What School of Management are you from?

"Should I be looking for a new job?" I once asked a manager prompted partly by conversations and comments that had been passed to me in the previous weeks.

He looked down at his hands clasped on the table in front of him for 15 seconds before lifting his gaze and saying, "I come from the (insert large multi-national company) school of management where my sole aim was to represent them, so it's difficult for me to have a completely honest conversation with someone who reports to me."

He went on to tell me that I was very well respected and that I definitely shouldn't be looking around but that there was a senior person in the hierarchy who thought I should be more dynamic and rush around a bit more.   My response to that was that in an earlier life I was psychologically profiled as suitable to become a police hostage negotiator precisely because I didn't rush around, that my display of calm demeanour and common sense approach to problem solving was the antithesis of a person who ranted and raved or spoke loudly to get a point across.

It also made me reflect on the management training I had in the police force where honesty with your team was imperative in building trust and in being able to operate effectively.  Maybe that's the difference between needing to manage for a multi national and managing in potential life and death situations. Or maybe it just shows that we need to continually update our management style to reflect the times and new best practice. For me though, if there are perception problems up the tree of people who work with me below the tree, then it's really important to address those as early as possible.

Perception is sometimes a long way from reality. Good people can be unfairly labelled because they either don't necessarily present the picture expected of them or squeaky wheels colour the opinions of others. If you manage others then make sure you address those issues early, otherwise good people leave.