Don’t Lose Yourself to Poor Management!

January 15, 2008 · Filed Under Odds and Ends 

The last time I checked, people made businesses successful. NOT processes, politics, personal agendas or inflated egos. A good friend of mine told me yesterday, with his tongue firmly planted in cheek, that “all the best business decisions are made knee-jerk, out of spite”.

FTW.

One thing I’ve disliked in larger companies is that praise is almost always frowned upon, and personal competition is high. There’s this uncanny belief that by whipping your employees to a pulp, you’ll get the most from them. To quote Peter Gibbons, “…that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.”

Not because we’re (all) bad people — but because it’s really a factor of motivation for everyone involved. Bosses are motivated to prove their ability to manage and delegate. Production staff is trying to work harder, faster, stronger — all for the sake of moving up to a management role.

99% of Americans (who have jobs) are working for the paycheck. They need the money. The economy is shit and unless you’re a fantastic financial planner, you’ve got to put in the time to take home the dime. There are others who genuinely love what they do, who they work for and firmly believe that their professional role is exactly what they should be doing in life. In the event that I’m speaking on the record, I am not one of those people.

If you’re like me, realizing you need to be employed, you’re likely to at least try to make the most of things. This week I’ve been reminded though of the consequences that come with that train of thought. You get sucked into genuinely caring about people, projects, clients and colleagues — only to realize that no one is watching out for you. Worse still, blame travels quickly downwards, but never upstream.

In my career I’ve had bosses who were jealous. Others who were scared. Others still, simply ignorant to search marketing and the importance that it has on their business. In the mix, there have also been great bosses who truly know how to motivate and tap my inner keg of kick ass producitivty.

Strangely, I’ve enjoyed working for all of my former bosses at one point or another. In most cases though, my eagerness to push forward is stifled by micromanagement and office politics… Two enormous pet peeves. They quickly extinguish that flame that drives me, and burnt out, I seek something better — and move on.

Speaking again on the record — that’s not where I’m at right now. But I feel like I’m seeing it happen to others. When you genuinely care about the people you work with, you want to see them taken care of. You almost assume a patriarchal role and go to bat for them so you can keep working with them.

In my case, I have no business doing so — so this is as close as I’ll get to making a difference. At the core of most boss and staff issues though is a lack of trust and eagerness to always be the smartest and most productive.

Lisa Barone’s offering of Tuesday’s Search Headlines today had an excellent quote that reinforces this argument wonderfully:

Unless your working in a noncreative industry, hiring “worker bees” isn’t going to help your company grow, neither is hiring smart people and then smothering them by constantly looking over their shoulder. If you want to see your company mature and meet its goals, hire smart people with different skill sets to do different jobs and then get out of their way.

In a world where Outlook calendars are overpopulated with meetings, conference calls and “strategy sessions”… just how much room are you given to run things the way you want to?

When the company you work for is larger than the office you work in — beware. I’m willing to bet, without them admitting as such, that your boss is out there doing it all for themselves. We live in a self-centered society, and businesses prosper from that ideal.

Your boss is out there micromanaging you. They’re stealing credit for your success. They’re stealing your ideas, and sending them upwards to their boss. And through all this, they’re killing your morale. In some cases, you could have a saint of a boss… But her boss could be a complete drone, throwing you all under the bus.

If you’re in a situation where you’re feeling unappreciated, sit tight and tay true to who you are. You’ll snap at some point though, I guarantee it. Sometimes you’ll mentally snap. You’ll cash it in and just flow with things until the next opportunity comes along. Other days, you’ll just develop a phantom sickness, call out, and end up playing golf or sacked out on your sofa watching cartoons all day.

At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself just how valuable you are to your employer. If you’re not 100% sold on your security, keep an ear to the ground. There’s great opportunities out there, and you will find a place where you’re both appreciated and comfortable. Hopefully that happens sooner than later, and hopefully you get some great things accomplished along the way.

Just don’t lose track of yourself on the way there.

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2 Responses to “Don’t Lose Yourself to Poor Management!”

  1. Brandy on January 24th, 2008 12:21 pm

    Wow!!!! Just wow!!! That was like looking in a mirror! My sister is going through some of the samethings. I think that if upper management wanted to they could stop the madness. Unfortunately most of upper management is cut from the same cloth as the other culprits.

    I have a masters degree but I am now working a part time low paying job. It is all because I won’t do anything to get along and I value my piece of mind. I will find something better or go back to school.

  2. Work Ethic, Effort and Employees; Inspired by Barry Schwartz | Eric Lander's Blog on April 3rd, 2008 10:33 pm

    [...] gone off before on various rants regarding team etiquette and the costs of poor management in the workplace. While I feel that these things are paramount to optimal results and productivity, [...]

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