Last week, we went viral. On TikTok, a 25 second clip of Immy O’Donoghue listing behaviours of poor managers was viewed by 1.4 million people! Click here to watch the TikTok. The astonishing figure demonstrates the effect that poor managers have on employees because this amount of people can resonate. People shared their experiences with poor management in the comment section. Their frustrations focussed on a lack of good management accountability, directionless leadership and toxic leadership.

At HR Champions, we have a favourite saying: your best salesperson is not necessarily your best sales manager. That is because leadership is not always a natural ability. A change in expectations without training employees creates a vicious cycle of untrained managers delivering poor leadership to their employees. If these employees then receive a promotion, they will mirror what leadership has been shown to them. Effective management not only benefits the employees but also contributes significantly to a thriving and successful organisation.

So what does an untrained manager do?

• Don’t have regular catch ups: Regular catch ups with agendas ensures that everyone is on the same page. Catch ups are also an opportunity to check in with your employee to find out if they need any direction or coaching on a project. Equally, to check in on their wellbeing.
• Communicate poorly: Poor communication decreases employee morale and efficiency due to misunderstandings and misaligned goals. It also affects employee morale and engagement as they feel unheard and undervalued.
• Don’t hold employees accountable: This leads to employees being unsure about what they’re responsible for. This reduces efficient working. Equally, bad behaviour goes unchecked which creates a toxic work environment reducing employee morale.
• Don’t measure progress: Without KPIs and a review of these KPIs, employees are left guessing about whether they are achieving goals, improving and unsure of the direction of their work. Moreover, the team cannot celebrate successes if they don’t know that they are winning.
• Expect employees to complete unachievable tasks: By not communicating, measuring progress or having regular catch ups, managers are not aware of their employees’ skillset. This means they will just expect them to understand their role and not provide direction.

These are all descriptions of bad managers. However, a bad manager could just be an untrained manager. As we stated previously, a promotion without training is setting up the employee for failure. Excellent leadership and management training makes the manager aware of their leadership responsibilities. They understand what good looks like and what is expected of them.

This isn’t just the case for newly promoted managers. Aspiring managers might see poor leadership behaviour as the norm and will present this when they become manager. Equally, experienced managers might have become ‘stuck in their ways’ and need a reminder of good leadership behaviours.
That’s why we’ve created the Leadership Investment Fund (LIFt) to upskill, reskill and lift your management team to their full potential. These packages are key to your growth plan, people strategy and workplace culture.

Take a look at our packages or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 01452 331331.