If you've met me for more than a couple of minutes, you'll know I'm a big football fan.
It's not something have to coax out of me. It'll come up, either because I mention it, or someone who knows me will (or calls me Jambo, one of my many nicknames). My love of the round ball has been around forever. Even from the youngest age, if you wanted to find me, I'd either be in the back garden or up the local park playing football. My Dad took me to Tynecastle for my Hearts game when I was nine years old, and probably regretted it thereafter, the amount I used to pester him about all things Jambo.
As a result, I follow a lot of football based accounts on social media, particularly Twitter. Earlier this week I was watching Tweetdeck do it's thing when a thread of tweets appeared from Sky Sports News.
The posts were pulling highlights from an interview with Newcastle United's Jonjo Shelvey, carried out by Keith Downie.
Changing Fortunes
For the non-football fans reading this, to say Newcastle have had their share of football troubles in recent years would be an understatement. And Shelvey is a talented player on his day, but he's not lived up to the expectations set of him when he first broke onto the scene.
A takeover of the club in November finally saw the reviled Mike Ashley replaced by a consortium led by Saudi's. Not short of cash, it was hailed as a new era. If they could stay in the Premier League of course. Deep in the relegation zone, a drop to the Championship was very real, and they were many people's favourites to go down.
The appointment of former Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe didn't turn their fortunes around immediately. But as the team learned how he wanted to play, boosted by some new signings in the January transfer window, it started to come together. At the time of writing Newcastle are 11th, and all but safe from relegation.
The interview with Shelvey focused on what had helped the turnaround. And this particular quote stood out for me.
“I’ve never had a manager like this before. The first thing he did was hand everyone a sheet of paper to write down their wives’ & kids’ names, plus all our birthdays. He wants to know everything about everyone. I’m glad I’m his cup of tea & want to do everything to repay him.”
Howe didn't just want to know how his players liked to work on the pitch to get the best from them. He wanted to get to understand them as people. What and who made them tick. And by doing so, he began to knit them into a team that could grind out results considered impossible just a few months beforehand.
How well do you know your employees? Do you know what their interests are? Would you be able to name some of their nearest and dearest? Or could you tell me what they did at the weekend?
Understanding your employees can help you to work out how to get the best from them. It opens up who they are, and how they are best engaged to not just achieve tasks, but excel at them.
You Don't Need To Find Time
I can already feel you shouting "But when am I supposed to have time to do that?" at the screen. And it's a very fair point.
In fact, I'd go as so far as to say it is one I completely agree with. And it's one of the main reasons I launched Stay Bright Mentoring.
The goal behind the programme is to offer complimentary support to young employees. It allows for different type of conversations to happen, to explore the kind of areas that there isn't always time for in more work focused discussions. It creates a space for young employees to confidentially discuss how they feel and what the challenges they face. And of course, how to take steps to overcome them.
Ultimately mentoring is a process that produces benefits for young employees as well as their employers.
Oh, and my answers to those questions I posed? My interests include lots of music and reading. My nearest and dearest are too many to mention, but my wife Zoe, children Jacob and Harper, brother Chris, sister-in-law Michelle and their kids Bethy, Thomas and Mikey are top of the list.
And what did I do at the weekend? I was at the football of course...