Bad managers cost you a lot.
According to some research bad bosses cost the American economy $360 billion a year in lost productivity.
Few people do a great job, or even stick around, when they can’t stand their direct superior. When a management team is ineffective, employees quit, they take sick days, they slack, they have bad attitudes, and how the heck is a business supposed to thrive with all that happening?
Here are five signs your management team sucks, and it might be time for a review.
People are leaving. The main reason people leave jobs is because of problems with their manager. If your employees are leaving, there’s a very good chance the problem is with their direct superior and not with another aspect of their job.
Absenteeism. If people are taking a lot of sick days this could be an indicator that they don’t like or respect the boss. It could be to get away from them or it could simply be that they don’t care about the job or what their superior thinks. People with good bosses feel responsible to them and want to do well as part of a team.
Employees aren’t engaged/morale is low. An inspiring and dedicated leader is the difference between a thriving, exciting, creative workplace and one where souls go to die. Unfortunately, that famous Gallup report from a few years ago found that only about 30% of the workforce is engaged at any given time, and that doesn’t change much year over year. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If your employees are checked out, it’s time to take a look at their superiors.
Things aren’t getting done. Well, that’s a result of people being disengaged isn’t it? Things aren’t getting done and productivity is on the decline. Why? The manager isn’t necessarily a jerk, they might just be ineffective at leading a team. In my opinion, companies often promote the wrong people – they promote for skills that don’t necessarily translate into leadership. Just because someone is a great salesperson or developer doesn’t mean they will be an effective team leader.
It’s all the team’s fault. A manager needs to take responsibility. If nothing is getting done – or the bare minimum is getting done – and the manager is passing the buck to their team, what you have is someone who isn’t doing that. If they’ve never seen such a bunch of insubordinate lazy slackers, the problem probably them.
Great managers lead great teams. There’s no reason why you can’t have both. If there’s a problem, fix it.