Managers who wonder why employee morale is low, why turnover is high, and why employees aren’t performing at their peak may be overlooking the real problem–how managers in the company lead–says Scott Love, a nationally syndicated leadership columnist and a speaker on leadership issues.
“They refuse to change, to learn, to grow, and to develop themselves or their team leaders and, instead, criticize and complain about the performance of their staff. But both the problem and the solution start at the top, not the bottom,” says Love (www.greatrecruitertraining.com/).
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An Inherent, Inherited Problem
Love says an authoritarian management style is inherent in many corporate cultures because that’s just the way it’s been in some organizations since military-style leadership from World War II was carried over into business settings: “Managers lead the way their boss led them, who led the way his boss led him, who led the way his boss led him.”
However, an authoritarian management style is appropriate only in times of crisis, national disasters, or emergencies, Love says. “In times of crisis, fast, unquestioned orders are the most effective way to lead. An emergency is not a time to create focus groups or quality circles.” In most business settings, a collegial, cooperative approach is the most effective management style, he says.
How to Make the Switch
When trying to convince top management to switch to such a style, training professionals need to “sell” the idea. “This is really a sales job,” he says, noting that sales representatives try to get prospects to answer “yes” to a series of questions before actually offering them a specific product. You should use the same approach, according to Love.
For example, when approaching the CEO, he says training professionals should:
- Get the CEO’s buy-in for change by saying something like, “I have an issue that I think is going to help you reach peak performance. Would you want help with that?”
- Ask if he or she wants to hear the idea—even if some of the information is negative.
- Get a verbal commitment to change by asking the CEO whether he or she will consider changing.
When suggesting a new management style, Love recommends that training professionals point to measurable data, such as the company’s inability to attract and retain high performers or information from exit interviews that high turnover is caused by an authoritarian management style.
However, just presenting the raw data is not enough. Training professionals should also explain how that information affects the business and what will happen if the problem persists.
“People aren’t going to change unless there’s motivation to change,” Love says. “The first cardinal rule of human behavior is that people generally do what’s in their own best interest.”
Managers who recognize that employees want to be fulfilled at work and who create an environment in which people feel that they make a difference will generate far greater productivity than someone who routinely orders employees around, according to Love. “If managers lead in a way that people are fulfilled, they’ll get more out of people than they thought they ever could.”
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In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll look at how leaders can maximize their resources, and we’ll present a transformational online library of ready-to-use courses on more than a dozen key leadership topics.