Common Management Flaws

The twelve biggest management flaws that

contribute to poor  employee performance!

Tim Connor

Everyone has flaws and managers are no different than the rest of us when it comes to incorrect, poor or even wrong behaviors that impact their daily roles as a leader, manager, coach or disciplinarian.  Many of these flaws have inconsequential outcomes, but some of them can have a consistent negative outcome when it regards employee performance, organization productivity and profits.  I would like to share with you what I believe at the twelve most frequent flaws the average manager has that determine their management style and subsequent behavior.  The two questions I would like you to consider as you read the following is – are you guilty and what is their cost?

1)     Hiring under pressure.

2)     Seeing negative employee feedback as discipline.

3)     Not holding people accountable.

4)     Failure to show adequate and consistent appreciation.

5)     Letting your ego get in the way of your decisions.

6)     Failure to communicate with clarity and consistency.

7)     Creating a negative and unsafe emotional culture and environment.

8) A greater concern with your personal success than the success of your  

      department and/or employees.

9) Poor or inconsistent coaching and training.

10) Creating a “who” rather than a “what” culture.

      11) Trying to motivate employees.

      12) Where are we going.

Hiring under pressure.

When you hire under pressure you will always make a hiring mistake that you may regret in the future.  Filling an empty position with the wrong employee is far worse than leaving the position open while you search for the best candidate.

I understand that not having a sales territory covered with a representative or having a support staff position vacant can cause stress, extra work or even some work not getting done but consider – If you put the wrong person in the territory could that create future additional problems that might take more time, resources or employee time to fix due to incompetence or the wrong attitudes?

The key is to anticipate future employee needs and to not be in denial about staff that might either have their resume on the street for some reason or who you plan to terminate in the future but just waiting for the right time.

 

Seeing negative employee feedback as discipline.

The purpose of negative feedback shouldn’t be just to discipline employees, but to help them modify, correct or change behavior that is inappropriate or counter productive for them or the organization.

We all have bad habits whether it’s communication, tardiness, giving in to distractions or just plain screwing up for any number of reasons.  Most employees want to do a good job.  Yes there are slackers, deadbeats and lazy individuals out there, but by in large the average employee wants to head home each night feeling good about their work or accomplishments.

If an employee makes a mistake for any reason first consider their motive or intent.  Was this a simple mistake in misunderstanding or was it driven by mall ace or some other negative factor?  If it was a simple mistake see it as an opportunity to coach and improve the personal and career development of the individual rather than an opportunity to tear them apart.  

The number one factor that contributes to good or bad performance is self-esteem.  When you rip into a person’s self-esteem all you will accomplish is more of the same bad behavior.  Use mistakes as a way of validating people’s effort and use them as a self-esteem builder.

Not holding people accountable.

There is a simple yet profound concept that impacts everyone’s behavior and that is – you get the behavior you reward.  What does this concept have to do with accountability? For starters if you are not holding people accountable to goals, policies, standards, procedures etc.  I’ll guarantee that they are not happening.  Every one of us needs someone other than ourselves to help us become our best in some way.  When there is a lack of accountability people will stretch boundaries, continue to make the same mistakes and not be concerned with consequences as there are none.  The key to continued effectiveness and growth is that we have standards (this doesn’t mean we don’t stretch, reach higher and often break the rules as we work toward our potential) that are adhered to.  Without them it is all but impossible to measure or determine what is working and why and what isn’t working and why not.

Failure to show adequate and consistent appreciation.

Research over the years has proven again and again that the number one thing employees want (and don’t get enough of) is appreciation, gratitude and recognition for a job well done.  It’s also interesting to note that the same research indicates that the number one thing managers believe employees want is more money and better benefits.  See the disconnect here?  Behavior rewarded and appreciated is behavior that is continued even expanded.  So if you want more motivated employees – start thanking them for the little things as well as the big ones and don’t assume that all they care about is their paycheck.

Letting your ego get in the way of your decisions.

The number one reason businesses fail, in my opinion, is management arrogance and much of this arrogance can be rooted in an unmanageable ego.

We all have an ego it’s just that for some of us it’s a bit out of control.  Ego will not let you admit mistakes.  Ego will not let you be vulnerable.  Ego will not allow you to look stupid, unsuccessful or unprepared.  Ego wants to always be in control even when control is impossible.  People with large egos are always right, must be first, tend not to listen and love to talk.  I could go on but I’

M most likely not telling you anything you don’t already know.

So what does a large ego have to do with poor management?  Think about it.  Ego managers take credit and place blame.  Ego manages micro-manage.  Ego managers don’t allow lower level decision making.  Ego management interrupts others.  Ego management invalidates others and ego management often feels they are better than others.  I’ll let you take it from here.

Failure to communicate with clarity and consistency.

One of the significant issues that impacts organizational productivity is the consistency between top-down messages, communication, expectations and corporate culture and bottom-up reality. Often employees hear different messages depending on whom the message is coming from – whether the president, their managers, or some other department head.

Creating a negative or unsafe emotional culture and environment.

Corporate culture is one of the predominant factors in shaping employee performance and productivity.  Every organization has a unique set of values, core principles and written and unwritten rules.

Many managers operate inconsistent with the prevailing culture attitudes and often wonder why they are out of touch with the reality that exists in their department or organization. For example; a manager believes that the culture is open and honest but wonders why people don't share bottom-up information with them.  They say things like, "we have an open door policy but no one ever comes through the door.  Maybe the door is open but the mind sitting at the desk inside isn't!

What words would you use to describe or define your corporate culture? Take a minute now before you complete this tip and write down the words you would use to define your department or corporate culture. 

All culture flows down from the senior person in the department, division, branch, group or company. It is created and/or tolerated by this person either consciously or unconsciously.

 A greater concern with your personal success than the success of your department and/or employees.

In the classic best seller, Good to Great by Jim Collins he points out that the most successful businesses are those that the senior executives were more focused on the success of the business than their own fame or fortune.  This idea filters throughout any organization.  Any manager that has a personal agenda that is more important to them than the agenda, success or productivity of his or her organization will invariably contribute sooner or later to the failure or poor performance of their department or group.

The most successful managers always have the “group success” as their central motive all the while knowing that when the group succeeds they do indirectly as well.

Poor or inconsistent coaching and training.

There are two ways to have highly productive employees. Hire perfect employees, or coach employees into a higher level of performance. Coaching is a different activity from training, and one that takes a great deal of time, observation, employee involvement, discussion and patience.

Training is teaching people what to do, when to do it, how to do it and sometimes why to do it. Coaching is catching people doing it wrong and guiding them to do it better, right or less wrong next time. Coaching is not a form of feedback – i.e. positive appreciation or recognition, or negative feedback in the form of discipline or punishment. The purpose of coaching is to modify behavior to match some standard, rule, ritual, policy or procedure.

It is unfortunate that many managers do not take the time to coach their employees to higher performance levels. There is an old saying that says, “Don’t send your Ducks to Eagle school.”  Yes – and no! Not everyone was meant to fly as high as the Eagles. 

The objective of consistent, positive and pertinent coaching is to help those employees to want to do better, for whatever reason, to do so. Coaching guides the employee, regardless of his/her position, to the higher ground.

Creating a “who” rather than a “what” culture.

One of the critical contributors to culture is: who delivers the message, or who says it, not necessarily what the message is.  Let me explain.

A brand new employee walks into the VP’s office questioning a procedure. The gist of his/her remark is that it doesn’t make sense and is costing the company time, resources, etc.  The VP’s response goes something like, “You are new here, later you will better understand what we do and why this procedure will make sense, but thanks for the feedback.”

The next day the president walks into the same VP’s office questioning the same procedure, and the VP agrees and jumps on a solution for making a change.

The above example is a clear-cut case of – it depends on who is delivering the message that determines the response.  In an organization where it is ‘what, not who,’ it wouldn’t matter who delivered the message, i.e. the janitor, a new employee or a SVP. The response would be the same – let’s look at it, fix it or whatever. 

The problem with a ‘who’ culture is that politics and personal agendas can tend to take the lead. In a ‘what’ culture, it is the problem or challenge and ultimate solution that matters, and not the source of the information.

Trying to motivate employees

There has been a myth floating around management schools, seminars and in general wherever managers congregate. “How do I motivate my employees? ” You can’t. The job of a manager is not to motivate employees, but to create an environment where people would want to motivate themselves. 

There is an old adage that says, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  Right, but you can put a little salt in his oats!

There are three motivational environments that a manger can create.

A fear motivational environment. Do it or else. Fear motivation works. Problem is, it doesn’t work on everybody and it doesn’t work all the time. Reason is, it is based on a threat. People can build up immunity to your threats. When they do, the threats don’t work. Plus this approach is negative. 

A reward motivational environment, commonly called incentive motivation.  Incentive motivation works. But, it only works on people who are interested in the prize that is being offered as a reward. Incentive motivation is only effective while you are offering what someone wants. Once their want is satisfied, you have to raise the ante.

In both of these motivational environments, the motivator is taking some action toward the motivatee (I just made that up).  The motivatee has the option of how he will respond or react. They are also temporary.

Since motivation is an inside-out process, it is no wonder why many businesses have a productivity problem. They are relying on one of two temporary methods of motivation that are outside-in. 

The third type of motivational climate is to teach the person to be responsible for their own inside-out motivation.

Where are we going

After 40 years of consulting with clients and speaking to groups of managers, executives and salespeople, I have discovered that there is a common problem among many businesses today. It is a sense of identity, or, in the words of one manager I interviewed last year, “I don’t know who we are or where we are heading, and yet I am supposed to help us get there.”  These feelings are common among many employees today whether expressed or kept to themselves.

A clear lack of communicated, understood, reinforced and believed-in direction is at the root of many organizations’ problems today. Oh yes, they will say that turnover, competition, finding good employees, global issues, the government, the weather, suppliers, etc.  is the real culprit contributing to their lack of profits, growth, market share or lack of competitiveness, but don’t be fooled. A lack of clear communicated direction and identity in an organization contributes to many of your business growth challenges.