Mike Wicks - How Not to Manage People

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2020 HarperCollins Leadership

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Published by HarperCollins Leadership, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC.

Published in association with Kevin Anderson & Associates:

https://www.kawriting.com/.

Book design by Aubrey Khan, Neuwirth & Associates.

Epub Edition June 2020 9781400218523

ISBN 978-1-4002-1852-3 (eBook)

ISBN 978-1-4002-1843-1 (HC)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020936142

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

1. Section 1
   Its All about the Team
2. Section 2
   Its All about Communication
3. Section 3
   Its All about Leadership

M anagers everywhere are f***ing it up. Ask anyone if they have ever worked for a terrible manager, and they will likely say, Why yes, yes, I have. Let me tell you about this one nutjob I worked for a few years ago, or Yes, my coworkers and I used to joke that we were going to take a cue from Horrible Bosses or 9 to 5 and make our managers untimely death look like an accident.

People, it seems, are more than willing to share their personal manager horror stories. Indeed, the stories that make up the body of this book are a testament to a desire to expose poor management practices. They are about real managers and the very real mistakes they make. These stories will make you laugh or cringe and wonder how awful managers such as these held down jobs in the first place, let alone secured management positions. You may recognize some examples of poor management behavior because your boss demonstrates or inflicts them upon you, or maybe, if you are honest, you yourself have demonstrated some of them from time to time. If, in fact, the latter is the case, fear not! All is not lost. There is still time to turn things around.

I myself have had the displeasure of working for more than a few bad managers throughout my career. Theres the sales manager, for example, who insisted I drive 200 miles to meet with him at the corporate head office on my first day working for the company as a sales rep. I walked into his office, fully expecting an orientation session, and instead received a weak welcome to the company speech and some basic administrative instructions, before he handed me a Rolodex (this was many years ago), pointed to a blank wall, and said, Those are your accounts, north is that way, before turning back to his work. A five-hour round trip and I was in his office for less than 40 minutes. It was my first day with the company, and as I drove back north, the only thing I knew for certain was that I was going to look for another job.

Interestingly, he features later in a how-not-to story; spoilerhes the guy that fell out of one of his sales reps cars and almost got run over (I wasnt the rep, but I have to admit, the story made me smile).

Being a manager, however, is not always easy. Whether you are working for someone else or running your own business, there are hundreds of things you can mess up every day, even if you are trying your best to be a good manager. One size doesnt fit all, every person is different, and every situation is different. Its certainly easier to fall into bad habits and be a poor manager than it is to strive every day to be a manager and leader who is looked up to by all those who report to them.

To complicate things, we have three distinct social groups who have differing views of how companies should be run. Boomers are the primary residents of corporate C-suites across America, Gen Xers are waiting their turn, and following behind are the very different generational group, the millennials, who are increasingly inhabiting middle-management positions. Much has been written about the differences between these groups, especially millennials, but these groups have more in common than one might think.

Millennials communicate differently because they often prefer to send a quick text rather than pick up the telephone. They also tend to dress more casually, have a more relaxed attitude about work hours, hold work-life balance in high regard, and are far more flexible around where and when a job gets done. Little of this, however, has any bearing on what makes a good manager and a good leader. Good management, moreover, transcends the age of the manager.

Great managers of all ages share a few key traits: integrity and fairness, adaptability, accountability, and empathy. They are strong communicators and leaders, they inspire and empower those around them, and they learn from their mistakes. Great managers know that there are always opportunities for improvement, and each day they strive to be better shift leaders, supervisors, middle managers, directors, or CEOs than they were the day before.

Get the management part of corporate life right and the rewards are significant. Get it wrong and you will see profits evaporate like a mirage in the desert, along with a promising career and advancement.

Complacency often leads us to believe our personal or our companys management practices are good, or at least good enough, but Mental Health Americas 2019 Mind the Workplace survey found that over 50 percent of those surveyed said they were unmotivated at work and would not recommend their workplace to anyone else. Only about half of respondents said they got enough direction to perform their work effectively. One of the most damning findings, not to mention a costly one for employers, was that almost 60 percent of those surveyed were currently looking for a new job.

One of the biggest things a good manager or leader can do is to inspire confidence in those they manage. Mental Health America, however, found 80 percent strongly agreed that their companys culture made them feel less confident about their work performance.

The how-not-to-win-manager-of-the-year stories in this book will hopefully encourage you to take a long look at your management techniques and style and work toward becoming a better manager; this will not only benefit your employees, it will have a significant impact on your bottom line. They are all true stories and real examples; however, in many cases, the names of those involved, the type of organization, and the geographical location have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty. I have also combined some stories where managers acted in very similar ways, as this allowed me to provide a broader perspective on the management challenge under discussion.

Poor, bad, and downright horrendous management is alive and well and living in your town, probably in your company. Hopefully, the tales of hopeless and helpless managers in these pages will help you become a better manager and, potentially, win that manager of the year award.

O ne certain way not to get nominated for manager of the year, let alone win the award, is to begin to believe your own press. Managers who think they know it alland who fail to understand that they dont have to be the most knowledgeable person in the room, just the best manager and leadercan be a real danger to their department or their company. A little humility goes a long way when it comes to managing people. In this chapter, well take a look at some people who mistakenly thought it was all about them.