The article states that many bosses are simply clueless about their own appearance and behavior to their employees. Here are a two of the five signs the article points out with a bit of our commentary mixed with it.
Most of your emails are one-word long: If you’re in the habit of answering emails with a simple “yes” or “no” – you could come off as unapproachable and possibly alienate your employees. You may definitely be in the doghouse if you only answer the emails with a “y” or “n”, because while you may view your “y” as yes, the recipient may view it as “why”. Talk about confusion.
Okay, we’re not asking you to compose a novel in your emails, just make sure your message is clear to the recipient. Also, remember that a simple “thanks” goes a long way.
Lack of face-to-face time: Technology is great. However, if the last time you talked to your employees in person was before Christmas, it might be time to talk with them face-to-face. After all, managers gain trust from their employees through face-to-face time.
So put the BlackBerry down and go talk to you employees – in person. Get to know your employees. Ask them about their backgrounds, experiences, education, and so on. Be willing to share this type of information about yourself.
Additional TBC Commentary
Here are the other three signs the article listed: yelling, your employees are out sick a lot, and your team is working overtime but still missing deadlines.
This article also caught the attention of TBC founder Dr. Daniel Booth. He had a few more poor management practices to add to the list.
#1. Failure to set compelling goals, keep them current and make sure employees are bought in and aligned. We all want our work to be personally meaningful and in this climate it is equally important that we know our work is important to our organization.
#2. Failure to collaborate with the team. Giving lip service to participative management doesn't cut it. Collaboration doesn't mean consensus on every decision. It's an attitude about employees' capabilities and motivations and an intention to harvest those ideas whenever possible and practical.
Conclusion
Here’s a tip - solicit feedback from your group members about how you can improve your own performance. 360 Feedbackcan enable managers to identify weaknesses that need to be improved as well as strengths that can be leveraged.
Listen carefully to the feedback - it may help you go from "bad boss" to "good boss".
If you want to see the complete WSJ article click here.
Sources: Daniel Booth, Ed.D., Founder, The Booth Company, WSJ
