One thing that I learned quickly after arriving in the United States is that’s better for my husband to watch football by himself. I just don’t seem to get all the rules.

But that doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in some of the leadership lessons of the football coaches.

Today, Jim Harbaugh will have his first game as University of Michigan’s head football coach.

Leading up to the game he was asked what he learned playing under Bo Schembechler (another great UM football coach) that he would use now as a coach himself.

Harbaugh answered that one thing he would leverage was Bo’s caring attitude on and off the field:

He knew and asked about your family; he knew how each player was doing in class and with whom they were associating. Why? Because he cared.

And Harbaugh is known for leveraging this caring attitude. This is a great story to illustrate this:

Harbaugh was recruiting a football player. However, on the night Harbaugh came to the house to discuss with the family, the parents of the football player were heading for the hospital. The mother was about to deliver their seventh child. But they didn’t have a baby sitter. Harbaugh said, “I’ll handle it.” And he did. He prepared dinner for the six kids and cleaned up the house. The father returned at 11 pm. He sat down with his son and Harbaugh, and they came to an agreement the same night.

Caring.

As leaders we have so much to focus on.

Sometimes it’s just tiring to think of everything.

But the most important thing that you can do is care for your people. That is, to be a leader who cares, keeps morale high and turnover low.

Caring doesn’t mean taking away challenging tasks or doing the work for your employees.

Caring doesn’t mean that you need to be friends with your employees.

Caring means being sincerely interested in their growth, their interests, and their well-being.

If you care, you give your employees more challenging tasks (and be there if they need you).

If you care, you see a mistake as an opportunity to grow.

If you care, you delegate tasks that they like – not only the ones you want to get rid off yourself.

Here are some tips on how to be a caring leader: C.A.R.E.

Connect

Listen most of the time. If someone is talking while you are formulating your next sentence, you might think that they don’t notice but the bad news is: THEY DO!

Appreciate

Tell and show them how much you appreciate them. Celebrate successes with them, small and large ones.

Respect

Respect the differences. We differ as humans. Respect different communication styles. Respect different leadership styles. Respect different points of view. Respect differences.

Elevate

As a executive coach and mentor it’s my job to see others greater than they see themselves. I operate and coach from their possibilities and not from their own – often limited – point of view.