What’s a wimpy manager? It’s a manager who isn’t honest, fair, and clear with her employees on her expectations. It’s a manager who believes she’s being nice by not telling her employees when they’re under-performing, veering off-track, or flat-out behaving in unacceptable ways. It’s a manager who mistakenly believes she’s being nice by not telling her employees what they’re doing wrong so they have a choice and a chance to change their behaviors. A wimpy manager is someone who equates passiveness with kindness and assertiveness with meanness. A wimpy manager has it wrong.
In a recent training program, a supervisor asked me,
“How do I deal with one of my employees who isn’t qualified for the job. He doesn’t have the skill sets to do the job and he doesn’t want to learn them. He shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. It’s not his fault he can’t do the job. He simply doesn’t have the right skills.”
I almost fell over. Seriously?! This supervisor didn’t see anything wrong with the employee accepting a job he wasn’t qualified to perform and then refusing to learn the skills necessary to do the job? This supervisor needed to take a step back from being wimpy and look at the reality of the situation. Granted there is obviously something wrong with that company’s hiring process, but the employee also bears a good bit of the responsibility for this mess too. Accepting a paycheck for a job he is not doing is wrong. The supervisor needs to clarify that issue with the employee, create an action plan with the employee to outline what skills he will learn, by when and how, and also clarify the consequences for unacceptable or non-performance. And, then the supervisor needs to follow-through.
Another manager asked me,
“I’ve got a great relationship with my team and I don’t want to change that. However, I’d like my team to perform to the level I believe they can. What can I do?” Here’s another wimpy manager. As I said to him, “If you’ve got such a great relationship with your team, why don’t they already know they’re not performing up to your expectations? It doesn’t sound as if you’ve been clear with them.”
Wimpy managers aren’t fair.
They don’t speak up. They don’t clue employees in on when they’re veering off-track. They don’t “tee up” employees so they can make choices. They simply withhold information and hold in their frustrations – believing they’re being nice – while the employees continue to head down their undesirable paths. Then when an employee makes that one mistake too many, the manager can’t take it anymore and moves right into the full blown disciplinary process and starts the path to termination. Is that fair? I don’t think so.
Strong managers are fair.
They clue in employees that they’re starting to veer off-track. They address inappropriate behaviors and under-performance immediately. They view these as situations that require quick, “heads-up,” you’re-heading-down-the-wrong-path conversations. Strong managers want to clue employees in on what they’re doing wrong immediately so the employees have a chance — and a choice — to change their behaviors. Strong managers give employees the information and chance to learn the skills to do the jobs they’re being paid to do. If the employees choose to learn the skills and behaviors needed to stay with the company – great! If the employee chooses not to learn the new skills – or can’t – that’s OK too. At least the manager was fair, gave the employee a fair and honest chance to stay with the company. Strong managers enable choices. Wimpy managers don’t.
Don’t be a wimpy manager.
Copyright MMXIII – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890
Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching. Learn more about Liz on LinkedIn!
