Leadership Tips for the Manager Who is Too Tough

Guest post by: Greg Schinkel
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Productivity Improvement from Employee Engagement, Process Improvement - By Greg Schinkel

Hard-nosed, high achievingmanagers tend to work long hours, do the work his or herteam is supposed to do, be overly critical of others and not keep everyone informed. Despite this and perhaps to some degree because of it, they get great results in the short term. Unfortunately, this type of manager is often disappointed when the team is unable to achieve the desired results. The organization loses because talented subordinates may get burned out and leave or never get the development they need to become future leaders in their own right.

As part of the coaching process, here are the typical elements of the prescription for performance for a tough manager:

Clarify in his/her own mind what the long term vision is for the team/organization. A tough manager believes that either she has already made it clear what the goals are or that people should know the goals because they are obvious. Unfortunately employees do not know the priorities because in their mind, the priorities are constantly shifting at the apparent whim of the manager.
Use a daily and/or weekly team meeting so that all members of the team can be aware of the priorities without the manager having to act as a clearing house for information. Many tough managers are like the hub in the center of a bicycle wheel. Everyone has to come to him or her with problems or to get a decision. Of course the manager doesn't understand why employees don't just do the right thing on their own and the vicious cycle continues.
Stop providing answers to every question and solving every problem. If we assume that most of the team members are qualified and experienced the manager should let the individuals on the team retain ownership of the issues and not take over the situation.
Stop doing the work of the team. In order to build greater accountability, the tough manager needs to let her team enjoy the consequences, good or bad, related to their area of responsibility.

The team will also have to adjust to the change in leadership style. While the change will be positive, there may be some frustration during the transition from manager-centred to team-centred leadership.

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Productivity Improvement from Employee Engagement, Process Improvement - By Greg Schinkel

About the Author: Greg Schinkel

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Greg Schinkel and his team help entrepreneurs and business leaders improve profit and grow their business by providing management training, supervisor training, team leader training, lead hand training and executive coaching. The challenge for many successful organizations is that leadership becomes diluted from the senior leadership team to the front line leader. For organizations who choose to be union-free, Greg and his team equip leaders to maintain excellent employee relations while focusing on results. For unionized workplaces, the focus is how to effectively lead employees within the boundaries of the collective-agreement while achieving results.

Greg Schinkel has reached more than half a million people through his writing, broadcasting, speaking, training and coaching. Greg has appeared on television, radio and in print more than 200 times for his leadership expertise. He is co-author of the best-selling book Employees Not Doing What You Expect, published in North America, India, Latin America and Korea. Since 1992, Greg has owned and operated Unique Training & Development Inc., a leading provider of supervisor training, management development, team leader training and lead hand training. His website is http://www.UniqueDevelopment.com

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