The Workplace Coach

There is an interesting shift going on at the moment. More and more people are coming forward and reporting their bosses for bad behaviour. I actually think this is a good thing but be aware that your senior management might see this as a crisis indicator. In actual fact, it’s often a healthy sign that people feel safe and supported to come forward.

So why wouldn’t people speak up about being treated badly at work?

It’s usually the power imbalance. Junior employees might be reluctant to come forward and call out the bad behaviour by their more senior managers for fear of repercussions. It’s a legitimate fear. I’ve seen senior executives close ranks to protect one of their own.

The ‘whistleblowers’ are the ones who suddenly find themselves on the outside looking in, promotion opportunities disappear, performance issues start to manifest, behaviours suddenly don’t align with organisational values. Historically, it’s dangerous to speak out against the boss.

But perhaps its less so now…

So what are managers doing to their teams that is causing such an outpouring of complaints? In many cases they are simply managing their people in the same way as they have been for years and years. The difference now is that people are more likely to speak up about being micromanaged, spoken down to, spoken over, told what to do or even being corrected in what they are doing.

I’m hearing stories these days about managers who are shouting, yelling and even throwing stuff around in the office. They are flying off the handle, ranting and raging, swearing at people, they try to threaten or intimidate. They lose their temper, they are unpredictable and volatile. They act like petulant children or power hungry tyrants, and in doing so, create an unsafe work environment for their staff.

As an employer you might feel like we need to deal with these managers swiftly and decisively, hit them with a big stick, make an example of them and send them packing. Some companies will proudly announce a ‘zero tolerance’ policy, as they show these managers the door.

Now I’m not one to excuse bad behaviour but…

How many of your managers were promoted to the position because they were excellent people managers?

How many of them have had training, mentoring or coaching to be good people managers?

How many of them have you had the discussion with?

You know… the discussion where you explicitly outlines your expectations about the behaviours you want to see in the workplace, and the ones you specifically don’t want to see. That same discussion could include possible consequences should any of these undesirable behaviours be reported.

Good managers are hard to find, so don’t be too quick to get rid of the ones you have. They likely have corporate knowledge that will be hard to replace and with some guidance, maybe some coaching or mentoring, they can change their management style to be far more effective, engaging and aligned with the expectations of the modern workforce.

Sometimes the easiest way to eliminate bad behaviours in the workplace is to simply call it out. If you have some managers that could use a little tune up then drop us a line at info@theworkplacecoach.com.au and we’ll be in touch.