Q5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a
person.

**Summary**

-   Encourage employees to share experiences.

-   Be accessible.

-   Trust your employees.

-   Treat employees fairly.

-   Take an active interest in the professional and personal
    achievements of their employees.

**Key Findings**

*\"When somebody ... cares enough to say 'Well how are you?' 'Are you
okay?' \[it makes a big difference\], because you can usually tell by
looking if somebody\'s having a bad day and maybe they just need for you
to listen to them for a few minutes. And actually the productivity may
go up if you listen to them for a few minutes, theirs and yours.\"*

Caring in the workplace is another area that historically has been
overlooked in the Federal environment. From the employees' perspective,
they want to see sincere trust in the relationship between themselves
and their manager. For managers, building that trust means getting to
know each employee's personal goals and ambitions to better position
them for success. The majority of the outstanding FSA managers that we
talked to acknowledged the value of getting to know their people and not
being afraid to cross the traditional barriers of human relationship
building.

Great managers: 1) trust their employees, 2) treat employees fairly, 3)
take an active interest in the professional and personal achievements of
their employees, and 4) realize they receive big dividends if they take
the time to care.

The FSA managers that Gallup studied position each person on their team
for success. They are genuine about their intentions and if they cannot
connect with someone on their team they find someone else on the team
who can.

Some of the most detailed discussions during the best practice
interviews focused on this question. Both managers and employees alike
discussed at length the caring and concern that they felt within their
teams. Employees discussed helping each other out when a member of the
team needed help. They discussed covering for each other when a coworker
needed personal time. In terms of interaction with the management, the
sentiment mirrored that described above. Employees noted unwavering
support from their managers and the importance of that relationship in
terms of creating a strong work environment. Finally, one manager
related: \"I make a special point when I come in every morning, I walk
down my aisle of people and I say good morning. I\'m not expecting them
to say good morning back because they may be busy or they may not feel
like saying good morning but I go down and make sure that I make eye
contact with every one of them and say good morning.\"

It is important for supervisors to express concern for employees, but
it's also fundamental to the workplace experience that coworkers also
maintain good relationships. They do not need to engage in social
activities outside the office, but simply work harmoniously and
appreciate each others'contributions. One employee gave this advice:
\"Interact with each other. Because while we\'re coworkers, we\'re all
informal and friendly with each other, and I think try to complement
what our different areas are trying to do and realize that we\'re all in
this together and we\'re not five little independent operations.\"

Trust emerges as a significant attribute here as well. Several managers
discussed their tendency to trust their employees to find their own way
to complete a task, allowing them to maintain a very hands-off
management style. As one manager said: \"If you just treat everybody
fairly and honestly, then the majority of the time you\'ll get back good
work and loyalty to the agency. And a happy employee.\"

Remember, people leave managers, not companies. Outstanding managers
that Gallup has studied across all industries position each of their
associates for success. They are genuine about their intentions and if
they cannot connect with someone on their team they find someone else on
the team who can. A productive workplace is one in which people feel
safe---safe enough to experiment, to challenge, to share information, to
support each other, and where the employees are prepared to give the
manager and the agency the \"benefit of the doubt.\" None of this can
happen if associates do not feel cared about. Relationships are the glue
that holds great workplaces together.

**Relevant Quotes From FSA Interviews**

I really feel like if you can make a personal connection with someone,
and it doesn\'t have to be like a close friendship, even just an
understanding of that person, where they\'re coming from and their
backgrounds, it really enhances your working relationships.

I would say the group of folks in work unit have a strong sense of
(inaudible words) value system. We bring a, you know, a sense of
commitment and dedication, we bring a sense of family, you know, through
our own personal experiences and I think we share (inaudible words)
share and it at least helps us muddle along, you know, and I have this
pet saying that effective financial management is everybody sharing the
pain. Because, you know, there\'s enough (inaudible words) people
sharing the pain, you know, it gets harder to get to the next step so
getting everybody involved at that level, you know, is, you can just do
so much more.

I make a special point when I come in every morning, I walk down my
aisle of people and I say good morning. I\'m not expecting them to say
good morning back because they may be busy or they may not feel like
saying good morning but I go down and make sure that I make eye contact
with every one of them and say good morning.

He put the people first and I think a lot of times supervisors are so
concerned about getting the job done that they care about people but the
job has to come first.

He was very inquisitive about how we felt. Perhaps too much sometimes.
But he loved to spur discussion between us and get those ideas out there
and respected what we had to say.

(Name) always treated us like we were a family and that was one thing,
you know, when you go to different agencies, everyone\'s different and
I\'ve been blessed to have two supervisors who actually have treated me
like we were all one big family and my other supervisor would always say
am I better than your old supervisor? I\'d say no but I love you each
for how you are. Both of them had different manager techniques and
(Name) always listened to whatever you had to say, whether it was good
about him or bad and he would actually listen to you, not just say okay,
I hear you and he would do something about it. If he couldn\'t do it
right then, he would do it in the near future. But he was a man of his
word and that made you want to go over and beyond your call of duty to
do anything for him.

We have the freedom to do our work and we can also be people, you know,
make mistakes, learn and we\'re not penalized, you know, we can laugh
and have a good time but we still know we have to do our work and
that\'s what I like about (Name), he lets us do our work and be human,
you know, and feel that we are important.

When somebody asks how you are, cares enough to say well how are you,
are you okay, because you can usually tell by looking if somebody\'s
having a bad day and maybe they just need for you to listen to them for
a few minutes and actually the productivity may go up if you listen to
them for a few minutes, theirs and yours.

In a couple of times now that I\'ve met (Name), my first impression is
how much he cares about you guys and how much he stands up for you,
he\'s looking out for you and what\'s going to make things better for
you all to get your work done.

I\'ve only been here a month but I know that when there\'s something
going on, his people know they can come to him (inaudible words) he\'s
going to help them out or tell them where to go to get help and I know
that there\'s other management people who don\'t really care if their
people are in trouble, they just, they, you know, figure it out.

It makes a difference when a supervisor realizes the personal side.

One thing I truly, nobody ever did for me before and I was just really
overwhelmed by it, I have some (Personal Descriptor). And I mean I\'ve
never asked him to do it, in fact I told him, you know, don\'t even
worry about it because he\'d asked me about it once but he just does.
And I, to me that\'s so extremely thoughtful.

We have a lot of fun but we don\'t let that get in the way. He does have
a knack of having fun with you but then on the other hand if you\'ve got
something that you need to have done, he doesn\'t take a second to tell
you, you have to have that done and you\'ve got to have it done then
and, you know, you, not in an aggressive way, you know, he kind of
handles it real well. He will listen if you have a problem with
something but he\'ll still make you aware that you are expected to have
this done on this timeline and you better have a pretty good reason why
you don\'t and he\'ll be right up front and frank with you.

If something\'s going on in your personal life, try to pitch in and help
each other out.

I like my job but that\'s not the most important thing in my life. I\'m
working because, you know, my husband and I, we like to eat, and we want
to be able to support our kids, you know, you don\'t, some people work
is their life but (Name), she kind of can tell for each one of us what
it is and you do have a life outside of work and a lot of managers just
don\'t want to see that.

**Development Questions**

**Managers**:

What do you think about getting to know your employees, does
\"familiarity breed contempt\"?

What do you do if there is someone in your group that you cannot connect
with/have trouble getting to know/building a relationship with?

**Employees:**

If high scores on this question - You seem to feel as a group that
somebody at work really cared about you and it could be your manager, it
could be a supervisor, it could be somebody else. Tell me more about
that\...How do you know when someone cares?

How are mistakes handled in your workgroup?

When you walked in the door the first week or so, were you kind of
nervous?

How did you get to feel comfortable? What made you feel comfortable as
you started your first week or so?

Do you think that your managers take your own particular situation into
consideration when they're dealing with you, whether it's a number of
situations you run across, when you're dealing with your manager? Do you
think they think of you as an individual?

Do you feel your manager knows you?

Do you think your manager will be there for you when you need him/her?
Could you go to him/her if you needed something? Have you ever done that
before?

**Development Guide Tips:**

1). Set each person up for success

2). Know your people, be genuine, individualize

3). If you cannot connect with someone, find someone else in the group
who can