Well, hey there, welcome to Mak TV.
My name is Mak and I'm a leadership and team building coach,
but specifically for first time team managers. So I'm not going to lie to you,
right? Because we know each other.
Now I am not entirely excited about doing this video today
only because you know, I typically like to be your cheerleader.
I like to be able to pump you up as much as possible and give you the tools and
resources necessary so that you can be that awesome sauce, effective leader.
But in the line of work that I do in the,
in the coaching and training space for first time managers,
I find that I am coming across a lot of people who are being managed
by first time managers who are reaching out to me for help.
So I'll give you an example. So I think it was like a couple of weeks ago.
I had someone reach out to me in the dms on LinkedIn and asked me if it was
possible for me to approach her company about training,
her manager, who was a first time team manager.
And it was apparent to this employee that her manager was struggling and I was
not doing well. And so she wanted me to like, backhandedly somehow, you know,
go to the company and, um, see if I can get this manager trained. And,
you know, this is not the first time that I've received a message like that. It,
you know, it comes in some sort of version.
And so I thought it would be good to do a video today just to raise your level
of awareness and consciousness on this matter in terms of, you know, if you're,
you know, doing a good job as a manager.
And so I'm going to be talking about just some of the signs of a bad manager.
And of course, I'm going to be talking about some things that you can do to,
you know, correct.
That if it turns out that you're like falling into one of these traps and doing
one of these things, um,
I'm going to talk about what you can do to correct that. Okay.
So let's dive into this. So one of the signs of a bad manager,
particularly in like the customer service and customer experience world is
actually just poor customer service. Uh,
you see the service that you receive, um,
anywhere you go is usually just a direct reflection of that team's leader.
And so if that team leader is truly effective at what they do,
like if they've created the right environment and they created the processes and
systems for good service, then their team will do that.
But if the manager of that team is not really good and they haven't created the
environment, the processes and systems for good work,
then what you will see is poor customer service.
And it's interesting because I had this discussion the other day,
because I was interviewed on the day on the J network, um,
by Mikiesha Best through intro to info. Yeah,
Mikeisha is totally awesome. But yeah,
I was interviewed by her and actually we had a caller call in to ask this exact
question. He was like, I don't understand how, you know,
in one franchise I can go to like two different stores and have a completely
different experience.
And I explained to him that it's because the manager of that team of one of
those teams perhaps is just, you know, embedding poor,
poor practices within their team. And so as a result,
that's trickling through to the customer. And so you'll know, um,
if you're a bad manager, if the,
the feedback that you're getting from your customer is that the service that's
being provided is not so good.
Now the second sign of a bad manager is a team that is just not getting the
results. Um, while every business has a customer,
not every department touches the customer,
but the one thing all departments should have is metrics or key results that
they should be hitting.
And so if a team isn't hitting those results or they're hitting them,
but it's inconsistent. And that definitely is a sign of a bad manager.
Now this can happen for a variety of reasons.
It could be a because that manager doesn't know how to set and direct,
like the more tactical side of performance,
or it can be like the more indirect, um,
side of things where they don't necessarily know how to team build. So they're,
um, not clear on how to get the team to work together,
to reach the desired result that they're looking for. Either way,
whichever side of the coin you look at, if the team isn't hitting those targets,
or if they're not working well together to achieve its goal,
then that's definitely a sign of a bad manager.
And so if your team isn't performing well, if they're missing deadlines,
if there's constantly conflict, if you know,
there's a lack of accountability on the team,
if you haven't been able to identify problems and then solve them,
which again is the whole point of business,
then there is definitely something broken, right?
Because you have to remember that a team is always just a reflection of its
leader because it's the leader that sets the standard.
And so if you want to be an effective team leader, which you should be,
then I highly suggest you download my free guide,
the ultimate guide to being an effective team leader,
because I walk you through five of the most critical skills that you got to
develop in order for you to be truly effective.
So the third sign of a bad manager is actually just a lack of innovation on the
team. You know,
one of the core responsibilities of a manager is to create an environment where
people feel safe,
safe enough to bring up their ideas and to challenge the status quo and to come
up with solutions to problems that exist on the team.
But people are never going to do that. If they sense in any way, shape and form,
there is any sort of intimidation or fear within that team, right?
They're not going to come up with ideas and they're not going to do anything
more efficiently. Even if they see a way to do it,
they're just not going to do it.
And the reason for that is just because of how our bodies and our minds work.
If you've been following me for some time, then, you know,
I like to talk about how the brain,
like how the human brain works and how it plays itself out in the day to day,
particularly in the workplace,
remember we are very much fight or flight creatures, right?
We're all about survival.
And so if you have in any way within that team, by your,
or by your actions shown to your team members,
that it's not a safe environment,
what you're actually doing is triggering the fight or flight, right?
So even when team members see a better way of doing something,
their brain is wired to be like, I gotta protect myself.
I gotta just keep my head down and do what I'm told because I have to protect
myself.
And this is why it's so important for managers to be consistently working at
creating a trusting environment and a safe environment,
because otherwise they're shutting down like that beautiful creative juice in
their team members' mind and forcing it to work at protecting itself instead.
So the fourth sign of a bad manager is just like not having a vision.
I have no idea why,
but there's so many frontline managers that have no idea that it is their job to
create. And then lead based on vision. You know,
there was a study done not too long ago with a bunch of senior executives.
And they actually said that the number one skill they wish their frontline
managers would develop is the ability to create strategy and strategy.
As we know is closely related to vision.
Like you need a vision in order to create a strategy.
So a lot of managers aren't doing this, right?
They are so focused or so shortsighted and focused on the day-to-day stuff
rather than pulling out of the day-to-day to define where their team is going,
the specific goals and how to achieve them. But for you,
if your team members can't clearly articulate to you why they do what they do,
or how it ladders into the company's mission, vision and purpose,
and chances are it's because you haven't either created a vision or maybe you
have created a vision, and haven't really done a good job,
communicating it on a consistent basis.
And this is why in my new manager accelerator program, part of my framework,
the elevate framework is to help you develop a solid strategy.
One that ladders into the company's mission, vision, purpose,
and distills down into the team with key metrics so that they know they are
progressing towards the end goal.
This isn't stuff that we just know how to do.
We don't just know how to create a strategy.
We just don't know how to create a vision. We have to learn it, right.
And this is obviously why I teach my students, but just know that like,
if you don't spend the time trying to learn this skill,
it's not just going to happen.
And you're always going to have a team that is like missing the Mark,
or just like not loving the work they do or not doing it well, right.
So this is why it's extremely important to learn this skill.
So the fifth sign of a bad manager is actually just inconsistency.
Whether that be inconsistency with the goals, processes, systems,
or inconsistency with the standards that are set for employees, you know,
if you're inconsistent on any level at all,
then that is definitely a surefire sign of poor management, poor management,
because good managers or good leaders are definitely consistent.
They know the purpose, they know their strategy,
they know their standards or their principles.
And they hold the line on that rather than being pulled by shiny objects
or favoritism, or just like the flavor of the day.
And nothing is more frustrating to, you know, team members,
then a manager that is inconsistent with what they do.
And so this is definitely a sign of a bad manager.
So finally the biggest kind of like lagging indicator of poor management is just
like turnover, right?
And this is usually something that happens like down the road,
because there's a lot of people that will tolerate terrible management for the
sake of a - for the sake of a paycheck, or maybe they're, you know,
there isn't another opportunity for them at this time,
or they don't necessarily know what they want to do next,
but make no mistake once the sky clears.
And there is another opportunity or they know exactly what they want to do next,
they're going to Hightail it out of there because especially the ones that are
good because they know their worth,
they know their value and they're not going to stick around and be managed by
someone that hasn't even done the work of developing their skills so that they
can lead them properly. And so if they're good, they're like out of there,
but I would say that this is usually kind of a lagging indicator.
I think a lot of the other things happen first. And then as a last resort,
people will leave. They just like won't tolerate it.
So that's pretty much it guys in terms of the five signs of a bad manager,
I hope that this video was helpful in raising maybe like your level of awareness
in terms of what constitutes a bad manager and what that looks like and how it
kind of plays itself out in the day to day. Um,
if you found this video to be valuable,
don't forget to give it a thumbs up and to subscribe so that you don't miss out
on any other content that I share on this platform. Every single Tuesday.
I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week.
Do not forget to keep smiling and I'll see you in the next one.