Bad leaders are what people leave, not corporations. Retaining talent in the face of subpar leadership is one of the largest problems firms face today, and this widely accepted fact. Several business owners whose company growth started to decline felt this about their senior management. I, Ritu Singal analysed the gaps in their senior management. Here’s what I found:
Two Sides of Poor Leadership
On one side of the dice, you have too lenient bosses. On the other hand, you have too many dominating bosses. Both are bad for your organization.
The lenient boss lets things slip under the rug and coddles their juniors which then leads to delayed work, misalignment of values and poor quality frameworks.
The result? His leadership is questioned, wrong people are taken for promotions, poor productivity, unsatisfied clients, lower ROIs and a lot more that could worsen a company.
On the other side, you have aggressive bosses. He often competes with his juniors, withdraws praise and is known for their cruelty.
“Hurt people hurt people “is a saying that resonates with these kinds of archetypes. It is because they inflict the hurt they have been through due to a lack of regulation skills.
Everyone has their own ways in which he deals with pain or stress, which can manifest in different behaviours. These may include; unjustly blaming or firing subordinates, exaggerating situations, being overly critical, mismanaging tasks, and more.
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Gen Zs view on companies and bosses.
An average person spends one-third of their life at work. That’s why Gen Z has centred around work-mental health and insists on values on work-life balance. They no longer follow social norms and aren’t afraid to leave companies that cause a dent in their mental health or focus on long hours instead of focused productivity. Gen Z also prefers career growth above all. Both the aggressive boss and lenient boss do not contribute to this. These are just a few factors that affect the workplace.
The Real Impact of Poor Leadership
Real workplace issues go even deeper. For example, we all have been familiar with the term workplace politics. Leaders that fail to recognize employees’ hardwork, make them them feel like their autonomy is taken and overload their employees with unreasonable demands contribute significantly.
It has also been shown to increase anxiety and depression! Some studies even show that a toxic work culture has increased depression by 300 %. Workplace politics is common in large and small businesses with inexperienced seniors and seniors who have never received senior management training.
However, the term inexperience that I am referring to isn’t about number of years a person has been a leader. A person with many years of experience is not experienced if he hasn’t failed, tried new methods or ventured towards growth.
An experienced leader doesn’t compete with his people but uplifts them. He/She doesn’t tell them what to do but guides them on what to do. You will often see him crediting their team for their success and not discussing to one teammate’s private matters with the other.
He is trained in conflict management and is calm and composed throughout. No one dares to try to walk over him. Even if they do, he clears the matter with grace.
Empathy is at his core. He leads with empowerment and realistic goals. His teammates feel seen and heard and are open to talking to him about issues they are facing in the company. They can also tell him when he is wrong but he doesn’t take it negatively. He allows his juniors to fail because he knows failures are stepping stones to success.
Additionally, the leader allows them to express their thoughts and does less micromanagement. He follows this simple mantra: Good leaders build credible teams, and great leaders build future leaders.When he builds future leaders, not only they are satisfied with the good pay, but they also feel a sense of loyalty to him and the company. In many cases, I have seen old employees coming back to their old company because they felt safe, seen, heard and appreciated.
Senior management training and stress management training are often overlooked by companies. Companies will rather spend more money on client acquisition, digital marketing and software than spend on this essential toolkit.
The truth? No amount of spending on sales will benefit you unless you fix your internal management. When my husband’s business was into huge losses of 40 to 50 crore, this was one of the first things that I worked on. You can WATCH how I changed the trajectory of my company.
Are You Ready to Build Better Leaders?
If you are serious about senior management training and stress management training, you can contact me here. Investing in leadership training isn’t an expense—it’s an investment in sustainable growth.
