Do You Recognize These 7 Warning Signs for Failed Management?

Article created for a financial website.

 

Morale is down, productivity is down and your bottom line is seeing red. While this sounds like an indicator of a bad economy, it may have more microeconomic implications. If you this your business should be doing better than it is, consider looking at your management team. A bad boss or faulty leadership can quickly deteriorate all aspects of your business. Check these seven red flags to see if you management team is failing to encourage and assist your employees.

Lack of Communication

Use your ears and not your voice to look for a lack of communication between your managers and employees. Listen to what employees have to say about tasks they have been assigned to and examine the results. Little communication between the boss and the worker can leave questions unanswered, resulting in poor work. Additional lack of communication signs are:

• Limiting answers to yes or no. A manager who does not explain the process or reasoning behind a decision can leave a team of employees confused.
• Ignoring a crises – Management fails when a leader ignores problems or issues that arise in a project making it worse/
• Low employee performance – If you have noticed your employees messing up on routine projects, it could be stemming from a lack of communication from the management.

Micromanagement

On the other end of the spectrum, failed management includes leaders who communicate way too much. When a manager assigns a project or task to an employee, he should ensure that the individuals are capable of handling that task. He should set a deadline for when the task needs to be completed and then back off. Micromanagement does the opposite of producing effective results. Signs of micromanagement include:

• Low employee morale.
• Excessive attention to minor details on assigned projects or tasks.
• Managers constantly questioning specific employee’s competence.

If your employees feel claustrophobic and pressured, the quality of the work can go down. Discuss the values of decreasing close supervision with your management team if you notice the above stated signs.

High Turnover

Losing employees faster than you can replace them is a big red flag you should address immediately. Not only will your business lose money in looking and training a replacement, it can increase the workload of other employees, lower morale and make your company an unpleasant place to work. Talk to the management team and employees separately to find out the cause for high turnover. If need be, fire the manager who is causing the high turnover. Better to lose one bad manager than several good employees.

Harassment Claims/Aggression

Striking fear into the heart of your employee will not get the best value for your money. Your managers should be open to questions and suggestions about specific tasks or projects. If you notice the following in your workplace, it may be time for some management retraining.

• Sharp increase in harassment claims
• Frequent shouting or yelling matches
• Loud obscenities, racial, sexist, or negative religious comments
• Timid or nervous employees
• Threatened employees

Any type of aggression in the workplace is a serious issue and should be dealt with immediately. Ignoring it could cause physical and emotional damage among employees. Counsel your management team and offer the right support to avoid negative consequences in the workplace.

Lack of Direction

By definition a leader should instruct employees the general direction they need to take to complete a project giving them the appropriate steps to satisfactorily complete a task or project. Management fails again when employees:

• Do not know how to complete a project or task.
• Clock in time, but do not achieve measurable results.
• Ignore pressing matters and avoid answering direct questions.

Additionally, managers who delegate a large quantity of tasks on to others can cause a failed management system. Managers who procrastinate projects to the last minute bring bad results. A good manager should recognize the skill sets in each employee and assign tasks accordingly to balance the work load.

Poor Work Results

A quick look at a red balance sheet can give owners convulsions. However, those who look at and address the reasons a company is not bringing home the green will help them turn a lemon situation into lemonade.

Employees who are not addressing the concerns of clients, producing quality products or not managing their time properly can add up. If you have a manager who is not examining and addressing these issues, something needs to change in leadership. Retrain or hire new manager who can positively get the most out of your employees.

Change in Personality

Do you have a manager who acts sweet and sickly around you and other higher-ups? Watch out for the suck-ups because they can quickly turn your company into a battleground for inter-office politics. Signs that a manager is acting two-faced include:

• Quick to blame others when something happens.
• Quick to take the all the credit, instead of sharing it responsibly.
• Lying on minor issues.
• Over-promising and under-delivering on a consistent basis

Keep an eye and ear out for other signs of failed management. As you have to be the leader for your manager team, they should be able to look to you as the ideal role model to pass on to employees underneath them.