Status Quo Managers or Leaders?

Does your company have status quo managers or managers who lead?

Perhaps the most important decision a company makes is in regard to those individuals selected to manage. Yet recent Gallup research indicates that companies get it wrong more than 8 out of 10 times.

When you think about it, managers are responsible for implementing the hand-off of leadership strategy for execution within the organization. Is this what your managers are doing in your organization?

Great managers are revenue-driving assets. Status quo managers – bad ones, mediocre ones, even moderately OK ones – are liabilities. How would you rate your selection of managers in your own organization?

You have worked for a few of these liability-type status quo managers, haven’t you? So have I. They suck the lifeblood out of their employees in their quest to protect their own job security and avoid risk and responsibility.

What are the consequences of your management selections on overall employee performance and engagement? You intuitively sense what is happening in your organization, yet have not attempted to measure and correlate the impact of management on employee performance across business units or departments. Perhaps it’s time?

Consider the potential impact of more engaged employees on critical factors for your business such as customer acquisition, satisfaction and retention, productivity and profitability, and a sense of safety and well-being.

Who is hired or promoted to be status quo managers in your own company? Take a good look around your organization.

• Are you promoting individuals to a manager role as a reward for prior success in an un-related or non-management role?
• Are you promoting individuals to a manager role because they have longevity and experience within their field and have established tenure and seniority within your company?

If you run a small to midsize company or a family-owned business, how many folks are managers by default and longevity versus possessing a high level of functionally-appropriate talent as a manager?

Have I just described you? Are you one of many status quo managers in your organization?

Today’s globally competitive business ecosystem is ripe for managers who are leaders like the C-Suite and Executive folks. What would happen to organizational viability if you selected managers based on their ability make solid decisions focused on what is best for the organization?

Rather than being quota- and KPI-focused brow-beaters, these manager leaders would be hired based on their ability to get everyone to the finish line together. Their forte? Creating strong employee engagement based on their understanding and translation of the value and relevance of your organization’s mission and vision.

Manager leaders would, indeed, have strong personalities to drive profitable and productive outcomes for your organization. That means they would challenge the C-Suite from time to time rather than follow implicitly to protect their individual position.

Are your managers trustworthy individuals who are focused on communication, engagement, leadership, productivity and profitability?

Great managers are leaders. They artfully translate the hand-off of strategy from the leadership team for continuous tactical implementation by their business, project management and operations teams.

Great manager leaders understand how to maximize employee strengths. Do you have an organization of managers focused on pointing out employee failures?

In a sense, weak status quo managers who berate and try to fix weaknesses create a perpetual yin-yang tug of war with that employee’s self-image. Their actions perpetuate executive and management status quo.

Think about that for a moment. Great managers aren’t threatened by building their teams into, potentially, individuals of worth who are greater than the managers themselves. Their focus: everyone gets to the finish line together. There is a high level of altruism to what a great manager brings to your business’s table.

The bottom line heavily impacts your company’s bottom line. What is the long-term impact of your current choices in management talent on your organization’s growth, expansion and sustainability?

Something to chew on this week?

Planning your next team, corporate or association meeting? Searching for a one-on-one catalyst to get you unstuck? Engage me to present a One Millimeter Mindset ™ program! Delivered virtually or in-person. Contact me here.

Babette Ten Haken | Change Catalyst | Purpose-Driven Professional Innovation | Cross-Functional Team Leadership | Trust-Based Client Retention | In Person & Virtual Speaker, Consultant, Coach, Author |

Babette Ten Haken is a refreshingly extroverted STEM professional and skeptical thinker focused on intentional innovation. She helps people, teams and organizations make hard calls when designing products, services, careers and cultures. These are not easy conversations to have. Her ability to translate cross-functional conversations between left-brain and right-brain thinkers provides different pathways for behavior, response, insight and collaboration. Think of the strategic business and human capital value of moving beyond avoidance or group-think, together. Instead, let your creativity, critical thinking, and leadership skills co-develop together, one millimeter at a time. Her playbook of cross-functional collaboration, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Contact Babette here.