What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What a great marketing campaign. It is also a great management strategy.
Company reorganizations are a reality in business today. The changes give new people opportunities to contribute. Sometimes that means new people in leadership positions. Unfortunately, this is where things can go very wrong.
Some new leaders don’t realize that they create problems for their teams. I worked for one new manager who was a sieve. Every communication he got from his boss he immediately forwarded to everybody in the field.
It didn’t take too long for all of these messages to overwhelm his direct reports. This manager was not only new to management, but he was young, too. Many of his direct reports were more experienced and older. He was lucky that his direct reports were comfortable telling him that his approach wasn’t working. They asked him at a sales meeting if he could filter out the messages they really didn’t need. He listened and made the changes.
Not every employee, however, is comfortable telling a manager when things aren’t right. That’s when you can land in a dangerous situation.
After another company reorganization, one manager had a new group of direct reports. They hadn’t worked together so they didn’t know each other very well. This manager’s manager had a habit of speaking in front of the group without filtering what he said.
The senior manager would not think through his statements to see if it was the right time to make them. His ideas were half baked, contradictory, and confusing. People are especially nervous about what is expected of them after a reorganization. Scaring them with unknown possibilities that might not happen is a bad management strategy.
What happened next? The manager’s direct reports started talking, but not to him. They complained about the lack of communication. Actually, it wasn’t a lack of it. They were just getting poor communication from the senior manager.
Having direct reports complain about your work to anyone other than you is dangerous for you politically. Your staff should know that you expect them to come to you first with any issue.
You have to create the environment where this kind of communication can happen. Make sure you quickly let your new reports know what you expect from them. Start by telling them that you want them to talk to you directly with any issues.
You should also encourage your new reports to talk with people you’ve managed before (if in fact you have). Let them hear about your open, inclusive style. That way they’ll come to you with issues and not gossip about you to others in your organization.
Then you have to genuinely listen without criticizing when you get negative feedback about your management style. That’s going to be hard. Consider the negative feedback a gift. It’s an opportunity to make you a better manager when you hear this tough feedback.
Without that feedback, you will have people talking about you behind your back. That undermines you. It makes you look weak. It corrodes your leadership.
What happens in Vegas needs to stay in Vegas. What happens in your department needs to stay there, too.
Maura Schreier-Fleming is a sales strategist and founder of Best@Selling, a sales training and consulting company. She wrote and works with sales professionals who want to sell more and get more business.
Follow Maura on Twitter @Besatselling.
The post Congratulations — You’re Now a Manager. Here’s What NOT to Do appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post Congratulations — You’re Now a Manager. Here’s What NOT to Do appeared first on AllBusiness.com.