They tell you that your employees are your greatest asset and your make or break. Truer words have never been said.

My team has always been my ride-or-die and I don’t think I would be anywhere without everyone I have had the pleasure of working with over the years. Even the ones that made my life hell. So much you can learn from your team, trust me. No better institution than your team. They keep you grounded.

But boy, managing a team is not easy. It was about a decade ago when I first managed a team. I had a team of five reporting to me. And when it is your first time, you think how difficult can working with five people get? But then life throws lemons at you. Haha. I am guilty of almost hating them, I am not going to lie about that.

But with time and experience, I learned that if you are ever to succeed, you need to build the right team and then trust them to do their job right. It took me almost two decades to become a not-so-hated manager (not going to call myself a leader, not yet).

And here is what I keep reminding myself:

Break the rules for your team if you have to

I am all for discipline and principle, and playing by the books definitely makes life easier, especially for the company management.

But empathy goes a long way. Just some understanding of the struggles that everyone fights in their lives will help you become a better leader.

That’s why I make the effort to know my team personally. I don’t look at them as people who get the work done for my company. I think of them as people I spend my day with while we work together to achieve our goals.

So, when someone asks me for something that breaks some company rules but doesn’t hurt the business, I try to accommodate them. Of course, it cannot be a routine thing. But my team knows that when it truly matters, I would never shy away from helping.

Trust the people to do their job

All the thinking and critical thinking you did during the hiring process should be enough for you to know that you hired the right people. If not, you need to work on that.

But once you have someone on board, trust them to do the job right. And I learned it the hard way too. I thought I was avoiding risk by keeping a check on the work, just to be sure, you know. And I thought, wouldn’t that help my team avoid errors too? Win-win.

But it was stupid of me. People work better when they are trusted. And most times, might not know it better than you. So, I stopped what they call poking my nose in everything. I only do it when I really have to, which is literally seldom.

Build a connection with your people beyond work

I have been told time and again that keeping the relationship strictly professional is important. And I thought too during the early days of my career. I no longer believe that.

I make the effort to know my people beyond their skills and work. I want a glimpse of their life that does not involve work.

You can disagree with me on this, but our WhatsApp group is all about memes and roasting. I get tagged on bad boss memes too.

And I wouldn’t trade it for a boss vibe. I get asked if people misuse that. Sometimes, yes. I’d still not trade it for anything.

I have seen people reject leave requests and employees having to miss important family events. I have lived that too. So, as long as the work doesn’t mess up, it’s almost always a yes from me.

And I continue to learn so that people working with me have a better experience. Even if it means taking leadership shoulders. I recently enrolled in. Haha.