Recently, I reviewed the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 2025, evaluating several different companies on the list all from varying industries from Cadence which focuses on information technology, to transportation by Delta Air Lines, health care provided by Texas Health Resources Inc., and even Capital One in the financial services and insurance industry. There seemed to be one common theme that landed these companies on the Fortune 100 Best list that is a direct reflection from their core values and workplace culture: the people.
Every single company achieved scores over 90% from their employees stating that when they join the company, they feel welcome and at the core of what employees believe makes the companies great places to work they said – people, the team, family, and care. There are a few critical human resource strategies that these companies employe, one of them being strategic human resource management (SHRM). The organizations align their mission and strategies directly to employee engagement and development. They utilize, engage, encourage, and support their people leading to increased performance and retention. Delta Air Lines is a great example of this as almost a quarter of their workforce has been with the company for over 20 years!
These companies are setting great examples for what to strive for as a manager. When given the opportunity to be within a managerial position, I want to strive to be a manager who supports and encourages my team to be their best selves. This doesn’t mean that it has to align with what my view of being their best is, but it is meeting them where they are and helping them play to their strengths. I want to be the manager who knows my team where one of our strongest core values is the trust that we share.
That is not to say that working towards being that type of manager will be easy, it won’t. Trust is a hard thing to build, but something that can be so quick to lose. It can be challenging trying to build trust while also working to implement policies and rules that affect the very team that you are trying to build your rapport with. Everyone is different from one another which can make it challenging to manage the varying personalities and needs of the members of the team. However, it is not impossible! One of the current ideas in management is that you should treat everyone fairly and set standards, but that doesn’t work for everyone. I don’t mean that you shouldn’t be trying to treat everyone fairly, but sometimes an individual needs something different from you as a manager than other members of your team – this could be adapting your communication style or being more understanding of their needs and motivations.
