Caring for people in your team

"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt.

The quote from Theodore Roosevelt remains very pertinent to this day. The need to connect individually and as a team is a cornerstone of team relationships and effectiveness.

It's important to note that caring and connection come before task and activity, therefore, as a leader invest time and effort into establishing genuine rapport with your team members. 

Showing you care through small acts of kindness can foster loyalty, trust, commitment, honesty and open communication.
​
Examples of small acts of kindness in the workplace include:

• Asking a question related to something that is important to the person you are talking to - eg. an unwell relative, sport, travel
• Remembering challenging points in your team member's work and asking about that - eg. a due date, a presentation
• Sharing a cup of tea - sit down for 5 minutes together 
• Acknowledging and validating a team member's efforts 

This can be all much easier to accomplish when you are in the same workplace together and harder to do when people are working from separate locations. When managing teams across multiple locations, authentic connection involves making a phone call that has no other purpose than caring. 

What could you do for a team member that will be purely about connection and caring?