Damage done by poor managers

A 2007 Zogby survey of nearly eight thousand American adults found that, of those abused by workplace bullies (37% of respondents), 72% were bullied by superiors. Stories about the damage done by bully bosses are bolstered by systematic research.

University of Florida researchers found that employees with abusive bosses were more likely than others to slow down or make errors on purpose (30% vs. 6%), hide from their bosses (27% vs. 4%), not put in maximum effort (33% vs. 9%), and take sick time when they weren’t sick (29% vs. 4%). Abused employees were three times less likely to make suggestions or go out of their way to fix workplace problems. Abusive superiors also drive out employees: over 20 million Americans have left jobs to flee from workplace bullies, most of whom were bosses.

There are at least 21 million bosses in the United States, with estimates running as high as 38 million. Over 90 percent of U.S. employees have at least one boss, someone who presides over them in the local hierarchy. The success or failure of every boss hinges on how well or how badly he or she navigates these vexing and all-too-human relationships.

Ways that senior leaders treat direct reports create numerous other ripple effects that travel down and across the hierarchy, shaping a company’s culture and performance. A study of sixty-six of the fastest growing new U.S. firms showed that the best CEOs blended a “top-down” directive approach with a more participative “shared leadership” approach in managing their top teams. This research showed that when CEOs used this one-two punch of directive and participative approaches to lead senior teams, their companies enjoyed superior performance—growing both revenue and numbers of personnel faster than similar firms.

The best bosses embrace five beliefs that are stepping stones to effective action.

(1) Don’t crush the bird

“I believe that managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly, you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it.” Managers who are too assertive will damage relationships with superiors, peers, and followers; but managers who are not assertive enough won’t press followers to achieve sufficiently tough goals. Moderately assertive bosses were rated as most effective overall, most likely to succeed in the future, and as someone the MBAs would work with again.

(2) Effective bosses know it is sometimes best to leave their people alone.

They realize that keeping a close eye on people often either has no effect on performance or undermines it—in contrast to micromanagers, who believe their relentless attention and advice bolsters performance.

(3) The best bosses think and act like they are running a marathon, not a sprint.

They work strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress.

(4) Small wins and saying thank you are a great path

If you focus on the little things the big things will take care of themselves. Never forget to say thank you even if someone is just doing their job and go out of your want to teach praise and listen to what your people are doing and saying.

(5) I got your back

Good bosses take all the blame and none of the credit and they cover their people’s asses. They also never talk about their people behind their backs and critic them in public.

The truth is that bosses of everything from small groups to Fortune 500 firms don’t matter as much as most of us believe. They typically account for less than 15 percent of the between good and bad organizational performance, although they often get over 50 percent of the blame and credit.

Finally one thing I learned in Air Force Officers Leadership School is that you always act like you’re in control even when you aren’t. Good bosses have to lead and give orders and people won’t follow someone who is not sure where they are going or keeps changing the direction in which they are going.