How can I earn trust from my reporters?

In previous times, managers had the privilege of being bossy, as opportunities were comparatively lesser, and people earned for their survival. However, as times changed, people became more economically sophisticated, and hence, don't have the need to stick to their jobs, not to their liking. Compensation had to extend from mere salaries to respect, recognition, learnings, and experience. So, with increased opportunities, managers need to earn trust from their employees to retain them and get work done. Let's see how.

Empathize with them

Firstly, the most important thing for any human is to feel connected and important. Most of the time, people are only obsessed with themselves. "Why is this happening to me? What will happen if I do this? What should I eat for lunch? Is this good for me?" are a few thoughts that going on their minds 24/7. So, when you actually empathize with them, you are making them feel more important, and ultimately they will stay connected with you, and wil eventually open up to you honestly.

Reward them rightly

How much ever you pay someone, people get used to it and feel it is their right and they deserve more. However, that shouldn't stop us from rewarding them rightly. If they perform extraordinarily, they do deserve an extraordinary pay. Don't always benchmark with Industry standards. If someone else decides to pay them higher, you would get an ordinary professional without great skills in return. On the other hand, if you overpay an under-performing talent, they would never want to leave you, but you will not be able to get your projects delivered at expected standards and wouldn't have a budget for a well-deserving candidate. So, make sure you reward everyone rightly so that you are always safe.

Respect them

Seriously need explanations here? Respect them irrespective of any discrimination and their work ethic. It only shows the kind of person you are.

Demonstrate competence

Whoever it may be, we all believe people who are technically strong in their domain. If you are a development manager, your competence will lie in fetching the most revenue-generating project to the team. If you are a sales manager, your success would lie in helping all salespeople convert the leads, thereby maximizing the number of converts. If you are a quality check manager, your competence will lie in finding issues exhaustively, even ones your employees weren't able to find out. So, keep demonstrating your technical expertise and people will start finding you more attractive to work with.

Maintain transparency

Things hidden are generally the reasons for major disasters. Maintain a high level of transparency so that there are no invisible mind-games being played between other employees and you. This is applicable to your relationship with your own manager, your peers, and people who report to you.

Be honest and reason out well and rightly for both successes and failures. It will help in building a healthy relationship with your coworkers and the retention rate would be high.

Value their opinion

One basic necessity of all human beings if the feeling of importance and they want to be heard. People are highly likely to stay loyal to anyone or any place that gives them importance. Hence, listen to everybody sincerely, and then you can let them know why it would be or would not be possible to implement, with proper logical reasoning.

Maintain your limits

Weekends and wee hours are meant to be personal. Try as much as possible as to not intervene in it, unless it is a nerve-cracking emergency that would cause a really bad experience for your users. Unknowingly, most of the professionals' brains are wired to choose the manager who either compensates more than someone deserves or managers who maintain the work hours and expectations. Since Management Buffs do not believe in the former criteria, we highly recommend you to maintain the latter.

Avoid Biases

"Human beings are poor examiners, subject to superstition, bias, prejudice, and a profound tendency to see what they want to see rather than what is really there." - M. Scott Peck

Having said that, it is natural for humans to have favorites. However, you can choose whether or not to show it, and involve it while making decisions. True leaders never create the impression that if an employee stays their friend, they get all perks.

Forget blame games

Not just "Give the credit to the team, and accept the blame in case of mistake", but if you have a character of playing blame games with anyone in the team, your peers or other team members, your reporters will still watch you, and your credibility will keep going down fraction by fraction without anyone noticing it. So, are we asking you to keep it subtle? Actually no. We are asking you not to play it at all. That will yield you respect in the long run.

Push back unnecessary loads

You may want to add more projects on your promotion doc or for the best manager award, but at what cost? If you create an unbearable load, they will eventually break off from the team, and people will not be interested to joining you. Just like a forest spreading fire, the negativity, and gossips will reach the whole bunch quickly. So, make sure you give timelines after proper consideration of tasks and push back unnecessary projects from your manager, and stakeholder.