The 4 Broken Management Ideas Driving the Great Resignation

Intro

My last article on leadership (or a lack thereof) was one of my biggest hits last year. The article resonated with people everywhere because I took off the gloves and exposed the lousy manager archetypes with a bit of fun. Readers everywhere had a good laugh identifying these real-life villains who thrive in the world around us and make working with them a living Hell.

The Managers Driving the Great Resignation

Frankly, we must continue talking about bad management, bad leaders, and poorly run organizations as these are the primary drivers of The Great Resignation. Unless we make fundamental changes, we won't solve the real problem. Blaming workers, outside forces, or the grab-bag of standard corporate mumbo-jumbo won't cut it anymore. People are not dumb and put their feet in line with their sentiments.

People are exhausted and burned out after working too hard for too long. We continue to see organizations thrive, the rich get richer, and the workers get shirked. We must make structural changes to work and how workers are treated if we want to continue powering the most powerful economy in the world.

I'm the Boss- Not You

Something twisted happens in the individual's mind when they start to accumulate power; they think they are wiser and know better than those around them.

Whether it's what gets worked on, who will do it, and how it will be done, the people who do the work have very little say. Each year, workers watch the same cycle of misaligned plans come nowhere close to reality, and they die a little bit inside each time.

Workers are routinely not seen as actual stakeholders- they are seen as costs to be reduced and machines to be optimized for peak, unrelenting efficiency.

Those in charge lord power and authority over those under them until people break. Being led to do the wrong things in the wrong way can only happen so many times until something snaps. Without a say in work and without being treated as a person, people have been and will continue to say, "screw it," and leave.

As democracy-loving people are forced into an autocrat's wet dream at work, we have a real devolution of values and beliefs. People should have a say in who leads, who doesn't, and how it is done. Decisions that impact the workforce should be weighed by the workforce.

How to Fix It?

As my previous article pointed out, while some of the bad manager descriptions may seem funny, bad managers are anything but amusing to the people who have to work under and alongside them.

As executives scratch their heads and ponder what is causing employees to run out the door, they must reflect on who they have defining their organization's culture. Organizations must take a hard look at who is leading their people and make hard choices to help their firm wind up on the right side of the labor reshuffle.

Simply put, if your managers are terrible, very little else will help counteract the damage these people do. Put the right people into the right roles and help those in need of development and possibly a transition get the support and feedback they need.

"We Offer Competitive Salary & Benefits"

Compared to who, Stalin?

In our country, a standard professional job still comes with 10-15 days of vacation (if you're privileged), and other benefits vary significantly on things like parental leave. Some companies call all PTO the same thing (yes, caring for a vomiting child and taking a vacation to recharge are bucketed alike).

As people have been beaten down and exhausted by an ongoing plague, they've had to still contend with the challenges of work, and it's not sustainable. We're one of the very few countries without a legal minimum of days off. Even China and Mexico have more legal vacation days than US workers. In Europe, 25-35 days annually is the norm. Get this, Russians, who I took a shot at in the first line, today get 28-52 days of vacation a year.

And here, in the most well-to-do country, workers get scraps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_by_country

So, guess what? People are deciding to take a nice looong vacation and quit. Rebalancing their lives and taking time off to do things they want to do often isn't possible with a full-time job until retirement.

Those who don't want to quit and still want to get paid to do something else quit in place. Productivity plummets, and they relax on the clock. Detecting and fixing this situation is challenging.

The pandemic challenges have led to high levels of burnout and professional frustration. Many employees took on extra work as their teams were downsized; others felt their careers were stalled as opportunities for training and advancement dried up and scheduled promotions and raises were delayed.

These stresses gave many employees a new perspective on their jobs, culture, and management teams and forced them to reevaluate their professional priorities. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many have decided to search for more fulfilling and supportive jobs.

How to Fix It?

15, 20, 25+ vacation days should be the minimum, and it should be the law. People need time to take care of their life outside of work and require flexibility and understanding. People need time to take care of their families, have and raise kids, and destress. To do this, people need to disconnect to reconnect with work.

A great benefits package is a significant advantage for companies who want to attract exceptional talent in the post-COVID hiring surge. An excellent benefits package can tip the scales in your company's favor, even if you don't offer the highest salary.

It's not just about salary, either. In addition to the basics like health insurance, employees are looking for flexible hours, work-from-home options, paid time off, and paid family leave, according to?a recent survey ?of more than 2,000 employees.

If I Can't See Them, They're Not Working

If a worker gets their job done and no one watches them, do they make an impact? Sort of like the time-old question of "If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound," but with a modern twist.

The broad consensus is still no, to both, however.

The thinking goes that unless managers know what workers do when they're doing it and how they're doing it, this can only mean that shirking occurs. Workers are not trusted to act and behave like adults, but instead unruly children. Managers like to feel important and that they matter, so what better way to drive the point home than keep tabs and control others?

The pandemic gave many workers a chance to experience their professional lives in a different environment—at home. Without long commutes and strict schedules boxing out their weeks, employees began to prioritize other things in life: spending more time with family, taking up new hobbies, and focusing on personal well-being, for instance.

As pandemic restrictions lift, many companies are?demanding that employees return ?to the office full-time, with no options for flexibility. These hardline policies simply don't fit many employees' new expectations, prompting them to search for roles that do.

Work has changed.

People are hired to do a job that adds value to an organization. So long as that job is done, done well, and done on time, does it matter when, where, and how the work was done?

It shouldn't, but it does in the minds of bad managers. Insecure, threatened and feeling a loss of control, they want to pull workers back to "how it used to be" for no reason other than ego-boosting.

How to Fix It?

Flexibility is the new norm- Learn to love it. Organizations realize now they can pull from a more diverse and skilled talent pool not previously accessible. And, big surprise, organizations find these workers can do great work without someone watching them or being inside an office.

If you want any chance of keeping and attracting talent, you must get used to at least a hybrid workforce. Bring in managers who understand the benefits of remote work, trust people, and know-how to unlock the hidden potential of happy and engaged workers.

Workers have no patience for commuting and doing exactly the same thing they could do from the comfort of their home office.

Short-Term Thinking For Long-Term Problems

Workers are tired of building the altar to the almighty dollar and shareholder returns.

Each year, no, each quarter, workers watch as organizations take shortcuts to appease one stakeholder group in the short term to the determinant of long-term initiatives that matter.

Organizations play financial shenanigans to chase a stock price rather than focus on building organizations that support our environment, people, culture, and families. Workers don't want to support organizations that continuously chase Wall Street stock price targets that require investment spending to be deferred, workers laid off, executive bonuses issued, and workforce development indefinitely suspended. Workers want to support organizations that do the right things for the right reasons and treat all with respect. They want long-term thinking and a partnership with their employers, not short-term gamesmanship.

As we look back at the aftermath of the 20th century, we are still reeling from the damage of taking shortcuts. We've watched corporations pour toxic waste into our groundwater and poison our food supplies. Entire communities have become inhabitable. How can we expect workers to want to show up and do an excellent job while the world around them burns?

How to Fix It?

Organizations must become deadly serious about understanding who their stakeholders are and striving to meet the needs of each.

Workers, the community, and the environment all come before investors. Or they should, at least. Workers are fed up with supporting organizations that consistently do the wrong things for the wrong reasons.

Customer attitudes are shifting, as well. For example, 3,979 companies across 150 industries in 74 countries have become Certified B Corps globally. This is driven by popular support. Today, Sixty-one percent of people think buying from socially responsible companies is essential.

The growth and appeal of Certified Benefit Corporations – or B Corps – have moved from the sidelines to a real, profitable movement in business. The purpose of a corporation has shifted from primary service to shareholders to a commitment to multiple stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and shareholders).

B Corps must prove their:

·??????Purpose: They create a positive impact on society and the environment in addition to profit.

·??????Accountability: They have a fiduciary duty to consider the impact of their decisions on all stakeholders.

·??????Transparency: They periodically prepare a public report using an independent, credible, and comprehensive standard.

Whether you become a B corp or not, the above principles are universal to humankind and workers everywhere. Investors, customers, and potential employees are paying attention and redirecting their attention and resources toward companies with a holistic, accountable, and transparent strategy to benefit multiple stakeholders.

Conclusion

Broken management ideologies and bad managers drive the Great Resignation. If we want to stop the hemorrhaging of talent, we must have honest and frank discussions among ourselves and with our workers.

Workers will not support organizations where lopsided power dynamics, subhuman benefits/wages, limited work flexibility options, and short-term thinking. We must fix these challenges by rethinking what work is and how it will be done with a long-term sustainable lens.?