Sales & Marketing Management - October 2007 - (Page 37)

EXCERPT FROM ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR Employee-Boss Relationships AVOID THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF ABUSIVE LEADERSHIP EXCERPTED FROM: One Foot Out The Door How to Combat the Psychological Recession That’s Alienating Employees and Hurting American Business By Judith M. Bardwick, Ph.D., 2008; Published by AMACOM Books T he single best way to learn how people feel about an organization is to ask them what they think of their boss. If they’re gung-ho about the organization, they’re invariably enthusiastic about their boss. But if they’re lukewarm about their boss, they’re just waiting to jump ship. People join companies, but they leave bad managers. Relationships between bosses and subordinates should involve reciprocal trust and respect akin to that between a teacher and an able student. Of course, the difference in decision-making power and responsibility can never be ignored; sometimes a boss must be a boss and give orders and deliver a critique. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to humiliate a subordinate or manage through fear. Humiliation and fear are excellent breeding grounds for subversion and sabotage. The data about relationships between employees and bosses are clear and powerful: employers are far more likely to make a commitment to the organization if they like and respect their boss and feel they are liked and respected in turn. A Boss’s Performance is Directly Tied to Retention.1 I Only 11 percent of workers who rated their boss’s performance “excellent” said they were likely to look for a new job in the next year, but I 40 percent of those who rated their boss’s performance “poor” said they were likely to jump ship. www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com The best relationships involve chemistry or rapport, which simply means liking someone and getting along easily. It means working with or for the other person is a positive experience that people look forward to. One word of caution: These relationships can be friendly, but between boss and subordinate they don’t involve friendship in the usual sense of the word. In friendships, people feel that they are peers despite differences in education or status or power. Friends don’t judge each other, but a boss always has to make judgments about a subordinate’s performance and abilities. Evaluating someone’s present capacities and potential for additional responsibilities is a serious and ongoing responsibility for management. Subordinates shouldn’t forget that even a friendly boss is a boss. Managers also have to coach their subordinates, which involves giving feedback. For feedback to be effective there has to be a preexisting relationship of mutual trust and respect. Many managers are not comfortable managing people and prefer to view their responsibility as “hitting the numbers.” But achieving the numbers requires the passionate enthusiasm of subordinates and that, in turn, depends on positive relationships between subordinates and managers and among team members. AMACOM Books is a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission. All rights reserved. http://www.amacombooks.org. 1 Disgruntled Employees: Gordon, Joanne: “My Job, Myself, My Problem?” Forbes.com, January 24, 2003, referencing the 2003 Towers-Perrin Study. OCTOBER 2007 SALES&MARKETING MANAGEMENT 37 http://www.amacombooks.org http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - October 2007

Sales & Marketing Management - October 2007 Contents Editor’s Letter Management Strategies Why Prospecting Gets No Respect Sales Strategy: Spotlight your Services Marketing: A Social Intelligence Primer Management: Steer your Team to Success Motivation/Incentives: The No-Pain Way to Gain Training: Looking for Yesterday’s Learning or Tomorrow’s? Technology: Get Trade Show Satisfaction with the Video Massage Focusing on SMB Solutions The Best Sales Force The Hottest Job Industries Overseas Aggravation Gadgets & Gear: Pen and Ink as an Art Form Books that Improve Strategic Thinking, People Skills and Sales One Foot Out the Door Work/Life: Calling in the Fitness Cavalry. Take-Aways: Bite-size Strategies to Help You Sell More, Market Smarter and Manage Better

Sales & Marketing Management - October 2007

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