Why Employees Quit Because of Bosses?
Sanjay Goel
Soft Skills, Behavioural and Leadership trainer, Outbound training, DiSC trainer, Coach, Author, NLP and Hypnosis Practitioner, Customised Content Design and Delivery, Learning Consultancy
There are various researches available that points out - more than 50% of employees don’t leave because of non-performance, company or job, they leave because of managers.
It is very easy to pass on the blame on to the managers or supervisors or bosses for organizations (also read HR). However, the same may not be true in all cases.
Most of the employees are promoted from the position of individual performer to the manager’s position. This is natural because organization needs to reward performance. It also motivates others to give their best. An employee already working with the organization, when promoted, they know the organization culture and need, doesn’t need to be trained further and can perform immediately. So no onboarding and induction.
However, this may not be true. Though he is familiar with the culture and expectations, he doesn’t know how to get work done from his subordinates. He was a great individual performer but may not necessarily know how to lead people. This role is completely new for him. The new factory supervisors who always thought their technical competency has got them here, would not know how to deal with his subordinates. ?
Also, most of the time, the focus is on technical training rather than behavioural or leadership training. So, organizations feel they have done their part by imparting technical trainings. Also, because he is a competent technician, it will be easy for him to get work done from people. People will see him at a higher pedestal. Won’t they? Getting work done from others is easier.
What would the new supervisor or a manager do? He would use his past manager’s style. He would learn some with trial and error. I have come across various mindsets when I was working with a manufacturing company as an L&D. Most common is, ‘People don’t want to work and we have to make them work’. Imagine what will happen to a new hire who is highly motivated to work, yet being pushed by his manager. ‘People don’t want to work’ is not just a mindset common in supervisors or managers. There are people at the top who believe people don’t want to work and find ways to make them work.
Some of the thinking prevalent are,
Results are top priority for a leader, and nothing else matters.
Don’t teach your subordinates more than they are supposed to know. Why? They will take your place, like you have taken your manager’s place. Company will also not call you back so when you leave if your subordinates are capable of taking your position. Company after all needs to value your absences. You should be irreplaceable. Management should look for you to extinguish the fire. Some leaders secretly ensure there is always fire somewhere so that they are remembered.
Don’t appreciate them. They will later ask for increment or sit on your head. They will also lower their performance.
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Don’t empower them. You need to constantly watch what they are doing and ensure they do it right.
Take all the credit. Pass all the blame. If you take the blame and pass on the credit, you will be doomed.
They take all these mindsets from their past managers and supervisors, and start working. Such untrained managers not only cause attrition and low morale but also damage the company’s image. Employees go frustrated as they see their organizations not doing anything against the ill treatment meted out to them.
Imagine the plight of the employees working under such managers. I had come across a unit manager who was called because of his technical expertise and was sacked because of the complaints from subordinates, and his non-cooperative behaviour with his colleagues. Worst part was, he was not ready to get trained or coached because he thought he was right and others were wrong. He believed the problem was with the organization and people and not with him.
Would you work for such a manager? No. Would you recommend anyone to work under such a manager? No.
Then obviously, we need to something about it. We need to take them through various learning initiatives, so that they learn various leadership skills. This can be coupled with one to one and group coaching, hand holding them through the journey as a leader.
In one of the e-commerce companies, we had conducted leadership sessions and after one month, asked participants to present the changes they have brought in their behaviours which in turn has impacted the performance and morale of the team. Most of the participants were really happy, learning new mindsets and implementing change that led to increase in employee morale and better relationships with their colleagues and seniors.
They thanked the company for taking such initiatives.
Thank you for reading.?