The Workplace Coach

Let me tell you a quick story about a new starter in an organisation that I was recently doing some work with.  It’s a bit of a tragic tale but it makes a really important point.  Let’s call our new starter Brooke.

Brooke interviewed for and was offered the role.  It’s a relatively senior role responsible for a team of people delivering a specific output and she was excited to get started.  On commencement she was introduced to her manager and provided with a position description of the role she was in, as well as various ‘induction’ type documents to help her get set up with IT, WHS, security etc 

And then she was pretty much left to her own devices.  She introduced herself to her team and started the process of getting to know all her direct reports.  She asked lots of questions about what they do and why they do it that way, she was interested in their ideas about how it might be done better, and she was curious about how she might make their lives easier by changing policy or processes. You see Brooke understood that if she was ever going to help the team perform better then she needed to be sure she had a very clear understanding of what they were doing and how they were doing it.  

She had made a great start but unfortunately this where it all starts to go pear shaped. 

Brooke also wanted to be sure she was on the right track with her own manager.  She was looking for clarification about her own role, what her manager’s expectations were, how he likes to operate and what he was looking for her to achieve in the short, medium and long term.  Unfortunately, her manager didn’t really have a clear picture of what he wanted because he didn’t really understand what Brooke’s role was all about. He told Brooke that she should refer to her position description and continue to work closely with the team.   

Brooke decided that she could continue learning about how things were done in this team from her own direct reports, at least for a few more weeks, and then she would try again with the manager after she was more familiar with how things work.  She made some great progress with the team, they seemed to respond well to her leadership style, and very quickly they started to bring forward ideas for improvements to processes that Brooke was able to endorse and implement.   

Now with some quick runs on the board, Brooke again approached her manager.  She was looking for some indication that he was happy with her progress to date, some feedback on her performance, and a discussion about what he expected from her in the future.  Unfortunately, Brooke’s manager was one of those leaders who wears ‘busy’ as a badge of honour, is always in ‘back to back’ meetings, and would ‘schedule some time’ with her but then regularly reschedule because something urgent came up.  He also had poor interpersonal communication skills, and a distinct lack of self-awareness about the impact of his leadership style.   

Brooke persevered for another six weeks but then, when she finally realised that she was not going to get any clarity or genuine feedback from her manager, she quit her contract and packed her bags. She had been in the role for just over two months but had never had a discussion with her manager about deliverables, performance expectations, performance feedback or what she was hoping to accomplish in the role.  In other words, her manager had failed her and the organisation lost another potentially great team leader.

The old cliché about people not leaving jobs but leaving managers exists because its true. 

Managers need to understand that managing people is not about systems, processes, policies and procedures.  Its about trust and building relationships. Its about developing clear expectations and having regular conversations about what is working well and what needs to change.   Its about treating people like they are people, rather than as a disposable, replaceable resource.

It is sad that Brooke had to leave but she is extremely employable and will no doubt by now have already found another role.  Hopefully she will get the support she deserves in her new role.  The real tragedy however is that her manager has not learned anything from this experience, and will likely repeat the process with Brooke’s replacement. 

If you have managers who have teams with high turnover, low engagement scores, increasing numbers of complaints or compensation claims, high levels of unplanned leave or sick leave then you may want to deal with it proactively before you have an even bigger problem. 

The Workplace Coach specialises in working with the managers in your organisation to help them get themselves and their teams back on track.

The Workplace Coach