By Anna Booth, General Manager EcomIQ

Managing people is mostly two decisions

Managing people can sound like a soft skill you either have or you don't. Most of the time it isn't that mysterious. It comes down to two decisions you make over and over: look after the good people, and don't carry the ones who shouldn't be in the seat.

Get those two right and a surprising amount of the rest sorts itself out. Get them wrong and no perk, no process, and no clever org chart will paper over it. The team feels it either way. This is the part of running a brand that changes most as you go from operator to leader, and it's worth getting your head around early. 

Let's take them one at a time. 

Pay is the baseline. Support is the difference.

Start with looking after the good ones, the people who do the work well and lift everyone around them. And remuneration matters, let's be clear. Pay people fairly and on time, or nothing else you do will land. A good culture doesn't make up for underpaying someone, and people see straight through it when you try.

But money is the baseline, not the bond. Plenty of well-paid people are quietly checked out, halfway out the door, or doing the minimum the contract asks for. Pay gets someone to show up. Support is what earns the part you can't write into a contract, the discretionary effort, the loyalty, the benefit of the doubt when something goes sideways.

And support isn't a grand gesture. It's small and consistent. Knowing what's going on in someone's life. Noticing when they're stretched before they have to tell you. Backing them when a call goes wrong instead of hanging them out to dry. Giving them real growth, not just more work. Being honest with them, even when it's awkward. People can always tell the difference between a manager who's managing them and one who actually has their back.

Support them most when it's hard

Support is easy when everything's going well. It counts when it isn't. When someone makes a genuine mistake, when they're underwater, when something's gone wrong at home and it's bleeding into work, that's the moment it's actually worth something.

Back your people in those moments and they don't forget it. I've watched people stay years longer, and work twice as hard, because of how a manager treated them in one bad week. That's where loyalty is really built. Not in the good times, in the hard ones.

Praise in public, handle the hard stuff in private

There's a line they use in the military: praise in public, punish in private. I wouldn't use the word punish for how you handle people in this industry, but the sentiment underneath it is right, and it splits neatly into the two halves of this job.

Praise in public. When something goes well, say so out loud. Name the person who did it. Share the win with the whole team, and tie it back to what it did for the business, so everyone can see their work mattered. The same recognition given quietly, one to one, is worth a fraction of what it's worth in front of the team. Let people feel the wins together. It costs nothing, and it does more for a team than almost anything else on this list.

Handle the hard stuff in private. When someone's dragging the team down or not pulling their weight, that conversation happens one on one, never in front of others. And go into it to understand, not to hand down a verdict. Dig deeper than the surface. Is something going on at home? Are they burnt out, or dealing with something you don't know about? Or is it that they're genuinely not suited to the role, or to the business?

Those are completely different problems with completely different answers. A good person going through a rough patch needs support to get back on their feet, and they'll remember that you gave it. Someone who simply isn't the right fit, or who keeps hurting the team after you've talked, is a different situation, and that's the one to deal with next.

Looking after your people also means protecting them

Here's the part that gets missed. Looking after your good people isn't only what you do for them directly. It's also what you refuse to let happen to them.

Nothing drains a good person faster than being made to carry someone who shouldn't be there. Two situations do real damage, and tolerating either one quietly tells your best people you don't have their back.

The first is someone who damages the culture. Maybe they hit their own numbers, but they're negative, they create friction, they make the people around them worse. Let that sit and you're protecting one person at the expense of everyone you're trying to look after. Your good people notice exactly who you tolerate.

The second is someone who can't meet the standard the role needs. Usually it's not their fault, the role grew or the fit was wrong, and they're a good person trying hard. But leaving them there means your good people quietly cover the gap, redo the work, and carry the weight. That isn't kind to anyone, including the person who's clearly struggling in the wrong seat.

Dealing with both is part of supporting your team, not the opposite of it. When you finally act, your good people rarely react with shock. They react with relief. They've been waiting to see whether you'd protect them. Acting tells them you will.

Where to start

None of this needs a framework. It needs attention.

This week, have a real conversation with each of your good people. Not a status update, an actual how are you, and then listen. You'll learn more in ten minutes than in a quarter of dashboards.

Pick the one person who's clearly stretched right now and take something off their plate. Don't wait for them to ask, because they probably won't.

And when someone does something well this week, say so in front of the team, not just in a quiet message. Make the win visible.

And name anyone whose behaviour or output is costing the people you're trying to look after, then commit to dealing with it inside the month. Protecting your good people is part of supporting them.

Look after your people like it matters, because it does. Do it consistently and you build the kind of team that looks after you right back. its also how you stop being the bottleneck in your own business. That pay off most on the day you really need the.