Nobody sets out to be a bad manager and yet so many fall into traps and become one; it’s counter-intuitive to realize that humans are not straight forward machines. What worked as an individual contributor will not help you as a manager.

It’s easy to focus on the mechanical elements of management like company outcomes, hours logged, and project results, but that’s only a small part of what makes a great leader.

It’s so easy to stay professional instead of getting to know your team and what matters to them, especially if you’re remote or don’t interact with them every day. When this happens, is it any surprise they not only get frustrated or burn out but they don’t come to you with problems? Is it any surprise many bottle it up until they quit or find another job, which can lead to company-wide retention problems?

What do you do? Why do so many managers frustrate their teams?

The human element is missing.

If you help people achieve their goals, they’ll work hard for you to achieve the company’s goals as well. If you can align what you need them to do with what they want to do, the results can be great. If you make them feel important and recognize what they care about, they’ll work hard for you.

But all of this takes effort and time. Something that you don’t have unless you make time for it, which isn’t easy with all the emails, meetings and other responsibilities that come with a management role.

And rarely do such efforts get rewarded like specific company results do. So how do you make sure you’re not forgetting these things that pay off in the long term? And are you sure you are doing everything you could be?

I believe there is a way for today’s technology to help us all be better managers and caring leaders. If you’re interested in learning more, sign up below:

Note: This post was the start of what became Get Lighthouse 1 on 1 meeting software.

For 9.5 years, we helped people be better managers, building on the promise of this post. I originally interviewed 40 managers who signed up to this post and a few subsequent ones. Their insights led to the MVP of our product.

Blogging is a great way to build a base of interested readers, who then become customer development interviewees, survey respondents, and your first paying customers. This blog is a testament to that approach.