One thing I have found over the 30 years of consulting and work life is that management styles might be called different things, new trends come and go, and most people managers don’t really like people.
The biggest lesson I learned about managing people I actually learned from my cat! Yes my cat!
Take your standard cat for example, no matter how intelligent you are you find yourself talking to your cat like he actually understand the words coming out of your mouth. Really? This applies to your employees directly. When you have a challenge don’t talk to them like they magically have the answer, or your great idea (inside your head) will make complete sense when you ramble it off in the heat of the moment. You will see them giving you that look like “you want me to get off what?”
A few other observations is that cats “tell it how they feel” even at 2 in the morning. They hold no grudge, if they don’t like you they simply will never look at you, and if you forget to give them praise you will pay for it.
So next time you think about how your staff is feeling, just consider them as a cat. How would Garfield do in your office.? 🙂