An Antidote to Bad Management!

Antidote/noun

1 A medicine given to counteract the effects of a poison (or, formerly, a disease). (Foll. by against, for, to.).

2 fig. Something which counteracts an evil. (With constructions as sense 1.)

Although the title of this blog suggests that it is about how to overcome bad management (which is, actually, a process) it is written more for those who are bad managers, instead. My only reason for this subterfuge is that if had alluded to that in my blogs title, no bad manager would ever read this blog or even come this far reading it. Why? No bad manager believes that they are who everyone thinks that they are! Even Saddam Hussain saw himself as an effective and benevolent leader!

Actually, I should not be complaining about bad managers; a large chunk of my coaching practice flows from clients that come to me complaining about their managers, who are causing them grief. When clients come complaining about their bad manager(s) our strategy in dealing with such manager depends on what their exact situation is and what actions to take to learn from such behavior and how to prepare themselves to deal with yet another one in some future next chapter of their career or job.

Despite my clients strong desire to immediately run away from such tyrants my advice has always been to first learn how to deal with them and to build your immunity against such dysfunctional managers. This is because nearly 80% of the mangers fall in this category and your odds of running into a better next manager are 5:1 against you!

So, if any manager (this includes all titles in which people/teams are reporting to them, all the way up to and including CEOs) has come this far reading my blog Id like to offer the following tips to consider in improving your managerial approach for a happier, more harmonious, and more inspired environment in which your people will work for you. If you heed these recommendations in your management approach you, too, will lead a happier and more rewarding life:

1. Management/Technical Work Ratio: Some managers never internalize the true function of their role. Right from the time they get promoted from an individual contributor to first-level manager they do not recognize that to succeed (and to make their team successful) in the new managerial role they must understand the four functions of managing: Leading, Planning, Organizing, and setting up Controls. Everything else is technical work. As one moves up with higher titles the amount of time they spend doing technical work progressively must decrease. Not understanding this simple calculus (and obligation) can not only cause grief to your team, but to your entire organization in lost opportunities; Big time!
2. Establish Parameters: Each member of the team reporting to you is different. So, take the time to understand what motivates them and what brings out the best in each of them. Although you must treat all team members with equal consideration treating them as individuals actually furthers that spirit in a big way. Most managers have no clue how to do this well!
3. Hands-on is NOT Micromanagement: Most managers take great pride by being hands-on and being seen by their higher ups as that. Most managers also do not understand the difference in behavior of a hands-on leader/manager (a good thing) and a micromanager (a bad thing). Learn the difference between the two by checking with your directs and see what level of intervention they need to succeed in their tasks and roles. Once again, apply the criterion of #2.
4. Create Accountabilities: Going back to my first point of understanding the four functions of management one of the major failings of a bad manager is not taking the time to set the context of an assignment to their directs and making up the assignment as it evolves, instead, and frustrating the team members with contradictory or impossible assignments. It takes time, effort, and understanding to lay out a complete assignment and clarity of tasks breakdown so each team member has a full understanding of their obligation and role in the team for the new assignment. This is true management work. Creating accountabilities and waypoints/milestones is part of this process. Take the time to do this right up-front and see your team comes through and how much easier it makes your job later on.
5. Catch people doing things right: Bad managers are good at the gotchyas, not at their attaboys. So, open your eyes to all the good things your team members are doing and give them a spontaneous attaboy and surprise them. Send them a hand-written note or an email with specific details of what they did well and see their reaction and the spirit it creates in your team.
6. False promises: With all the encounters Ive had in my practice of clients complaining about bad mangers this items tops the list. Avoid making promises that you cannot keep. If you make a conditional promise (If you deliver this project Ill recommend you for a promotion) make sure that your direct understands what is within your control and what is not. This way if your superiors do not come through you are not seen as making false promises. Also, when you make such a promise go the extra mile to ensure that you have done all that you can to fulfill your end of the promise.
7. Check your messaging: Many managers are glib talkers. In fact some of them are so skilled at talking in elegant, charming, and impressive rhetoric that their audience is impressed by how they talk. Yet, when you ask that same audience what they heard and what it means to them in their everyday obligation to their boss, few will be able to summarize what they just heard in terms that are actionable. This is bad messaging. Always check back on important messages by asking your directs what they heard and what they are going to do. Learn how to correct your errant ways of messaging and try using less intimidating and highfaluting lexicon in everyday messages.

These are just a sampling of what I hear from my clients as common themes of bad managers that throttle their actions, crush their spirit, and stifle their creativity. Why not learn how to deal with these behaviors and improve your managerial effectiveness? See how much better youll feel and how much better your team will perform.

Good luck!

About Author

Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader.

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