Why Be a Nice Manager?
Great managers choose to be nice because…
Nice Encourages Motivation: We know motivated employees produce more—in most cases, much more. They take pride in what they do, look for ways to do it faster and better, and work hard to achieve the goals they share with their teams.
Nice conveys respect and appreciation, keys to motivation. People enjoy doing things that are appreciated and they’re respected for.
Nice Improves Communication: Few employees feel they can be completely open with their managers. Consequently, many of the problems, challenges, mistakes, opinions, dissatisfactions, and plans of our employees are off-limits to us, their managers—despite being common knowledge to others in our companies.
Employees communicate more easily and more often with managers they’re comfortable with. Nice opens the door.
Nice Creates Confidence: An encouraging and supportive environment builds self-esteem, assurance, and confidence to perform, grow, and improve.
Employees who are afraid to make mistakes work slowly and don’t try new methods or develop new skills. They don’t reach their potential because they can’t risk the consequences of failure.
Confidence with enthusiasm is an unstoppable force; it accomplishes things we didn’t consider possible.
—Mike Mitchell
Nice Attracts Better Employees: The best job applicants want more than a paycheck. They have multiple opportunities and can choose a job they feel they’ll enjoy. They want to work where they feel welcome and appreciated.
Most make a point to find out about our work environment in their job interviews and from present employees, past employees, community reputation, and published reviews.
Nice Increases Retention: Most people would rather stay where they’re respected than take a chance on a new job, often even when they know they could earn more. Job satisfaction and enjoyment are high on their list of priorities; nice goes a long way in providing it.
My goal is to teach them so well they could leave, but treat them so well they won’t.
—Mike Mitchell
Nice Is Healthier: It’s well documented that happy people are healthier, while stressed people develop hypertension, heart problems, high blood pressure—even colds, flu, cancer, and other diseases.
As managers, we can be the cause or the cure simply with the words we choose.
Nice Is the Right Thing To Do: We’re all human—we have similar challenges, desires, struggles, and goals. We can work together and make the best of our short ride together, or we can work against each other and make ourselves miserable.
Being nice is not more difficult, expensive, or inconvenient, but it can make a big difference in a day, a career, and sometimes a life.
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