Hi, everyone, 

 Today, I want to talk to you about being a great manager. Despite what you might have been told, this is about more than doing your job well. It’s about being human. It’s about helping those around you build the best life they can.

THE LANGUAGE OF LEADERSHIP 

A great manager takes time to think about not just the work, but the people they work with, what’s new with them? What could be on their minds? What do they want to talk about? They ask themselves: How do I want people around me to feel?

If 2020 has taught us anything it’s that...life happens. For this reason, now more than ever managers need to understand their employees as people with full lives. Being considerate, at an appropriate level, of what’s going on beyond the workplace. Are they homeschooling their kid? Caring for an elderly parent? Moving to a new house? Simply showing that you know and have compassion for what is happening in your team’s lives can make the difference between good and great results from your team.

THE WEEKLY FLOURISH 

8 Behaviors of the World’s Best Managers
(Article, 4 Minutes) 

Putting this into practice, what if you took 60 seconds before you jumped into your first Zoom call of the day, and asked yourself: How can I help those on this call build the best life they can? Your attitude would be completely different. You would be a better listener. More patient. More conscious of how you could add value to your teammates. This is the power of being a great manager. You don’t have to flex your own competence all the time, but you simply have to let others feel heard, seen, and supported. In this Gallup article, you can dive deeper into the eight behaviors that will help you bring out the best in yourself and others, including the importance of caring for your employees like real people and why your number one job is developing, promoting, and upleveling the quality of life of those you work with.

GREATNESS TAKES GUIDANCE

Unfortunately, the stats don’t lie. According to Gallup's State of the American Manager report, “one in two employees have left a job to get away from a manager and improve their overall life at some point in their career.” Yes, it’s easy for anyone to say they are going to be a great manager, but as this statistic shows, it’s much harder to put it into practice. That’s exactly why we created Activate, our eight-week manager program which coaches you on how to make the most important behaviors of great leaders your default mode. Inside Activate, you’ll get frameworks, specific action steps, and the opportunity to work with me live to leave your team not only happier, healthier, and more productive...but with a smile when they think of you.

To great managers and great lives! 

Carrie and Team Leadology