People Don't Leave Organisations - They Leave Managers

Guest post by: Ann Andrews
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I’m OK, You’re Not So Hot (personality types) - By Ann Andrews

Sadly, the workplace of today has very little in the way of career opportunities for staff. We have flattened the hierarchy to a degree where promotion is almost like winning lotto. And sadly, even when a management position does open up most organisations prefer to look outside for their new managers. Yes, new blood is necessary occasionally, but if an organisation never promotes internally, a pretty clear message is sent – our employees are not worth developing or promoting!

I work with teams and a question I always ask employees is how they rate their jobs on a scale of 0 to 100 (0 = bored-out-of-my-brain, 100 = all the stimulation and career prospects I could ever wish for), a staggering amount of employees admit to being nearer the 0 than the 100. What a waste.

I believe a manager has four responsibilities:

1.To reduce costs and find efficiencies
2.To increase profits and productivity
3.To grow people
4.To do themselves out of a job every 4 – 5 years

How many managers actually do all four? How many managers actually realise that part of their role is to grow people?

There are three recognized leaderships styles:

Autocratic – this type of manager tells people what to do, when to do it, and more particularly - how to do it, because there is only one way to do things and that is their way! These managers are not known for growing their people – after all, how could anyone ever do anything to their high standards?

Laissez-faire – these managers tend to hide away in their offices, avoiding people, avoiding decisions, giving few instructions and little guidance. These managers are similarly not known for encouraging their employees to develop – in fact this type of manager is often quite terrified of his/her people. Terrified that their people may actually be smarter than them, or more dynamic than them or could run the team better than them.

Democratic – these are the rare and wonderful managers who involve people in decisions, ask for their ideas and input. They make themselves available, are supportive, will coach and develop and even mentor their people. They actually care about ensuring their staff advance. In fact these managers are so at ease with themselves that they often recruit or promote people smarter than them!

Q: What kind of manager are you naturally (and we all have a natural style)?
Q: What style do you think your employees would say you display?
Q: What do you need to do differently to start developing your people?
Q: What’s in it for you to develop your people (less hours at the office is often a good incentive!)

Zig Ziglar once said that there was only one thing worse than training (or growing) your staff and having them leave, and that is not training or developing them and having them stay.

Food for thought! If you are a manager and are serious about bottom line results, and your own promotional prospects, then please be courageous enough to answer the four questions above.

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I’m OK, You’re Not So Hot (personality types) - By Ann Andrews

About the Author: Ann Andrews

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Ann Andrews, Dip Bus (Pmer), CSP, is the author of four books: "Shift Your But", "Finding the Square Root of a Banana", "Did I Really Employ You?" and "My Dear Franchisee". She is also a contributor to five other books: "You Don’t Make a Giant Leap Without Taking A Gulp", "Best of the Best", NZ Entrpreneurs", "The Power of More Than One", "Mum’s The Word" and newly released "Golden Nuggets" - a book of tips and advice for kids leaving home for the first time. Ann regularly works with teams and is passionate about waste. Waste of people in particular. She estimates that 40 - 60% of employees fall into a bored-and-see-no-future-this-place-of-work category. Ann is also a professional speaker, consultant on team and franchise issues. As the founder of the "Teams From Woe To Go" franchise Ann realised that teams and franchises were a lot alike – the problems were the same, the solutions were pretty much the same also. To find out more about Ann’s teamwork go to www.woetogo.com . To find out more about her books go to www.thecorporatetoolbox.com
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People Don't Leave Organisations - They Leave Managers

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