In my e-mail box over the holidays, I got my regular LinkedIn update. The normal, usual stuff. Glancing through the updates, I was struck by one of my linked associates now being linked to one of my former (almost) managers. To be fair, one of the reasons I didn’t mind leaving this company was because I would at some point report to this manager.
And this was a terrible manager. How terrible? In a choice between the right way and a “belittle the employee” way, this manager picked belittling every time. In a choice between emotional intelligence and shouting, this manager chose shouting. In a choice between accepting responsibility for the poor results of the department or pointing fingers, this manager pointed fingers. Lots of them. And loudly. Did I say shouting?
There was no way I was going to work with this manager. And if I did, the only thing I would have spent my time on was covering my ass. Not that it would have mattered.
Throw the management bums out
All these career pundits wanting to know how management can improve employee engagement? Start with getting rid of managers whose idea is to scream at their team every chance they get. Start with not accepting the “authority” of the position as being right all of the time. Start with the assumption that employees want to do the right thing and want to fix what is wrong.
And don’t promote poor managers
Did I mentioned that the upper level management team promoted this manager? Twice? If your management team can’t tell the good managers from the bad managers, how do you expect your management team to navigate the right strategy from the wrong strategy for the survival of the company?
You don’t.
Poor management leads to poor careers for Cubicle Warriors
Nothing is more important to your career right now than the job you are doing in the job you are in. And nothing has a greater influence on your perceived performance than your manager. If you have a poor manager, one who is screaming at you about your work and has the emotional intelligence of a grown two year-old, you have no way to win.
Not to mention the stress you’ll go through putting up with that crap.
Get rid of poor management
It’s time for employees and management to get rid of the poor managers. Poor management is killing your employee’s morale, willingness to go the extra mile and stifling innovation to make business better.
Until we get to the point where management recognizes poor managers and gets rid of them, business — and their employees — won’t be thriving. They will be surviving. What a loss for all of us.
I haven’t had any contact with the manager in this article for over two years. And I still have the same two-word reaction when I hear the name. And it’s not publishable in a PG-13 career site.
Have you turned your shouting, screaming manager into a partner? How did you do it?
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