Page 20 - Becoming a Successful Manager

What Is a Professional Manager? 11

A Professional Manager’s Secondary

Role: Be a Sensitive Counselor

Companies often get more than they bargain for when they hire
someone. While companies hire people for their abilities, intel-
lect, skills, and potential to contribute to the organization, they
will also receive each employee’s unique attitudes, emotions, and
interests. Because staff members are people fi rst and producers
second, their productivity is affected emotionally by experiences
and events both at home and at work. This is especially relevant
for remote staff members. As a professional manager, one signifi -
cant challenge is to stabilize a range of emotionally charged issues
and divergent perceptions that evince anger, sadness, jealousies,
upsets, and more. These situations will require you to be a sensi-
tive counselor, which is an integral part of being a professional
manager.
In the role of counselor, you are an authority fi gure whose
objective is to listen attentively and sensitively to employees who
trust you. By listening thoughtfully, you demonstrate that you
genuinely care, and your recommendations will be taken seri-
ously. Realize that neither you nor anyone else can solve another
person’s problems; each of us must assume that responsibility our-
selves. However, in acting as a concerned and sensitive counselor,
invite troubled employees to talk about what is interfering with
their effectiveness and then offer options for resolving diffi cul-
ties. The goal is not to develop a therapeutic relationship with an
employee, as would a psychologist, psychiatrist, or social worker.
Rather, conduct one or two productive meetings with a troubled

employee that address specific behavioral symptoms that have job-
related negative consequences.