It might sound obvious: the manager ought to provide practical ideas to the team member, along with executive and managerial guidance. Providing practical ideas goes a long way in showing support, taking the side of the team member in problem solving.
In playing the role of “sounding board” (for ideas), the manager ought to stay a little out of the boundary of the project, for example, provider alternative and wider views on colleagues, industry matters and trends, and project methods. It can be useful to play the “devil’s advocate”.
At crunch time, in prviate with the team member, but also in project meetings with other colleagues and contractors, and especially in the wider team meetings, the manager should not criticise, find fault, or do something in such a way that the team member is regarded as the one who needs to prove him- or herself. In times such as this, the team member needs and appreciates the manager taking the side of the member; even if they don’t agree, the manager’s support has to be positive, and positively felt by the team member.
Applying the 60-40 formula: if the manager behaves, speaks and treats the team member, in private and in public, in support of the team member when the going is tough for the team for member for roughly “60%” of the time, it still means about half the time the team member feels isolated. But 60% is a good benchmark to work from. The “60%” could also in term of other aspects of the work, e.g. documentation.
The manager ought to provide an “extra” pair of eyes (or ears, or hands, or legs) in spotting out when things are not going well. Not in a close scrutiny way 24×7, but in some semi-regular-random fashion.
The 60-40 formula should give a sense of how things are going: for example if 60% of the important items in the project are going badly, and the team member is voicing concern him- or her-self about it, the manager ought to show extra support. The last thing is that the manager leaves the team member fighting on their own.
The manager should “frame” a piece of work in consultation with the team member. They can then discuss possible approaches. The member should take full control from then on without the manager micro-managing. When new issues arise, it is the manager who ought to understand the pressure the member could be under; the last thing is to put the blame on the member.
