“People don’t leave bad companies, they leave bad managers.” Marcus Buckingham.
Most managers aren’t born bad. “Too often, the title of manager is doled out as a reward for tenure and connections, for solid performance that demonstrates no particular ability to deal with people.” (Rodd Wagner and Jim Harter).
Managers are Struggling
Through no fault of their own, these managers have not had the opportunity to develop management, emotional intelligence, or interpersonal communication skills. Without these skills, it is likely that they are struggling to perform effectively.
If your managers are struggling, there is an easy way to help them. Download our free whitepaper Help for Struggling Managers.
Qualities of a Poor Manager
Managers who lack the necessary skills can exhibit the qualities of a poor manager who:
- Takes credit for successes and blames failures on employees. This destroys employee trust.
- Doesn’t recognize or appreciate employee performance. This causes employee motivation to suffer.
- Micromanages. This harms employee independence and creativity.
- Distrusts employees. This limits employee decision making.
- Plays favorites. This makes other employees to disengage.
- Gives unclear directions and has unrealistic expectations. This causes poor employee performance.
- Stays inaccessible and avoids difficult conversations. This makes employee productivity decline.
- Lacks empathy or compassion. This hurts employee morale, productivity, and retention.
- Doesn’t listen. This results in employee feedback and suggestions for improvements going unheard.
- Doesn’t lead by example. This causes employee morale, performance, and respect for the manager to degenerate.
- Lacks humility and self-awareness. This can waste employees’ time and resources.
- Instills fear. This destroys employees’ sense of safety and security and causes productivity to suffer.
- Ignores poor or toxic performers. This makes employee engagement and performance go downhill.
- Can’t be counted on to act or follow through. This causes employee resentment and turnover to rise.
- Demonstrates inconsistent values. This results in increased employee burnout.
Consequences of Poor Managers
Poor managers leave a lot of devastation in their wake. Employee engagement, performance, and retention suffer. This has a terrible impact on organizational profitability and sustainability.
Can your organization live with these consequences?
If your answer is “No,” then download our free whitepaper on Help for Struggling Managers.
Deborah Laurel, Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer, The Peer Learning Institute
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