanian.
"All good relationships are predicated on trust," he says. "The best way to build trust and credibility is through communication."
Don't forget to celebrate
For Moran, good leaders celebrate their teams and employees. This means taking time out of the day to offer up feedback, directions and expectations, as well as pausing to recognize big and small accomplishments.
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"On a weekly basis, there are quite a number of things that either I or someone on my team is committed to delivering," says Moran of her team at Workforce Software. "So for me, it is 100% about accomplishing a shared goal, and really taking some time to celebrate the success of the team."
Recognition and celebration not only further a sense of trust but help ensure that employees feel encouraged to do their best, explains Moran. As someone who describes herself as very goal-oriented, this approach also helps Moran mark company-wide goals off her checklist with feelings of gratitude rather than just the pressure to complete the next task.
"I actually get a tremendous amount of personal satisfaction in gratitude," says Moran. "I like personally emailing or calling individuals about their contributions. I don't want any time to go between the accomplishment and the gratitude I want to express."
Moran makes sure to promote individuals' accomplishments to the rest of C-suite, noting that their CEO always makes the time to recognize employees too. Much like Subramanian, Moran sees the key to good leadership in making genuine connections with workers — in Moran's experience, the company is always better for it.
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"Really invest time in building relationships," she says. "Building those relationships is the only way you'll be able to contribute to your company at the maximum level."
Be the leader you need
Even if leaders suddenly forget all the tips and tricks they've read and heard over the years, they can still be
Nathan, who oversees interns at Highwire PR firm, is new to management, but she is determined to be the kind of boss she craved at the start of her career. Over the course of six months, Nathan helped her intern settle into the company culture and learn firsthand what it takes to work in PR. For Nathan, that meant knowing what her intern needed to succeed.
"In-+ the beginning, I asked my intern what qualities she was looking for from me as her manager, and she wanted someone who would give her feedback, who would listen and help her grow her skills." says Nathan. " I asked myself what I would have wanted from a manager."
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Nathan is proud to report that her intern was recently hired as a full-time employee — but it wasn't an easy journey. Nathan says she underestimated just how much time she could dedicate to her intern while juggling her own workload. But after a few months, Nathan struck a balance, making time for daily check-ins and weekly meetings where her intern can voice any questions or express when she's feeling overwhelmed. Nathan and her intern agreed: they both want a leader who hears their employees.
"Really listen — don't just immediately respond," says Nathan. "Absorb and take in what that intern is expressing, so you can get them the help they need to be successful."
Nathan notes even if an intern is not fully ready to share their needs or concerns, leaders can think back to their own negative experiences with managers and know what qualities and actions proved unhelpful or just plain mean. While Nathan knows every person she manages will be different, empathy is always a good rule of thumb.
"We all have our differences, but we can all work through them," says Nathan. "Start by really asking yourself, 'What do you want out of a manager?' Then embody that."
