Where are the good managers? — Part II
This is the second part of a two part series. In Part I we got into the theories, people have in mind about organisational structures.
There are countless books, courses, articles, and talks out there on management theory and practice. Prices range from free to several thousand dollars, but the main information is accessible to everyone.
Why is it, then, that if you ask people, most of their experience is of bad (or even toxic) management and work culture?
Before we answer this question, let’s look at the basics:
Why does management matter?
A study by the American Psychological Association revealed that 75% of Americans find their boss to be the most stressful part of their workday. (This might include general performance related stress which is represented by a manager, however, the percentages who find their manager arrogant (52%), manipulative (50%) or passive aggressive (40%) are still very high.) Poor management behaviours like berating and bullying not only affect employees but also extend stress to their families and beyond. Considering an average manager has 10 direct reports, each impacting at least two others at home, a single bad manager can negatively influence at least 20 people. That’s not counting anyone else to whom those direct reports might offload their stress, such as the bus driver, the grocery store cashier, the neighbours, etc.
According to management theory, the basic function of a manager is supporting the organisation’s strategy by planning, leading, organising, and controlling. I’m not sure why they don’t include supporting/mentoring in this initial list. I would personally put that instead of controlling. But at least most resources talk about mentoring, coaching, supporting, and culture building at length. I personally believe that a good manager enables the skills, talents, and motivations of the people they work with.
Real reasons behind bad management
Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? 🐘
How is it that, despite the zillion management books, trainings, videos, and articles out there, most workplaces still struggle with bad management?
I’ve been trying to find research on the effectiveness of management training, and the best I can say is that it seems inconclusive [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The less polite version is that the studies I found are filled with misuse of statistics (confusing correlation with causality, not accounting for external factors in the market when measuring ROI, etc.), and inadequate metrics (e.g. asking managers how they feel after the training instead of asking the people they manage). If anyone knows of some solid research on this, please send it over to me!
For lack of scientific evidence, let me share my hypothesis on the underlying causes, based on my own experience:
All these management books, trainings, videos, and articles have the underlying assumption that leaders are mission-driven and are motivated by being good managers. The problem is that many of them are not.
I see two reasons for this. Most people lack basic self-awareness and undertake leadership (or even founder) roles for the wrong reasons. This is not entirely their fault but also a systemic issue. In many cases, people perceive that the only way to get promoted is to take on a managerial role (which is often truly the case). Many of these people are not motivated to take on caring/coaching roles and, therefore, will be bad at it no matter how many books they read or trainings they attend. The second, even more worrying (but fairly common) reason is that leadership roles attract manipulative people who mostly crave power and/or money. This is the hotbed for toxic and abusive managers. (How to recognise mental abuse at work or elsewhere is an entire topic on its own, which I might write about in a different post.)
Many companies are simply not interested in building a healthy culture and tapping into the intrinsic motivation of employees. (This may or may not be a problem depending on one’s goals and the situation — see Part I). Now, let me just focus on the growing number of companies that recognise the potential long-term financial benefits of cultivating a healthy culture. (Maybe the ones leaning towards Walter Isaacson’s leadership style.) Even at companies or HR departments who are interested in this, it often remains at a surface level.
Buzzwords that don’t mean anything without the right motivation and experience
Management talks are not short of buzzwords. They usually cover important concepts, but I have found that they only mean anything to people once they have already been through certain life experiences and are motivated to support others in their community. Without these experiences, people feel that these words are just empty, which is often reinforced by managers who use them as such.
This post will also not be able to provide life experience or genuine curiosity about people and how to support them. But I will at least mention some of the most common buzzwords and how they are often misinterpreted:
Emotional Intelligence: the ability to recognise, understand, and handle one’s own and others’ emotions.
- Often confused with: (over)confidence, being manipulative (people-pleasing “upwards,” abusive “downwards”).
Psychological safety: the belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. (I recommend the fuckup nights movement.)
- Often confused with: superficial kindness, not talking about bad stuff at all.
Giving away power/Empowerment: authority and autonomy given to someone to do something.
- Often confused with: lack of hierarchy.
- I recommend: separating “role from soul”, having clear roles and ownerships that can shift dynamically, avoiding silos and power struggles.
Low Ego: A belief in playing to each other’s strengths and that leading is a service. Believing that everyone has something to offer.
- Often confused with: low self-esteem.
Trust in people: the belief that everyone has something interesting to say and genuine curiosity about it. Believing that people are motivated to do a good job and are not just there to rob you.
- This is often completely missing and is replaced by treating employees as children, creating information walls between different levels of management. Keeping secrets from employees.
- This is never going to work unless someone (most importantly the leadership) is genuinely interested in people and is actively working on overcoming naturally occurring initial judgments.
So what can I do as a leader?
I think there are things that one can learn from books or trainings (see a list of books/videos which were recommended to me). It’s just hard to filter out information from the noise. Trainings that involve practice, and theory that involves mechanism design can be worth looking into. Sharing and listening to each other’s experiences can also be useful. I believe we can also learn from psychological studies, but one should be very aware of the sources and the (lack of) strength of statistical evidence. I think that leadership and management are mostly art forms, which have to be experienced by doing, making mistakes, and growing during the process.
Some nuggets of advice I’d recommend paying attention to as leaders, managers, or anyone working in a team:
- Make sure to surround ourselves with people who complement our skills and provide checks and balances.
- Avoid people who always agree. They are usually manipulative people who please upwards and are abusive or neglectful downwards.
- If someone complains about a manger, pay attention.
- Learn to handle and use the insights of the contrarian.
- Keep working on being a good listener. I believe the key is being genuinely interested in what everyone has to say. Sometimes it’s a challenge to be interested in someone whom we really don’t resonate with. One tip for those scenarios is to remind yourself that you can literally learn from everyone. In the worst case, they show you a negative example to learn from. Although, if you keep asking questions and listening, you will often be surprised…
