Good People Vs Bad Managers, Why Work Culture Can Corrupt Good Intentions
Managers do not become bad because they are evil, most of the time they mirror a company culture that prioritises individual success over team efforts. Have a read and let me know what you think!
Let’s be honest, we all have at one point in our career been frustrated, even terribly annoyed by the traits of our manager. Whether it is their bad planning skills leading to unwanted last-minute requests to be delivered just right before you wanted to switch off for the day, their useless micromanagement style or their peculiar penchant for overshadowing you during a client meeting, managers can be a source of stress. After all it is well known that “people don't leave their job, they leave their manager”.
If the lack of training needs to be blamed; research conducted by Digits shows that only 26 % of those who manage or supervise people at work have never had management training.
The author of the famous book "Good People Bad Managers", Samuel A Culbert, insists on the fact that the road to bad management habits is routinely paved by well-intended managers. Interesting!
While the book is easy to read, it also highlights accurately some structural issues of our modern working culture that can cause a good person to become a detestable manager.
Despite being praised in many HR publications and trendy social posts, being a good manager is actually not rewarded in many companies. And while managers are still employees with their own deadlines, many choose to focus on their individual deliverables because let’s face it, their managers will simply look at them as a measure of success. This can, at the very least mislead some managers to do the bare minimum and push back until employees decide to resign,
Another factor that would push managers to deprioritise their direct report or team growth from their to-do list, is the fact that our work culture highly celebrates individual achievements and while team accomplishments are still celebrated, credits are more likely to go to the team lead.
The author also points out how biased and toxic some management courses, which always glorify hard skills (expertise) over soft skills (human skills) and how it is advised to be emotionless to climb the career ladder. This again can lead to managers acting like robots when dealing with human problems.
Finally, as many managers lack training it is easy to fall into the trap of “game of power” and using the carrots or a stick to get what they want while not being aware of the damaging ramifications to their direct reports.
No one is perfect and neither are managers. As they constantly multitask and battle for their individual triumphs as well as for the team's well-being, leaders and CEOs must support initiatives that grow and nurture a work culture based on trust and transparency.