Managers are just like parents
If you take a step back and compare managerial and parental responsibilities, and the influences on people they spend their everyday life with, you can find a lot of similarities. Drawing a parallel makes it easier to understand why certain qualities are just as important to have in a manager as in a parent.
When I was working with dysfunctional families for over 2 and a half years I dealt with a lot of troubled teenagers whose rebellious behaviour only reflected their family issues. Like skin changes can be associated with internal diseases, children’s misbehaviour can be associated with problems in their family. And who is responsible for those problems most of the time? The parents.
Similarly when employees start caring less about the quality of their work, they lack passion and don’t show up at work on time, that’s on the managers. Unfortunately I realised the main cause of the problems was, in a lot of cases, the lack of caring. How can you be a good parent/manager if you don’t care about your kids/employees? My answer is: you can’t.
But let’s just assume they care.
A manager’s responsibilities often include supervising his/her staff, motivating them, resolving their conflicts, giving them regular feedback, ensuring they follow company guidelines, perform the job satisfactorily and training them adequately. Communication is one of the most important tools of dealing with all these responsibilities. But it works only if you do it right.
To be a good manager among many others you have to listen, you have to be available, make sure you lead complete discussions, you are able to recognise frustration even via non-verbal clues and in my opinion, most significantly: you have to be consistent.

Many parents make the same mistake by being inconsistent. They promise something but they are not willing to follow up on it. They change a rule they established before, just because they are too tired/busy to stick with it. They tell their kids not to swear while they swear regularly. That kid will have no trust in what his/her parents say or do. That kid won’t be motivated to do the right thing because the parents don’t show the right example.
Inconsistent behaviour can result in insecurity, rebellion, and lack of confidence.
Even if employees are not kids anymore they need to be able to trust their managers. They need clear guidelines that they can follow in a predictable environment. They should be able to count on their managers and trust their words.
The fortunate thing about being a manager as opposed to a parent is that if you realise you are not manager material, you can look for a different career path. Those who are willing to try and be better managers, and want to improve their skills, can start having honest conversations with their team, getting regular feedback to see their weak points and the things they are doing well. Be brave enough to face criticism and learn not to take it personally.
Either way keep an open mind and remember to look at things from a different perspective once in a while.
