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Globally only 21% of employees are actively engaged at work, according to the “State of The Global Workplace 2022” report from Gallup. That’s a lot of people in the world who are actively disengaged, and not fulfilling their potential. The report highlights the top 5 causes of burnout at work. 1. Treated unfairly at work. 2. Unmanageable workload. 3. Unclear communication from managers. 4. Lack of support from managers. 5. Unreasonable time pressure. These 5 causes have one thing in common; your boss/manager. There is very strong evidence that says a bad boss/manager will be a major contributing factor to you hating your job. We spend 81,396 hours at work during our lives. Over the last 20 + years as a communication skills coach, I’ve had the privilege of helping lots of leaders, and their teams, in different organisations. I wanted to share some observations on good and bad leadership and how that impacts on their people. I don’t think this list will surprise you. Good Leader Is comfortable in their own skin - doesn’t need to play power. Listens to other people’s views, opinions and feedback Celebrates individual and team successes. Willing to show vulnerability and their faults. Creates an open, collaborative environment. Takes responsibilities for their own actions and behaviour. Creates and environment where people can speak openly. People want to work with and for them.
Bad Leader Needs to be centre of attention - it’s all about them. Doesn’t listen to other people’s views, opinions or feedback. Creates a culture where people are afraid to get things wrong. Focusing on other people’s faults and not their own. Creates division; divide and rule. Blames others for their actions and behaviour. Creates and environment where people don’t speak their truth. People work for them, but do everything they can to avoid them.
The depressing thing about this list is that there are far too many leaders still in the right-hand column. So what can we all do to encourage those leaders to move from bad leadership to being better leaders? I appreciate that there are lots of complex factors involved in our relationships with our bosses/managers; wanting to protect our jobs, the workplace culture “the way we do things around here”, time pressures, inertia, you’ve tried to change things and it hasn’t worked. Here are 3 things that we can all start doing that will hopefully create a positive change in your boss/manager. Be brave and give them feedback about how their behaviour makes you feel. Not easy, but if you do it you are making them aware of the impact of their behaviour on you, and they can then choose what to do with that feedback. Serve the organisation and not yourself. Let leaders know when their decisions aren’t really serving you, the team and the organisation. Show the love. Show love and respect to your leader. Positive love when their leadership/management is positive, and tough love when you give them feedback on what isn’t working and needs improving. If we all start to take action, we will have better leaders, who create workplaces where we can be actively engaged, flourish and reach our true potential. Now that is a better use of those 81,396 hours.
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