I sat down recently and reviewed some of the issues that clients deal with- you know just to see if there were any recurring themes – there were. Bad Managers is one of them.
I took a deep dive (googled) the percentage of people that leave their employment and goodness knows where this figure came from, but the number was 57%. Astronomical right? Even if we thought that was a bit high and we halved it 28.5% is still a lot of people leaving your organisation.
This article is not about how to manage a bad manager, sorry if you thought I was going to present you with a silver bullet, rather this is an article for those managers who cannot seem to retain staff, for those of you who have up to 57% of their staff leave on your watch.
You know who you are– you probably just haven’t given yourself the same labels that the departing staff give you. From my experience these labels include;
- Micromanager
- Bully
- Disinterested in me or my career
- Closed minded
- Stuck in the past
- Everything must to be done their way
- Only interested in how they look
- Never satisfied- no one else’s work is good enough
- Keeps the good jobs for themselves
Sorry to be so blunt, I don’t want to seem unkind, but I really don’t know another way to break this to you. If you have lots of staff leave, the chances are really high that it’s you that is causing that exodus.
Don’t despair though, because when you’re prepared to own an issue you can address it. I am the eternal optimist in this regard. We are all able to change. I believe that people act with good intent, even if it doesn’t land well. What we lack in certain situations is the awareness that our current situation or behaviour is causing grief to ourselves, to others or indeed to both.
You will only change poor management behaviour when you own it. To acknowledge poor skills is not a criticism, just a fact ( and you’ll be one of the few brave enough to do it). The criticism is when good people leave your organisation because they can’t or won’t be managed like that anymore. So own it then do something about it. Turn your behaviour on its head. Ask yourself, when I micromanage (for example) what am I trying to achieve? What am I afraid will happen if I leave someone else to tackle this task on their own? What’s stopping me from teaching someone else this thing that I am so relied on for? When you understand your motivations or your fears, you can take steps to address those particular things. Your changed behaviour will follow.
Understanding your motivators will help you to understand and change your behaviour and your effectiveness.
YOU Coaching- helping great managers understand their motivators