Organizations with the best products and people can be heavily hampered by poor leadership. Any HR manager who has been tasked with “fixing” an organization under such leadership knows how futile it can be without improvement at the top.
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Today, we are discussing poor leadership with expert Paul Pellman, CEO at Kazoo.
HR Daily Advisor: Is it better for a boss to be loved, feared, or respected?
Pellman: Respect is the cornerstone of effective leadership. Great bosses have to be respected in order to be successful and to set their employees up for success. But earning that respect takes hard work, time, and lots of effort. When employees respect their boss, they are more likely to work harder to accomplish shared goals for the entire company—and be honest about their struggles and ways they feel the company could improve.
To gain employees’ trust and respect, leaders must first solicit feedback on a regular basis to understand employees’ needs and open the door to frequent, two-way communication. This will lead to not only greater respect for leadership but also better quality and enjoyment of work for all employees.
HR Daily Advisor: The saying goes that most employees quit their bosses, not their jobs. Why is that?
Pellman: There’s one common theme that seems to unite all unhappy workers: a feeling of being underappreciated, underacknowledged, and undervalued. We’ve all been there, and it’s not fun. Bosses get a bad reputation when employees feel like they’re not valued or appreciated or not being heard.
Managers have a responsibility to their direct reports to not only appreciate and acknowledge their contributions but also guide them in their role and career growth. Talking to your manager and opening the lines of communication to express your feelings and iterate how you prefer to work and receive feedback can help mitigate the problems.
HR Daily Advisor: Why are there so many bad bosses?
Pellman: It’s important to remember that not everyone is cut out to be a manager. Time and time again, we see businesses identifying high-performing individuals and transitioning them directly into management—without even considering whether their skills and expertise translate to good people management skills. Managers can’t be effective if they’re subpar communicators or if they don’t enjoy the work involved in managing other employees.
That said, there are ways to improve and develop the skills needed to be a good manager. By improving soft skills like providing feedback, listening, communicating, and coaching, employees can ensure they’re prepared as people managers. To start, hold regular one-on-one meetings with employees, assist your workers in setting goals, and then listen to—and acknowledge—employees when those goals are met and exceeded.
Employees also need to understand that their boss may not know that he or she is a bad boss. Because the definition of “bad” depends on each employee’s unique needs, goals, and career paths, it’s always important to remain communicative and give frequent feedback.
HR Daily Advisor: Do you think that employees have the ability to communicate with their less-than-great bosses in a useful way about improving?
Pellman: As a manager, creating two-way communication between you and your employees—both within and outside of regular check-ins—can help you become a better listener, thus leading to better engagement and performance from the entire team. Establishing this open communication right off the bat is crucial to building trust and respect.
There are a couple best practices employees can implement when it comes to handling a tough manager. For example, if you find yourself disagreeing with your boss across most initiatives, take a step back, try to be a more active listener, and focus on the why instead of the what of the request or conversation at hand. To better understand preferences, stop and focus on what your manager is really telling you rather than dismissing his or her requests or need for reassurance.
HR Daily Advisor: What can HR do to help resolve a bad-boss scenario?
Pellman: Chances are that your HR department has dealt with this before and could offer solutions you hadn’t thought of. In addition to helping employees deal with a bad boss, HR can also invest time, effort, and company resources into developing and training “bad” bosses to be “good” ones. It’s important that employees speak up rather than suffer quietly. Not only do you owe your boss the opportunity to improve, but it could also create a new level of trust, respect, and collaboration in the relationship.
HR Daily Advisor: What advice would you have for leaders in general?
Pellman: A good leader gives employees the space they need to learn and grow. If managers control every little thing their team does, workers aren’t able to learn from their mistakes—which is often where the most growth and development occur.
By giving their team autonomy, managers may also discover they have a lot more time to do their own work rather than perfecting their employees’ work, leading to increased productivity. Every manager should also have an open and honest conversation with each team member about how he or she wants to be managed—from work styles and how often check-ins should occur to how to deal with setting goals.
What works for one employee may not work for others, so tailoring management styles will build trust between the employer and the employee, contribute to a healthier company culture, and allow all employees to thrive and enjoy their work.