{"id":225828,"date":"2021-09-09T04:47:44","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T10:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/corevalues.com\/?p=225828"},"modified":"2021-09-09T04:47:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T10:47:44","slug":"what-to-do-with-a-bad-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/2021\/09\/09\/what-to-do-with-a-bad-boss\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do with a bad boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Company XYZ seemed to be on the right track.\u00a0 A spin-off company, it had immediately established its own grip within the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry on the East Coast.\u00a0 They were tiny compared to the nearest competitor\u2019s thousands.\u00a0 But it was precisely their size that was an advantage.\u00a0 200 employees was their optimum. \u00a0\u00a0Best of all, their business model carried on well throughout the pandemic.\u00a0 In fact, not only did they survive the repeated lockdowns, they faced unprecedented growth in their niche. There was a bad boss issue, however, that confronted them.<\/p>\n

The measurable problem was their churn rate.\u00a0 Churn rates, or attrition rates, is the rate at which people leave the organization.\u00a0 It\u2019s an issue that besets BPOs around the world.\u00a0 Reasons vary.\u00a0\u00a0 It could be geography, travel time, the lack of a work-life balance or simply the desire to work closer to home.\u00a0 Pay is also a major factor.<\/p>\n

The problem is that once the employee is trained, they opt to leave as their marketability increases. Management reasoned that the churn was caused by the lack of growth opportunities.\u00a0 The pay and perks may be good, but without a change in rank, employees are more likely to leave for another organization to further their career.<\/p>\n

Or so they thought.<\/p>\n

The case was different for most of the employees working for Company XYZ.<\/h3>\n

In their exit interviews, almost half of the employees who left opted out because of their direct superiors.\u00a0 Names were mentioned, incidents enumerated and tears shed.\u00a0\u00a0 One employee didn\u2019t hold back, calling his bearded superior the \u201cboss from the bowels of hell\u201d.<\/p>\n

It broke the HR director\u2019s heart to see these well-trained, top-talented employees leave.\u00a0 Not only would they have to spend more resources finding and training new employees, the ones leaving were the passionate ones. \u00a010 of those who left were with the company way before the spin-off.<\/p>\n

Now another company (heaven forbid, a competitor) is bound to benefit from their experience and their skill sets.\u00a0 How long will Company XYZ be holding on to their competitive edge?<\/p>\n

\u00a0You know your employees are the lifeline of your company<\/h3>\n

Acquiring top talent is a priority.\u00a0 But so is retaining top talent.\u00a0 If employees quickly come and go, there\u2019s no telling how long a niche organization like Company XYZ can hold out \u2013 especially in a fiercely competitive industry.<\/p>\n

And as many leaders know by heart, employees do not stay solely for pay and perks.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Company XYZ\u2019s managers are performers.\u00a0 After all, they were placed in management and supervisory positions for good reason.\u00a0 But we often neglect how delicate and unique these roles are.\u00a0 We often ignore that they are also placed in charge of other living, breathing and feeling employees and have responsibility for employee development and business growth.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say that they should act like those proverbial sports coaches made famous by motivational clips.\u00a0 But every organization should consciously make arrangements to create a \u201cbad boss-free zone\u201d.<\/p>\n

Building a bad-boss free zone<\/h3>\n

Upper management usually isn\u2019t aware of the bad bosses at work.\u00a0 But they\u2019re easy to spot.\u00a0 They\u2019re the ones who notoriously fail to establish trust and psychological safety<\/a> with their team members.\u00a0 Effective bosses (who are at the same time respected and loved) are known for creating an environment where employees are free to speak their minds.\u00a0 They\u2019re ok with people challenging the status quo, or people who are able to think of creative solutions to challenges.<\/p>\n

The bad boss also shuns feedback \u2013 whether it\u2019s to give or receive.\u00a0 In a 2018 People Management study from the Predictive Index, numbers revealed that a manager\u2019s rating was directly related to the volume of feedback given an employee.\u00a0 Managers in the extreme (zero or too much feedback) were rated the lowest.\u00a0 While managers who struck a balance scored twice as high.<\/p>\n

This penchant for feedback also has a lot to do with their ability to listen.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Know when it\u2019s time for an intervention<\/h3>\n

Bad managers are NOT necessarily bad people. Perhaps they simply were never trained before assuming their roles.<\/p>\n

Every organization is bound to encounter one at any given time.\u00a0 But it is up to you to find them and help them or remove them from the role and not necessarily out of the organization unless they want to leave.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that you aren\u2019t out on a witch hunt.\u00a0 Nobody is out to trap, torture, or penalize managers.\u00a0 Rather, the effort is to present them with measurable data<\/a>, and respectful feedback (from peers, direct reports, and colleagues), so that they can grow and help their people develop.<\/p>\n

This first step might not be something you even thought of.\u00a0 Ask them from the get-go if they have the desire to take on the job.\u00a0 A manager is far different from an individual contributor.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen one too many managers who didn\u2019t want the role of supervising others.\u00a0 They would have preferred to stay put and collect more commission for their own skills.<\/p>\n

It sounds simple<\/h3>\n

Because it is.\u00a0Informed organizations, including those that have undergone training with TIGERS<\/a>, understand why assessing manager suitability and engaging in dialogue are top priorities.\u00a0 Organizations may always opt to offer career advancements that does not involve climbing the ranks.<\/strong>\u00a0 For instance, a lab analyst prefers to work by her lonesome on projects.\u00a0 Career advancement options can include additional compensation and\/or opportunities to advance to higher learning within their discipline.\u00a0 (So perhaps creative but obnoxious Frank from research and development shouldn\u2019t be forced to head the R&D team.)<\/p>\n

Another is to give that potential manager the opportunity to grow.\u00a0 Managing people isn\u2019t something you learn overnight.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not something you can learn in school either.\u00a0 This is where a leadership or management development program is needed.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a grand opportunity to give the potential manager diagnostics, and with the data collected, craft a program that would align them with the team.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had Franks who ended up reverting to their old positions and Franks that flourished following completion of a development program.\u00a0 If managers have solid, valid, and reliable data about themselves, as well as clear objectives on what is expected of them, the bad boss would no longer exist. Create that self-awareness among your leaders <\/strong>HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright TIGERS Success Series, Inc. by Dianne Crampton<\/p>\n

About TIGERS Success Series<\/h3>\n

TIGERS provides a comprehensive, multi-pronged and robust system for improving your collaborative workforce behavior, collaborative work culture, profitability, project management and team leadership success. We license existing coaches, consultants and HR professionals in the use of these tools.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We specialize in building cooperation among employees and collaboration between departments for profitable, agile, and high performance team outcomes.\u00a0 Scaled to\u00a0 grow as your organization and leadership performance improves, our proprietary\u00a0TIGERS Workforce<\/a>\u00a0Behavior Profile<\/a>,\u00a0Micro-Training technology and group facilitation\u00a0<\/a>methods result in your\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>high performance team outcomes and change management success.<\/p>\n

Here is a\u00a0complimentary 30 minute webinar on the TIGERS 6 Principles<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0Course Certificate for Completion.<\/p>\n

Join our Newsletter for subscriber savings. content and announcements:\u00a0https:\/\/corevalues.com\/tigertracks-newsletter\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Company XYZ seemed to be on the right track.\u00a0 A spin-off company, it had immediately established its own grip within the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry on the East Coast.\u00a0 They were tiny compared to the nearest competitor\u2019s thousands.\u00a0 But it was precisely their size that was an advantage.\u00a0 200 employees was their optimum. \u00a0\u00a0Best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[811],"tags":[62,63],"class_list":["post-225828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employee-management","tag-leadership","tag-leadership-team-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}