Are your managers hurting engagement? Certainly not! Impossible you say! Let’s take a closer look.  Sometimes small actions and steps taken by managers that seem innocuous and part of your role/responsibility as a manger can cause disengagement!!

In Gordon Tredgold’s article “3 Mistakes That Kill Employee Engagement” he outlines three mistakes that managers make that can have significant and negative impact on engagement levels!

  • Micromanagement
  • Taking credit for an employee’s idea
  • Blaming employees or being critical of their mistakes

This can happen easy enough and managers need to be aware and conscious of these potential mistakes.

  • What seems like regular follow up with employees on important projects could be considered micromanagement if this becomes too frequent and the employee is not allowed any input into how the work will be done as you are guiding them with complete direction on what needs to be done and how.
  • Managers need to ensure that they praise employees for the work, ideas and achievements they have delivered. It can be easy to forget about it or say that the team was responsible (and not the individual if it was his/her idea) or even accept the thanks and appreciation from a superior without a comment. Give praise to the individual and team as appropriate (in public, privately, to superiors) and even take time to celebrate accomplishments.
  • Everyone makes them. Managers need to be tolerant of mistakes and accept them as learning experiences. They cannot be critical of performance and instead need to explain the issue and error, so the employee understands and can learn and grow in an environment that is not critical or where they feel inadequate and have not been given a fair chance to improve and correct work that has not meeting expectations. Sometimes this can require training or coaching to help them improve.

Could your managers use support to help learn the correct skills and processes to avoid micromanagement, blame for mistakes or how to appreciate and recognize employee’s achievement? Contact us to discuss how we can help your managers succeed!

Light a Fire Inside Employees Instead of Trying to Light a Fire Underneath Them!