Are you a supportive manager?

Do you consider yourself to be a supportive manager? Being supportive as a manager is not a new idea. In fact, I have been hearing of it ever since the start of my professional career. But what does being a supportive manager mean? Let’s rethink and move beyond cliches in this week’s Top newsletter.

First up, how has your experience been? Have you worked with supportive managers? Or, have you witnessed the opposite largely?

If you were part of the first setup, one thing would be clear: employees who are well-supported by their supervisors are also more connected to the team and at peace. Research supports this. Gallup found managers account for up to 70% of employee engagement. That’s a massive number. And that’s why support for your team is a big deal.

Apart from making employees more engaged at work, your support can give them reassurance in this conflicted era. Unfortunately, layoffs are too common. Job losses are raising insecurity like never before. A manager’s support in such times can significantly boost morale among employees.

Let’s explore this a bit further.

How can you support your employees when job loss threatens them?

I understand that some things are clearly beyond your control. Sometimes, there’s nothing to do but bid farewell when the hammer from senior management drops. But before that, have you tried:

• Training your employees to close your team’s skill gaps. It would enhance their value proposition big time, adding to job safety.
• Sharing honest feedback to ensure their growth and sustainable skill development that safeguards careers.
• Becoming a coach for your team during times of stress. Your team members are worried, and this wreaks havoc on productivity even when they want to give their all.

In all three actions, you are moving beyond the rhetoric of support. That’s the critical difference between believing it and doing it. A manager who likes the idea would talk about openness and might even mention their availability to their team.

As a genuinely supportive manager, you start doing it. Actions define your leadership style.

Tangible ways to support your team include setting up learning and development opportunities, setting stretch goals with them, and motivating when hurdles hold back. Plus, it’s a long-term process. You will spend a decent amount of time tracking progress and encouraging before seeing any results.

What’s in it for you?

Valid question. After all, why should you spend time and effort on this? Supporting someone is nice, but going out of the way needs a solid incentive. You do have three prominent ones:

• Your team will stick with you. When you invest attention in people, the returns are solid. Through this connection and support, you can build loyalty that is hard to find otherwise. We saw something like this in a recent interaction with Shyam Gor, a manager who made hard things happen because his senior stuck along. Now, he tries his best to return the same values.
• You will retain top talent. You have good team members, but if they feel lost and lonely, that’s a recipe for disaster. High agency and curious minds need support to get through challenges. The much-awed-after “10x-ers” are smart people with great managers who enable you to be one of those.
• You will earn the best thing in your career: respect. Think twenty years down the line; what’s the currency you want to flex? Supporting people early in their journey ensures you cultivate a valuable bond beyond professional stints.

The bottom line is to support your people, not just in words but in actions. Times are tough, but some empathy helps. Have you started doing any such thing? Share with us, too.

Or, if you are confused about how to support your team, talk to Merlin, Risely’s AI leadership coach, for free and get some ideas.

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