Being a boss has never been easy, but in the last few years it seems to have gotten even harder. There are more things to do. And the pace has picked up dramatically, things just seem to go faster and faster.

In this kind of fast-moving and complex world, the best thing you can do is concentrate on doing a few basic and important things well. Here are three things that will improve your results. To make them easy to remember, they all start with the letter “T.”

Touch base a lot. Your job is to help the team and the team members succeed. You can’t do a good job huddled in some office or cubicle. Get out. Go and see. It’s the only way you’ll learn what’s really happening and how you can help make things better.

Talk with your team members. The key word in that sentence is “with.” Don’t talk to them. Don’t talk at them. Talk with them. That means having conversations. Conversations are the building blocks of the relationships that will make you more effective as a leader and will make your job easier.

Turn issues into coaching opportunities. If you touch base a lot and have a lot of conversations, you’ll uncover a lot of issues. This team member needs a new challenge. That one needs to change the way he or she works. A third needs a word of encouragement or counsel. That’s when it’s time to put on your coaching hat and get to work.

You can’t make the world less complex, and you probably won’t be able to slow it down. But you can do these three simple things to improve your results.

Note

A version of this post, with multiple editorial additions, appeared first on the Human Capital Institute blog.