When
a new boss arrives from outside the organization, whether coming in as chief
executive officer or department head or in some lesser managerial capacity, you
can usually expect to hear statements like:
·
“I’m a participating
manager, I value the employee’s contributions.”
·
“Expect to see a lot of
me out on the floors and in the departments, where the action is.”
·
“Decisions ought to be
made at the lowest possible level in the organization.”
·
“I’m a total quality
management (TQM) person.”
·
And the granddaddy of
them all, “I believe in being available to employees, so my door is always open.”
Doubtless
we can agree that the foregoing few statements embody a number of desirable
aspects of modern management behavior. And the new manager, arriving with the
best of intentions, surely wants to be seen as employee-conscious and
up-to-date with current management thinking. Consider, however, what happens
when:
·
Months pass, but the
manager who claimed to be “participative” has not yet gotten around to securing
employee input or has involved only a few employees.
·
The executive who
spoke proudly of “managing by wandering
around” is apparently consumed by activity and after months on the job has yet
to visit all of the departments.
·
The manager who
expressed a belief in decentralization has retained most decision-making
authority centrally.
·
The TQM proponent does
as many other managers have done, turning all TQM concerns over to subordinates
while continuing to function as before.
·
The stated open-door
policy is contradicted by an attitude that says the manager is to busy for
employees and a schedule such that getting an appointment is next to impossible.
A great many well-meaning
managers trap themselves by the obvious differences between what they say and
what they do. They say the “good” things because they believe they should do
so. These are what we are supposed to believe about modern people-centered
management. Most of the managers who make such noble statements undoubtedly
believe they are saying the right things. Their intentions are commendable.
However, it they really believe what they’re saying, why then the contrary
behavior? This probably occurs for two primary reasons: making the right moves
generally takes more time than doing things the “old” way, and old habits
partly formed by residual authoritarian concepts of management tend to take
over.
Thus the most well-meaning
new manager can, once the inevitable “honeymoon” period has passed, appear
diminished in the eyes of the employees because of behavior that contradicts
the manager’s earlier statements. The new manager who enters the organization
repeating the little homilies and catch-phrases associated with modern
management practice — as some have described it, “talking Management 101” — is
unknowingly creating expectations that will not be completely fulfilled.
You may genuinely believe in
participative management, for example, but there will be times when a situation
demands an authoritarian response. For the most part the employees will not see
the reason why you acted different from how you said you would act. They will
simply see the contradiction between what you said and what you’ve done, and
they will perceive your behavior as failing to meet expectations.
What the incoming manager
says about himself or herself, about personal beliefs, about espoused
management “style,” establishes a base of expectations against which the
employees will judge the manager from the first day forward. When those
expectations are not completely fulfilled — and rarely can they be completely
fulfilled because they are usually expressions of ideals — the employees
perceive the manager as less than expected, perhaps even as less than honest.
This perception may be neither fair nor absolutely correct, but it will be
real. To the perceiver, perception is reality.
Far better to begin a relationship
with a new group of employees by saying as little as possible about one’s own
management style and beliefs. Enough can be said about your background and
experience and about what you will attempt to accomplish in this situation
without having to get into your self-described management style and beliefs.
Employees will forever
continue to form perceptions based on a manager’s behavior regardless of what
they have heard from or about the manager. If you have given your employees
idealized expectations of you, the perceptions they form will include
contradictions and will invariably fall short of expectations. However, you can
avoid setting yourself up for this condition by simply avoiding all attempts to
describe your leadership style to the employees. Regardless of what you say, it
will always be your behavior that governs employee perceptions, and what you
say in advance of your behavior will not help you and can stand to hurt you.
In short, don’t tell
employees what kind of manager you are — show them.