Bosses are easy targets but they have hard jobs
Bosses are easy targets. Just read "Dilbert."
Truth is, managers today are handed impossible jobs. Too often, they
are selected for the wrong reasons, promoted for worse reasons and
rewarded for short-term results. Their budgets are cut, staffs reduced
and objectives raised. Woe be unto the manager who wants a family life.
Is it any surprise that a boss would feel stuck between a cliff and a
chasm?
Managers ought to manage people. Yet our companies get so caught up in
their processes, we forget that people are the process.
Not everyone is cut out to be a manager.
That's a problem when the only road up the ladder is through
management, says Henry Levinson, a clinical psychologist and
organizational guru.
The firm promotes a good technician for her skill, without looking at
her ability to teach, coach, motivate or direct people. She, in turn, is
frustrated by employees who can't live up to her standards and burdened
by her own inability to communicate.
"Many times you lose a good expert and get a lousy manager," say
Levinson, a winter resident of Delray Beach.
The environment isn't making it any easier, either. As he pointed out
in his last issue of The Levinson Letter, a newsletter dedicated to
issues of organizational behavior.
"The tendency toward short-term, issue-focused, expedient managerial
behavior now characterizes the business world. The pace of the world is
increasing at an alarming rate. Its demanding intensity accelerates the
disruption of family life. Its mindlessness threatens natural resources.
The consequent self-centeredness, together with greater numbers of people
working independently, further exacerbates loneliness and social
isolation," he wrote.
At a time when good managers are needed so desperately, it's never
been tougher to be a good manager.
You can learn to manage by not repeating mistakes done by you, or to
you.
A great boss is your group's best advocate. She points you in the
right direction, without ordering you what to do in nit-picky detail. She
lobbies for the resources you need to do what is expected.
The boss is your ambassador to other groups in the company that, good
or bad, affect how you do your jobs. She offers career advice and can
recommend you for promotions.
She doesn't keep you in your job because you are so good at it, she'll
never find a better replacement. She doesn't hoard information because
it's power. She doesn't do windows.
If you are thinking about accepting a managerial job, or quitting the
one you have, here are some issues to mull over:
- [] Look beyond the title. We all know being the boss sounds sexy. Do you know what the job entails? Do you like holding employees' hands when they come to you with personal problems? Do you like enforcing bad decisions? Are you willing to stick your neck out when you disagree with your bosses, or can you stomach doing what you're told without protesting?
- [] Tell people where they stand. It can't overemphasize how important it is for a manager to communicate clearly, and often. The good boss sets fair ground rules. Can you enforce them? Are you willing to give continuous feedback, both good and bad?
- [] Don't collude. If the company is putting managers into no-win situations, consider your options. Few jobs are worth you're having to lie, or cheat or justify an immoral decision. Build a war chest. Get your resume out. And start making contacts before the situation degrades to the point that you quit in a huff, or get fired.
Are you the boss from hell?
Take this quiz by Development Dimensions International, a training and human resources consulting firm in Pittsburgh:
- [] Do you find yourself raising your voice more frequently?
- [] Are the to-do piles on your desk growing?
- [] Do staff members avoid eye contact with you?
- [] Do you feel as though you can't take a week's vacation without things falling apart?
- [] Are you withholding information from employees because it takes too long to communicate with them?
- [] Is there low energy in your department?
- [] Do you feel a sense of futility about most of your efforts?
- [] Is your day spent fighting fires?
- [] Do you try to avoid responsibility for your mistakes?
- [] Do you fail to take time to discuss issues, provide information, and communicate organizational goals with subordinates?
- [] Do you give more negative than positive feedback?
Source: The Tampa Tribune - March 31, 1996 - A Knight-Ridder Report
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