12 Feb Take the Lead: How to Help Your Direct Reports Succeed

Four female leaders on how to lead with intention

By Katie Morell

Imagine standing next to a podium inside a conference room as 73 people file in and sit down, many of them visibly unexcited about being there. This was Linda Murray Bullard’s experience a few years ago, on her first day in a new managerial position. She stood smiling as her employees got situated for what would be her first meeting with them. The skepticism from the crowd was palpable.

“In that meeting, I told them it was a new day,” she remembers. “We talked about the realness of what had happened previously, and they told me they’d had promises unfulfilled from past management. Then I asked them a question they hadn’t heard before. I asked them what they want to be when they grow up.”

The crowd looked at her, dumbfounded. Bullard said she was excited to meet with each of them individually, and that in those meetings she wanted to talk about them—not their performance or metrics around goals, but about each person as a human being.

“My experience has taught me that most managers do not separate employees from their positions,” she says. “I walked into a situation where there was an ‘us versus them’ mentality, and I didn’t want that to continue.”

Bullard made good on her promise and met with every team member. It took a while, she notes, but it was an “investment worth making.”

Some team members left the company, which Bullard encouraged, and she explains that she supported people going where they would be happier. During the one-on-one meetings, she got to know her staff beyond work talk and the effort paid off. She says the meetings set the tone that every person could come to work as a whole human being, without hiding any part of their lives.

“A year later, one employee walked up to me and said they had doubted me in that first meeting,” Bullard says. “But they said that I held true—that not only did I support them in the workplace but also in their dreams for their lives, and that that made a big difference in their happiness.”

Bullard stayed in that leadership role for four years, loving every minute of it, and learning new things every day. Today, she works as chief business strategist for LSMB Business Solutions in Chattanooga, Tennessee, consulting with companies strategically from what she calls “idea to implementation and their first full year of a business life cycle.”

Bullard is a best-in-class example of a leader during a time when the US job market is showing signs of its need for great managers. Many employees left their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and while those numbers have slowed in recent months, fear of employee exodus undoubtedly keeps managers (and business owners) up at night, and employee churn can spell distress for a company’s bottom line. According to a study conducted by Oxford University, happy employees are 13 percent more productive than unhappy employees.

Inside a manager’s mind

Quite a bit has changed in the world of leadership over the past several years. While it may once have been status quo to lead with a top-down, authoritarian approach, today’s most impactful leaders are realizing that in order to pave the way for success with their direct reports, collaboration and vulnerability are more effective.

“One of the most important things for managers to know is that it is OK not to be the person with all the know-ledge in the room—that it is OK to lean on your team to figure things out,” says LaTonya Davis, speaker, trainer, and CEO of LaTonya Davis Consulting LLC, a Houston-based consultancy that helps Black-owned businesses with everything from branding and strategy to content and trainings.

To create a culture where there is a sharing of ideas, a manager would do well to show their humanity, which breaks down barriers between management and employees. Tiffani Bibb is chief people and culture officer at Saga Education, a nonprofit that places tutors in ninth-grade classrooms around the country, and CEO of The Office Informant, a consultancy that helps women navigate the next stage in their careers. Her experience has revealed a few instances in which there have been walls between management and employees.

“In those situations, I recommend managers telling their staff that they are on a journey to be a better leader,” Bibb says. “Ask for feedback, in writing or in person, and for ideas of how you can be more supportive, directive, or even give them more space.

“From there, follow up on your request for feedback, and when they give it, just sit and listen. Don’t make excuses for your behavior—just say, ‘Thank you, that is a good insight.’ You can also ask them to give you an example of how you could do things differently.”

From a manager’s perspective, it can be hard to be both vulnerable and receptive to feedback. You may not agree with the feedback and want to defend yourself. But Bibb encourages managers to look at constructive suggestions differently.

“I once had a mentor who told me that feedback is a gift,” she says. “They told me, ‘Some gifts you like and some you don’t, but you say thank you and walk away.’ That has always stuck with me.”

What direct reports need to succeed

In addition to having a manager who expresses vulnerability and gratefully accepts feedback, key to the happiness and success of a direct report is clarity about their role, says Bibb.

“Many people will ask, ‘What is truly my role? Not just what is written on paper,’ ” she says. “When people don’t know what their jobs are, they fumble around for wins, which can be incredibly difficult.”

Authentic communication between manager and employee is another essential ingredient, and depending on your leadership style (and the needs of your employees), you can structure that communication in different ways.

“I recommend creating open space where you don’t have an agenda going in, especially for one-on-one meetings,” says Lisa Nicole Bertrand, assistant director of admissions at Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in New York City. “The person may have a question they are dying to ask, and sometimes not having an agenda can help conversation.”

On the flip side, LaTonya Davis says agendas for both one-on-one and team meetings can be helpful. She likes to send an agenda to team members before a meeting so they can add items they want to discuss. Davis also finds it useful in a team meeting to ask employees what is working well, and to finish the sentence: “Things would be working better if…”

What’s more, Bertrand suggests managers brush up on best practices in human resources and mental health, as employees often need to discuss life outside the office.

“You never know what issue a person is dealing with,” she says. “It could be that they are experiencing domestic violence or feeling depressed, and it helps to be prepared with resources if they need them.”

If you think your employee needs to talk, consider taking the meeting outside of a formal setting, to a nearby park, perhaps, or out to lunch. Bertrand says being available as a manager helps to create trust and open lines of communication.

A manager’s self-reflection can help the success of direct reports, says Tiffani Bibb.

“It is always good to ask yourself, ‘Where do my team members struggle? Am I giving them enough support or too much support? Am I always canceling their one-on-one meetings?’” she says. “From there, go to your team members and ask questions on how you can be a better manager for them. It will go a long way.” DW

Katie Morell is a writer and facilitator based in Bend, Oregon. Read more of her work at katiemorell.com.

“When people don’t know what their jobs are, they fumble around for wins.”