Exceptional care taken to provide tools of the trade, such as cell phones, pda’s, and laptops. Generous leeway and few questions ever asked about expense reports. Covered parking in a secure garage. Newly renovated break room, including seating on an outdoor patio. Continental breakfast catered in for casual Fridays. Partnerships with other businesses in the same locale, so that discounted tickets are available for movies, car washes, pizza deliveries, and a host of other things. Flex time options when you need to schedule dentist and doctor visits. Company sponsored daycare center. Lending library stocked with books and magazines. Quarterly staff outings, such as bowling nights and beach barbecues.
Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it. I thought so, and I commented on the generosity of a company I visited recently. The young woman who was taking me on tour had worked for them for over five years. She nodded her head, but then she said, Can’t add much more to that; she said it pretty well. “Really? What is it then?” “It’s my boss and the way I am treated. He spends a lot of time with me, and I don’t feel like I’m a burden to him. He respects me, he asks my opinion about things, and if I do mess up with something he tells me gently, but he does tell me so I can fix it and get better. He trusts me, and I know he has faith in me. Those are the more important things.” Great management matters most of all.
To Show You Care, Show Your Respect Ensuring Dignity for Staff is Not Difficult! Roll up those sleeves: Mistakes and Trust Building Talking to your Manager Create Your Kipuka (A haven and oasis at work)
Rosa Say is the author of Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawaii’s Universal Values to the Art of Business and the Talking Story blog. She is the founder and head coach of Say Leadership Coaching, a company dedicated to bringing nobility to the working arts of management and leadership. For more of her ideas, click to her Thursday columns in the archives; you’ll find her index in the left column of www.ManagingWithAloha.com Rosa’s Previous Thursday Column was: New to Management: A Learning Hit List
