Management is a tough job.
Not only are you responsible for a team of employees, but you’re also in charge of making potentially make or break decisions on a daily basis.
The future of the business literally sits in your hands.
When you look at it that way, you can understand how the pressures of management may lead a person to perhaps neglect certain parts of their duties. It’s not excusable, of course, but it’s understandable to a degree.
One particularly common area which many managers tend to overlook or neglect to a certain degree is people management.
Being a true leader to your employees, someone who inspires and motivates is difficult, but if you want your business to thrive, this is perhaps the single most important part of your job as a manager. You need to be able to deal with conflicts and be impartial, you need to be approachable yet professional and you need to be a role model, someone who can give good advice and encourage people to meet their potential.
It’s tough, but it’s necessary.
Poor management is one of the main reasons why people tend to move on from a company and go elsewhere, but it’s also a reason for low office morale too.
If the morale of your employees sitting at their office chairs is low, there are many reasons for it, but poor management is certainly a potential option to think about.
Why? Because they don’t feel supported or listened to. They don’t feel valued. They feel like a number on the payroll and not a person with ideas and suggestions of their own.
It’s a poor picture which is often down to the way in which they are managed.
Check out the video below which talks about some of the main traits of a poor manager. We’re not suggesting you’re one by any means, but it’s worthwhile seeing if you can honestly identify with any of the points. Remember, nobody is too experienced to learn or develop themselves!
So, why does poor management actually lead to poor morale in the end? Let’s summarise.
- Employees don’t feel inspired or motivated - A manager is supposed to be a role model to their employees and if you’re not doing this, you’re not motivating or inspiring your employees either. In that case, the feeling is more than negative.
- Employees don’t feel valued - It is vital that your employees feel that they are important to the business and that their manager values them. If this isn’t the case, employees are quickly going to feel disengaged and morale will fall.
- Employees don’t feel able to speak out or approach their manager - If the manager has a closed office door and they simply sit in their executive office chair, without being visible in the office itself, employees won’t feel able to approach their manager with problems. This leads to potential conflicts as emotions build up. This can affect morale in a big way.
- Employees don’t have clear job roles or expectations - A poor manager doesn’t give guidance and that means employees aren’t clear on what is expected of them or where the lines around their job role start and finish. This leads to anxiety and problems in the office and again, low morale.
- Employees feel belittled - When employees don’t feel valued and aren’t able to speak out, they start to feel as though they’re being belittled and pushed to one side. This is a very negative feeling and will certainly affect office morale.
These effects can be extremely serious over time and will certainly lead to total disengagement and lack of productivity.
Every single manager needs to look at their practice from time to time and work out where improvements might be made; even the best managers in the world still have things to learn. By looking at how you manage your employees and working out whether you can improve or change things, you’ll show everyone in your office that you care and you want to create a happy and productive working environment.