We all want receipts (proof) of love. You. Your team. Your wife. Your kids. The receipts are the proof of what we say.
Have you ever said this to your staff (in one way or another):
I have your back. I’ll support for your career growth.
What goes through the minds of our staff:
Does he really mean what he say? What does he mean by that?
How we say it does not matter. What matters is how many receipts we have build up over time with our team. The more receipts the more the trust is built.
As a software engineer
I have had many supervisors before -- tech team lead and project managers.
I found that those I trust more, I give more than what was asked. I spend time on weekends on my own time. I spend extra hours at end of my shift to solve an issue. I give sweat, blood, and tears if I trust my manager.
How did my managers earn my trust?
Protects the team
When my manager protects me against a bad schedule, from my manager's manager, or from another team -- receipt is built.
My manager
I remember my manager hounding us for a mistake together with the rest of my team. He said:
I may be scolding you for a mistake because you are under my team. But I will always protect you outside this team. However, please understand that in our team we can be open and correct each other.
True enough, at one time, another team is trying to pin the blame on me and my team, and the tone was starting to escalate. I didn't mind, I was ready for a fight (lolz). However, my boss called out the other person saying that the tone of the conversation is not appreciated. That calmed down the other person. Although, I didn't need the protection at that time, I appreciated the gesture.
Because of that, I trusted my manager more due to this action. He really protected us outside our team.
Stephanie Chung interview
Here is a 2 minute excerpt from an interview with Stephanie Chung:
(Full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/lFtjFGwJu48)
Ladies and gentlemen, where is the receipt?