Nice Boss

Accountability Elephants

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A company wanted to terminate an employee who was not achieving results. She had a multitude of excuses, blamed her boss for his lack of support and refused to be held accountable for her employees’ actions. When the boss had had enough, the HR Director stressed, “Her employees won’t be happy. She is well liked.” The reality? Many of her employees were happy to see her go since they already realized she was the bottleneck for not getting things done, poor decisions being made and low morale.

Laissez-faire leadership has been creating a devastating impact on companies worldwide, according to Herman Trend Alert, August 22, 2012. Many business professionals are not holding themselves accountable for their results or their employees’.  They blame increasingly complex business environments, workloads and lack of financial and other resources. To complicate these concerns, many leaders have become more concerned about being liked, holding onto their power of control, not rocking the boat or micromanaging to the point of exhaustion.

Delegation. Work-life balance is something we strive to achieve. We blame our employers for our failure to achieve this ideal. The truism is there are time periods when personal concerns (e.g., health, family, and home) will take precedence in your life. There are other times when your professional considerations require stronger attention. Be proactive. Learn to manage these inevitable transitions by requesting help (at home and work).  Stop waiting for the perfect time to cross train. Do it now before the need arises. Learn to trust others to make decisions appropriate for their experience and abilities to alleviate bottlenecks before they start.

Build on strengths. When you are in a job that aligns with your strengths, work life becomes easier to manage. The same is true for your employees. Learn how to hire people who fit their work, and how to manage them accordingly. Hold your employees accountable for results, sales quotas and other objectively set metrics. If employees are unable to meet these measures, it may be time to review their fit with the job. A good person in the wrong job can inhibit her/his own ability to accomplish normal tasks with ease, and issues seem to get muddled and, never resolved. Take the time and spend the money to hire the right people. Learn how to create a work flow that recognizes a person’s strengths.

Handle the Elephants. Most people love to put off until tomorrow what isn’t urgent today. Unfortunately, this growing stockpile doesn’t deplete naturally and unaddressed issues actually grow exponentially.  Hold yourself accountable by enlisting the help of your business advisor as an objective sounding board. Determine effective resolutions for both potential and long-term elephants. You may be pleased to find some can simply be crossed off your list!

Need immediate help to transform your leaders into fearless, effective, no-nonsense contributors? Contact your business advisor today to transform your business! JLSeibly@SeibCo.com

Myth: Nice Bosses Don’t Fire

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Many books and speakers talk about leaders who are cut-throat, egotistical and mean. The myth is they love to fire people. To add fuel to this misperception, many employees subjectively blame their boss for others’ poor work ethic and job performance. They keep their resumes circulating, just in case they are next.

Being “nice” is not a responsible alternative when you are the boss.

Want the truth? In the quest to keep a company financially stable, even good bosses fire people. While there are bad bosses, and good workers mistakenly terminated, many times you will find those departed employees are the same ones who complained about multiple boss challenges (e.g., blamed others for their inability to produce required results and refused to work well with co-workers or management). Eventually they would have ended up leaving anyway.

They fall among the shockingly high 63% to 79% of people who work in jobs they don’t like. Many times these are also the ones who are unwilling or unable to learn the technical or people skills required. All the training and coaching efforts in the world will rarely produce useful or sustainable results when someone does not fit their job responsibilities. (Think, millions of dollars spent without a positive ROI!) It happens regardless of their length of time on the job, previous work experience or popularity with others. Even though demotion is a viable alternative, most people’s egos won’t allow them to step backward, even if they had been extremely successful in that position. Moving them to another job within the company only works if the job fits them! More often, a terminated person finds a better position with another company.

Here’s the reality.  When bosses need to fire or demote people, many times her or his eye is on the customers! Cheating the “bread and butter” out of good service or quality products rarely works well for any company. Not firing people does not make bosses nicer! It simply makes them irresponsible to their customers, shareholders, communities, Boards, and other employees — a natural consequence. The bottom line is critical to keeping the company operational! (Think, keeps more people on the payroll.)

The other reality is many times the remaining employees are privately clapping and sighing in relief. They have been the ones cleaning up the “elephant tracks” and listening to the excuses for poor results created by their former co-workers. They can pull their resumes out of circulation until the next “poor” performer is hired due to the poor hiring practices of their company. (BizSavvyHire.com)

Does this mean your boss should be mean? No! Some bosses simply need to resign. (The above stat includes them!) All bosses need to learn to be effective when hiring and working with others, while balancing the strategic and tactical needs of their organization. These skills are not solely learned in books or seminars. They can be learned right on the job if there is a qualified biz advisor with whom to bounce off ideas and keep them on the right track. (SeibCo.com)

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2012