The real reason talented people leave
great jobs? Usually, it's the boss.
Managers can make or break a workplace
experience — both with their behaviour
and what they say aloud. Of course, the
things they don't do are equally
problematic, such as not providing
training and not tapping the most-
qualified person for a promotion.
Several LinkedIn Influencers weighed
in on these topics this week. Here is what
two of them had to say:
Brian de Haaff, chief executive
officer at Aha!
The way a boss communicates with his or
her team is crucial. While "effective
communication is definitely a two-way
street… the bar should actually be set
higher for managers and other leaders,
who should recognise their responsibility
to model appropriate conduct in the
workplace," wrote de Haaff in his post
Managers and leaders should set a
positive example by thinking before
speaking and choosing their words
wisely, he wrote, offering three things a
smart boss should never say.
"Guess what I heard? Sometimes it
can be lonely at the top, and managers
may trade gossip with their co-workers
because they want to be buddies.
However, there is no room for gossip in
the workplace even if it builds
camaraderie," de Haaff wrote. "Rumour-
mongering tears down the trust that you
are trying to establish with your team
and shows an overall lack of maturity."
"What's up with Adam? There may
be rare times when a manager may seek
information about an employee out of
genuine concern for the person's
welfare… but when you fish for
information to satisfy your own personal
curiosity, you put the person's co-
workers in the awkward position of
breaking a confidence. This kind of
behaviour demonstrates weak
leadership," wrote de Haaff.
"I don't want to hear it! When you say
this phrase, you close your mind to the
possibility that you might actually be
wrong and the other person may be
right," he wrote. "This gut-level reaction
to bad news shuts down all
communication and sends a clear
message that you are unapproachable and inflexible."
Michelle M Smith, vice president of
marketing at OC Tanner
"What could be more essential to
organisational success and the corporate
bottom line than talent?" asks Smith in
her post How to Lose Your Best
Employees in 10 Easy Steps. "Yet
many people… continue to be
marginalised and neglected."
"No corporate function today lags behind
as dramatically as how we manage the
employees for which we are responsible,"
Smith wrote, pointing to research by a
business school professor.
If companies want to lose their best
people, they'll keep doing these 10 things
that drive the brightest and most high-
potential people away, she wrote. Among
them:
"Put jerks into management. Reward
the old-fashioned, autocratic style that
stifles unorthodox, creative thinking and
feels threatened by fresh ideas, energy
and dynamism," Smith wrote.
"Measure hours, not results. Keep an
expensive cadre of stern enforcers busy
with policing everybody," she wrote.
"Don't trust your talent to use their time
wisely. Crack down on social media.
Forbid personal activities during the
workday, even as you continue to expect
work to be conducted over the weekend
as well."
"Don't bother with training. Instead,
have your workers do the same tasks
over and over in the very same way," she
wrote.
"Bungle the teams. Avoid mixing
generations and skill sets, instead
grouping like with like and producing
stale and predictable solutions that are
safe and excite no one," Smith wrote.
www.josiahdele.blogspot.com
great jobs? Usually, it's the boss.
Managers can make or break a workplace
experience — both with their behaviour
and what they say aloud. Of course, the
things they don't do are equally
problematic, such as not providing
training and not tapping the most-
qualified person for a promotion.
Several LinkedIn Influencers weighed
in on these topics this week. Here is what
two of them had to say:
Brian de Haaff, chief executive
officer at Aha!
The way a boss communicates with his or
her team is crucial. While "effective
communication is definitely a two-way
street… the bar should actually be set
higher for managers and other leaders,
who should recognise their responsibility
to model appropriate conduct in the
workplace," wrote de Haaff in his post
Managers and leaders should set a
positive example by thinking before
speaking and choosing their words
wisely, he wrote, offering three things a
smart boss should never say.
"Guess what I heard? Sometimes it
can be lonely at the top, and managers
may trade gossip with their co-workers
because they want to be buddies.
However, there is no room for gossip in
the workplace even if it builds
camaraderie," de Haaff wrote. "Rumour-
mongering tears down the trust that you
are trying to establish with your team
and shows an overall lack of maturity."
"What's up with Adam? There may
be rare times when a manager may seek
information about an employee out of
genuine concern for the person's
welfare… but when you fish for
information to satisfy your own personal
curiosity, you put the person's co-
workers in the awkward position of
breaking a confidence. This kind of
behaviour demonstrates weak
leadership," wrote de Haaff.
"I don't want to hear it! When you say
this phrase, you close your mind to the
possibility that you might actually be
wrong and the other person may be
right," he wrote. "This gut-level reaction
to bad news shuts down all
communication and sends a clear
message that you are unapproachable and inflexible."
Michelle M Smith, vice president of
marketing at OC Tanner
"What could be more essential to
organisational success and the corporate
bottom line than talent?" asks Smith in
her post How to Lose Your Best
Employees in 10 Easy Steps. "Yet
many people… continue to be
marginalised and neglected."
"No corporate function today lags behind
as dramatically as how we manage the
employees for which we are responsible,"
Smith wrote, pointing to research by a
business school professor.
If companies want to lose their best
people, they'll keep doing these 10 things
that drive the brightest and most high-
potential people away, she wrote. Among
them:
"Put jerks into management. Reward
the old-fashioned, autocratic style that
stifles unorthodox, creative thinking and
feels threatened by fresh ideas, energy
and dynamism," Smith wrote.
"Measure hours, not results. Keep an
expensive cadre of stern enforcers busy
with policing everybody," she wrote.
"Don't trust your talent to use their time
wisely. Crack down on social media.
Forbid personal activities during the
workday, even as you continue to expect
work to be conducted over the weekend
as well."
"Don't bother with training. Instead,
have your workers do the same tasks
over and over in the very same way," she
wrote.
"Bungle the teams. Avoid mixing
generations and skill sets, instead
grouping like with like and producing
stale and predictable solutions that are
safe and excite no one," Smith wrote.
www.josiahdele.blogspot.com
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