The Manager's Contribution to the Actively Disengaged Worker

To be effective in what one does, I learned a long time ago that one must base decisions and strategies on data.  One source of data are surveys.  David Lorenzo, a partner in the Gallup Organization, discussed one survey in his blog that is extremely relevant for those involved in the management of any organization.

“At Gallup, we have done some research that shows that 16% of the US Working Population is Actively Disengaged.  This means that on average, 16% of the people in your company are actively working to destroy the culture you are trying to create.  Another 55% are stuck in neutral (not engaged).  They are waiting for someone to give them a push.  Finally, 29% are really into what they are doing (Engaged). “

I believe this to be an accurate statement, as I’ve seen these three groups of workers in every organization in which I’ve worked.  So how do we deal with the actively disengaged worker?

Before looking at the worker, David states that the research also shows, however, that another major factor in employee engagement level is the workgroup manager.  He advises that, before we go after the slackers in our organizations, we need to look inward at our leadership practices.

Ferdinand F. Fournies, in his book, Why Employees Don’t Do What They’re Supposed To Do and What To Do About It, agrees.  The book lists the reasons why employees don’t perform as expected.  Each reason is discussed with action recommendations for the manager.  After a few chapters, a theme begins to emerge as each recommended action deals with the manager changing the way work is assigned to subordinates.  In short, employees don’t  do what they should because of poor management.

I agree.  As a manager, it is my job to make sure that my employees are able to do a job that warrants a good evaluation.  If they struggle with this, I first look at my management of that employee before looking at him/her.

I’m ahead of the game, since I know that management practices can degrade employee performance and create a negative climate that fosters the actively disengaged worker.  I’m also confident enough in my managerial and leadership skills that I’m not afraid to look within myself before looking at the employee. 

Some managers, however, are unable to seek, within themselves, their possible leadership and mangerial practices that may be contributing to negative employee performance.  They go straight to the employee as the source of the problem, oblivious to their contribution to the problem. 

If you are an employee, use the comment section below to share what your manager does that negatively affects you, your co-workers, or the workplace climate.

Those of you who are managers, read the list carefully.  If you are comfortable enough, you can add as well.

I’ll start the list off:

• Playing “Gotcha” with evaluations – Allowing employee mistakes to accumulate with no feedback given.  Then, during annual evaluations, dredging all of the mistakes up and documenting them on the evaluation, allowing the employee no chance for improvement.
• Not being honest with employees – Telling them what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.
• Not providing an avenue for employee input in the organization, department, office, etc.
• Not sharing the credit when things go right.
• Not taking responsibility – Deflecting the blame to others when things “go South”.
• Not providing support or training when needed.
• Not giving clear instructions and blaming the employee when results are less than expected.
• Delegating the responsibility for accomplishing a task, but not providing the requisite authority to get it done.
• Not providing feedback in a timely fashion to allow revisions or corrective measures that could be taken before the project due date.

Sources

• David V. Lorenzo: Employee Engagement is Local
• The Gallup Organization

Additional Reading

Comments

[Boofus McGoofus]

To your list I would add:

Disparaging employees to people outside the workgroup (and even worse, letting the employees find out about it).

Creating a climate where discussing problems is perceived as "whining."

Failing to follow through on employee requests (that doesn't mean saying yes -- it just means getting a firm answer).

Bitching out employees in front of their peers.

[anon]

Values conflict. If you work for a defense contractor and you disagree with the goal of the project you're tasked with, you're sometimes stuck. If you speak up, you risk the manager's disapproval. If you do a good job, you're betraying your values. If you do a bad job, you also betray your values.

(And by "you," I mean "me," of course.)

[anon2]

"employees don’t do what they should because of poor management."

I wholeheartedly agree with that statement!

Most of the time it's not the employee that's the problem, it's the manager or the management style. Treating highly-skilled technical people as admin staff, not bothering to even send or say 'Thank you' when you provide them with information helps them with their job, delegating tasks that are really their responsibillity but they just don't feel like doing it or are 'too busy', not smiling or being friendly with you because you are 'beneath them on the corporate ladder', expecting you to perform miracles without any resources or direction or help, etc. And that was just last week.

Sending these types of managers to Management 101 classes would help some people, but often it's a person's personality that causes problems. Managers usually know what they should do, but they don't do it either.

[NOTE: Name and identifying information has been purged to preserve the author's privacy.]

[Bert]

LOL!

Yep, I love the false emails and names! I UNDERSTAND!!!!!!

Boofus - Thanks for the contribution!

anon - I agree that there will be times when ethics issues make our jobs extremely difficult. These are not easy to deal with.

[Bert]

Anon2 - I changed your name and identifying info. I felt it was like Jay Leno saying, "Tell me about your boss, it's just between you and me." All the while, millions of people are listening on television. I did it just in case you posted before you thought.

NOTE TO ALL OTHERS - Please feel free to use anonymous info!!

Now to your comment - The good news is that most managers don't maliciously use counter-productive management styles. There is a whole other post that could be written about the parameters within which managers must accomplish tasks. These constraints, which include low budget, lack of time, lack of resources, lack of authority, and an inflated outcome requirement, all come from the level above him/her. These often influence how a manager leads the staff. Other reasons include degree of training, culture of the organization, and apathy. No matter what the reason, a good manager should be looking at the results they are getting (not just project outcomes) and making adjustments. I allow my staff to evaluate my performance each year and use the data from the surveys to help me improve how I work with them.

I agree that a good manager should look after his/her staff and should avoid the negative practices. Your people are your most important resource. With properly trained, motivated and empowered people, managers could get fantastic results and still have a happy and loyal staff.

The highest compliment I've ever heard paid to a manager was an employee, who said, "I would do anything that man asked me to do -- just because I respect him so much." The amazing thing was this comment came from the custodian. This manager treated ALL employees with respect. I learned so much from him.

[Funky McWinkerbean]

Entreprenuers can be the worst managers because they are trying to do everything. That colors my additions to this list:

1. Manage everyone in your organization as if they are a top-notch male engineer. The sort of gotcha-testosterone-laced needling that apparently works with a small subset of hot-shot engineers is not the best way to manage female accountants and admin staff. Daring, challenging, confronting on every single issue is tiresome, counterproductive and unpleasant. Especially when we are talking about things like "Do you have the receipts from your trip last week" or "Have you made the bank transfer to cover payroll yet?"

2. Assume that you do not have to smile or be pleasant to your subordinates.

3. Ignore emails that address more than one issue.

3a. Ignore emails that ask an either-or question, claiming that this addresses more than one issue. (An engineer for whom binary is too complex???)

4. Write two-word, "thank you" emails when things are done properly, and long eloquent "teaching moment" emails when something is handled differently from the way you would have done it.

5. Force your employee to create elaborate spreadsheet reports because the standard output from your accounting program doesn't present the information in a way that makes sense to you. Then berate the same employee for spending too much time preparing said reports. Belittle him/her for not being able to "streamline the process."

6. When someone is falling behind, abruptly schedule a meeting late in the day to discuss why.

7. Refuse to prioritize the tasks you assign, so that you can criticize the employee regardless of which ones get done.

8. Join a cult that believes that rewards are counterproductive and everyone should work for the sheer joy of it. Discontinue incentive programs and increase costs of health insurance programs. Apply this bonehead theory (and $3,000+ insurance increases) equally to the $90,000+ engineers and the clerical staff. Dare anyone who doesn't like it to leave, reminding them that anyone wants more money for doing their job is a lily-livered socialist sycophant who has just proved that they don't deserve to work there.

9. Offer an exciting additional job duty to your accountant, promising to hire a clerical person to free up time for the accountant to do it. When she falls for it, take six months to actually hire the clerical person, then fire the accountant three weeks later for poor job performance. Congratulations, you've saved $10,000!

[Hob]

1) Hire said $90K technical expert and then act like they mocked your penis size every time they exert expertise.

2) Assume that the most direct way is always the best way. Also, assume that any attempt by any employee to do anything any other way is an attempt to sabotage the company.

3) Assume that if you don't know, it must be unknowable. Or unnecessary. Or an attempt to sabotage the company.

4) Let an employee talk you into letting them go half-time because they're being driven insane by being in the same office with you, fail to give them any work because you don't trust part-time people, then fire them for not doing any work.

5) Promote the most wildly unpopular project manager to director. Fire anybody who ain't happy.

[Funky McWinkerbean]

Hob, do we know each other? ;-)

[Monika]

I have just told my unavailable manager to fire me. I didn't want to quit because I haven't been there long but didn't want to pay for the drug test fee. They make you pay if you leave before a certain date.
I was poorly trained and left on my own till 4 am to serve people in a smoke shop. A little job yes but good for me to get back into the work force.( Woman returning here).
I was constantly picked on for everything I did wrong, or said wrong by her assistan manager whom she said was her eyes and ears and everything she said was law.
I was totaly demolished into a pile of tears because I spent two weeks of constant harrassment and beratement trying to figure out what OFFICE CASUAL attire ment, and I hired a professional clothier and spent my first two paychecks to help me understand what was best to buy and to stop the constant beratement.
I was never allowed to make any decisions on requests that were outside of the manual, like selling a man a box of cigars that had four missing so he added some different ones, I had to sell them as individuals and when I told the assitant manager she blamed me for not also charging for the box! But we usually sell whole boxes for less than I charged the customer for his purchase.
I never saw my manager EVER, ONLY the assistand manager ( who used to be the accountant). She found fault every weekend I worked on something I did. I was getting very frustrated to the point of anger and resentment. The constant needling was tearing me apart.My stomach was in knots and my back hurt and 11 hour days on weekends were wearing me down.
The assistant manager was my only interface with management, and she constantly would correct and berate me in the shop in front the of the customers and the manager thought that was just fine, belittle your employee in front the the customers or rather wait till they have a lull and tear into the employee who is torn between do I talk to you or the customers now?
I finally get a call in to the managers office, (whom I hadn't seen in two months) and was blamed for everything I did wrong, blamed for someone abrubptly quitting that I had met only 2 days on the job, and that employee was retiring and just didn't want to finish her last weekend. Blamed for being frustrated and hostile, by then I was totally over the side and didn't really care anymore what they complained about since they seemed to make me the scape goat for all their problems. I finally said fire me for whatever reason you think, poor performance I don't care anymore. I liked my job, I liked my customers, I told her I didn't respect her and she didn't care what I thought of her. Could care less.

A manager that doesn't care that all the other employees are cringing in fear of losing their jobs that they won't do anything to contradict her and kiss her butt constantly? A manager that doesn't care what her employees think of her, that work in constant fear of another nasty note from the all powerful assistant manager who constantly told me that the manager would "fire people for what you did". I asked the manager was this my job or not?

What is it with bullying and fear based negative management? Do they think they will get happy top performers when everyone is afraid of another nasty note and chalk mark on the proverbial blackboard and just waiting to get fired for something? When I finally caught the assistant manager in a flat out lie about me, tattling like a little school girl and I'm gonna tell, it just tore it for me.

It this how management is in today's America? Someone who tried to do her best but became so disenchanted that she wouldn't stoop to kissing butt? I had asked for more training, was trying to see if I could make some decisions for customers at 3 am without wondering is this gonna get me fired? Of course I couldn't call the managers and wake them from their toasty beds at that time in the morning.

Very disgusted and it this common?