Exploring the Hoarder boss

In this newsletter we explore the bad boss type that we call the Hoarder, described as someone who withholds and keeps information to themself, or shares it in ways that don't fully meet the needs of their people. According to our research, 74% of people have had a Hoarder boss, showing that many of us get it wrong in this important area.

Are you this kind of boss (or any of the other 9 types of bad bosses)? If you’d like to know, you can take the free and confidential assessment test which you can find on our website.?

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As we say throughout our book, for many of us it is not intentional when we take on the traits of this and the other nine bad boss traits. One reason it happens is because we are not aware of the consequences. For the Hoarder, here are just three of the impacts of these actions:

1. Business-as-usual comes to a crawl

As I’m sure you know, speed is critical in the business world. It can be the difference between a company succeeding and failing. As bosses, we need to do everything we can to enable speed, removing barriers and hurdles so that our people (and business) have a clear path to the “finish line.”

But if you hoard information, you negatively impact this all-important speed. It slows you down because your people will need to come to you to obtain or clarify information, which sucks up your valuable time. What’s more, it will slow your people down, too, as without the proper information, they will run into continuous hurdles that they don’t understand how to overcome. Had they received the right information in the first place, they could have done their jobs faster and worked smarter, not harder.

2. Efficiency is derailed

Let’s say you get away with being slower, that your business isn’t bothered when it takes slightly longer as long as you get over the “finish line.” Can you say the same when it comes to being less effective and efficient? Will your business accept mediocre results, ones that don’t meet the needs of your clients, customers, and shareholders?

If you hoard information, you impact the effectiveness of your people as you’re setting your people up to be less efficient. And, importantly, this is not their fault! Because they don’t have the information they need to do their job, they can make mistakes (because they’re forced to make assumptions, which often are the wrong ones), do unnecessary work (because they’re not getting the direction they need), and/or get frustrated, demotivated and disengaged (which can impact their overall performance).

3. Negatively impacts how your people feel

If you were running a race, let’s say it’s a marathon, and throughout the race, you receive no information, nothing telling you where you are and how much longer you have to finish the race. How would this make you feel? If it was me, I’d feel frustrated and demotivated, almost to the point of giving up.

As a hoarder, your inactions directly impact how your people feel. And why not? Put yourself in their shoes, with a boss who is withholding information, or sharing it in a way that doesn’t help your day-to-day. You’d feel frustrated, right? Wouldn’t you feel like you weren’t trusted? Wouldn’t you feel disengaged and demotivated? Now you’re getting it: The answer to all of these questions is a resounding yes!

Solutions

What can you do about it if you have some of the traits of a Hoarder? The starting point is to focus on the Communication building block from our Great Boss Building Block model. Here are just four of the tips from this section of the book that you may find helpful:?

1. Communicate continuously

The key to being a great communicator is understanding that once is never enough. Don’t fall into the assumption trap, assuming your people already know things. Assume the worst and over-communicate, letting them decide when or if they should ignore something.

For example, let’s take something simple like letting your team know that your company has decided employees can leave on Fridays at noon during the summer. You may first tell them this during your weekly team call, but since not everyone attended and there was lots of information shared, you could then follow it up with an email. You might then send an email or a team message via Slack, Teams, etc., listing out dates at the start of the first week this takes effect. Then you may want to do the same week before it ends so that no one gets it wrong.

Now this may seem like a lot of work, a bit of a slog repeating yourself over and over again, but doing it this way can help prevent misunderstandings and make sure everyone is on the same page to set them up for success. Think of it like a puzzle; if you aren’t given all of the pieces of the puzzle, you’ll never finish it, and you’ll never see the final image. The same is true with communication, for if your people don’t receive information continuously they’ll never be able to “complete the puzzle,” not having all of the “pieces” of information they need to do their job well.

2. Stop hiding behind the curtain

Communicating the how is just as important as the when. As a boss, you must get out from behind the curtain and communicate with your people in an open, honest, and transparent way. Without this, you risk your people not fully understanding and/or buying into the information, creating mistrust and disengagement and fueling fear and uncertainty. From my experience, this can be just as detrimental as not sharing the information in the first place!

Your people deserve to hear the truth. If you withhold it, they'll create their own version of the truth, which is often worse than the actual truth!

Four things we cover in the book that help with this are: defaulting to transparency, not dressing up the truth, sharing and explaining the why, making room for questions and dissent.

3. Communicate with empathy

Another aspect of communication is the way you communicate, e.g., the tone, words, and approach you use. This is critical to keep in mind, for even if you communicate in the most transparent way, without empathy or compassion for the situation, it will fall flat and not meet your objectives.

Empathetic communication is delivering information in a way that understands and addresses the feelings and needs of the recipient.

If done well, it’s a win-win, with you being able to effectively “throw” the message to the recipient, and them being able to “catch” it as they’re in the right space and frame of mind to do so. At its core, communicating with empathy is putting yourself in the shoes of the recipient. Sometimes it’s easy, as you may have been in their situation before, but if you haven’t, this can be challenging. Regardless, it’s critical to gain this perspective and understanding and then use this to deliver information in an empathetic way based on what’s right for them.?

4. Don’t assume they understand

The final thing to consider and to close out your communication loop is the concept of checking for understanding. Time and time again, I’ve seen bosses communicate with their people and just walk away, assuming their job is done. Well, it ain’t! The loop is not closed until you are absolutely sure that your people understand the intent and meaning of your communication. Remember that we all interpret things differently, so what goes in (what you say) is not always what goes out (what your people understand).?

To make this point, when I run workshops, I play a popular childhood game, in some countries called “Telephone,” or “Whisper Down the Lane.” The way it works is that I break the group out into smaller groups and then, one by one, whisper the same message into the ear of the first person in each group. They then whisper the message from one person to another until the final person shares back to everyone what has been said. The results are quite amusing as the message typically gets changed a lot throughout the process. Point made, and hopefully, these bosses keep this in mind next time they communicate with their people!

We hope you’ve found this helpful for yourself and others you may know who have some of the traits of the Hoarder.

Learn more

If you want to learn more about the Hoarder, and other things related to the 10 types of bad bosses and the Great Boss Building Block? model, please go to our website. You can also check out the blogs we’ve written on a variety of topics relating to being a great boss.

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