Have you ever wondered what makes a manager or supervisor the most effective? I believe the quality of relationships will make the biggest difference in a leader’s success. Yet, what I have found, through coaching my clients and their teams, is that most managers receive little guidance when it comes to building and maintaining healthy relationships in the workplace.
Understanding that when you build good relationships everything thing else becomes easier as a manager or supervisor. Feedback is better received, delegation of tasks becomes more accepted and employees find it easier to cope with challenging situations. When I meet with employees who tell me that they have a good relationship with their supervisor they tell me they are healthier and happier in the work place. They also tell me that because of their good relationship they want to perform better, put in more effort, be creative and want to stay longer.
I often find in my evaluations of teams and businesses, that there are often three types of relationships between leaders and front line staff in the workplace. Which type do you as a leader or does your manager display in your workplace?
One is the manager who wants to be everybody’s friend by seeking approval in order to validate themselves. In other words, the manager or supervisor wants to be everybody’s “Buddy”. On one hand this might seem okay but this type of relationship goes wrong particularly when trying to deal with conflict and confrontation in the workplace. Managers will usually shy away from giving feedback or give in too easily to demands which can lead to the lack of accountability and control.
Second is the manager who doesn’t really care what others think so long as the job gets done. They are typically labeled the “Boss” interested in the delivering the bottom line at the expense of everything else. They have no interest in building healthy relationships with workers, thus the result is usually less loyal, happy employees who probably won’t give it their all.
Third is the manager who only cares about relationships when it’s helps them get what they want. I find these managers to be very manipulative, selfish and often take advantage of people. I call them the “Me Only” type. One day they appear to be everyone’s friend and the next day they might turn against an employee. Most employees tell me it is like having a supervisor who is more like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. You never know from day to day and it can be very confusing and uneasy for the workers.
So which relationship style do you prefer to use or be subject to? We all know that destructive relationships wreak havoc for both individuals and businesses. Many employees tell me that the most stressful part of their job is their manager or supervisor. That certainly can’t be good. Poor relationships are the number one reason why good people leave their jobs. I often tell leaders in my keynotes, workshops and seminars that good people don’t leave businesses and organizations, they leave their immediate supervisor or manager.
Make sure you as a leader is not the reason why your good employees leave. Work on building effective and good relationship with people in the workplace. Nobody said it is easy to be a manager. But given the fact that good relationships are on almost every measure of success in the workplace, it pays to understand how to make working relationships work. If you need help or would think it would be beneficial to schedule a leadership workshop in your business please contact me today. I promise you both your leaders and workers will greatly appreciate the opportunity and will create a more productive, happier and healthier workplace and business. Now that would be “Magical”!