4 Signs your Managers might be Failing
Photo by Alex Rosario
The Four Signs:
Relationship Problems
Missed Business Goals
Unwillingness to Change
Lack of Ownership
You probably could add a few of your own, but these are the most damaging ones.
Let’s talk about the impact on the business, why these behaviors exist, and what you can do about them.
Impact on the Business.
This is any easy answer: Money. Every business is in business to stay in business. Even if you are a nonprofit or government, you need every dollar to help those you are committed to serving.
Weak leaders put that objective in jeopardy. Take a moment and ask yourself: What department or what leader takes up significantly more time than all the others? Could be retention or engagement issues, could be productivity issues, could be conflict management, it could be poor judgment issues. Whatever the issues are, if they create stress and frustration for you, imagine the impact on the people who work with this person day-in and day-out.
You’ve heard the saying “Hope Isn’t a Strategy”. Quit hoping this person will miraculously turnaround. It is extremely unlikely they will. Ask yourself where that time and money could be better spent and insist the hard decision be made now.
Why are these Leaders Struggling?
There are four answers.
Self-Awareness: the leader genuinely believes the problem isn’t with them. They have a zillion plausible excuses for failures.
Peter Principle: you have hired/promoted the person above their level of competence. They may have the will to do the job, they simply lack the mental horsepower to grasp complexities and make good decisions.
Underdeveloped Skills: when your leaders are asking for more training, they know they are failing and you can be assured they are stressed and frustrated. Theses managers desperately want to be effective leaders.
They are being protected by someone.
What can you do?
Get rid of dead wood. Every day you tolerate a toxic leader you jeopardize your company’s mission.
Reassign managers who have been overpromoted to roles where they can be successful. Oftentimes these people know they aren’t hacking it and will be relieved. You can start the conversation by asking, “If you could write your own job description, what would it be?” and go from there. (I can just about bet it won’t include managing people.)
Determine what leaders you want to invest in and make the investment. And when I say investment, I don’t mean throw money at it. There are way too many leadership programs that just don’t work. A program that is on-line and cheap is a quick indicator you’ll be wasting your money. Good leadership training should be an experience that results in lasting change.
You’ve got serious culture issue and have no influence. This might be the time to ask yourself the hard question: Is this right place for me? Can I really excel here?
As a business leader, you have a responsibility to the organization to solve these types of problems. If you aren’t sure what category your managers fail in, or are looking for effective manager training programs, I can help you get the ball rolling.
Of course the best course of action, is to have a framework that helps to predict success.
