Well, the title of this blog doesn't leave much to the imagination. As you can see, I don't believe in pulling punches or sugar coating things much.
So, telling it like it is – poor leadership costs you a lot!
Intangible (lost sales, opportunities, employees, etc.) and intangible ways (morale, innovation, etc.) a poor manager can be the ruin of a business. Managers and leaders are like a backbone – they hold everything together, give support and help propel things forward.
A good management team will steer the company to greater heights. Great leaders focus on the business objectives as well as people.
Low Motivation
Employees expect managers and leadership to direct and inspire them. They desire clear cut directives and benchmarks for success. Great managers understand the nuances of effective leadership.
Managers who don't excel at inspiring their teams or are unable to steer the ship lead to lower motivation. Employees may feel like they don't need to try if they think the boss is inept. They may try to undermine the manager or focus on what is going wrong rather than on success and improvements.
Employees who aren't shown appreciation or have credit taken from them stop trying. And when employees become less motivated, innovation and creativity go out the door. Apathy kills almost everything in its wake.
Missed Work
If someone hates coming into work every day, it stands to reason they start missing work. When the work environment is negative or even toxic employees may legitimately be getting sick – from stress and fear.
Missed days cut back on productivity, team relationships and impact your customers.
Turnover & Associated Costs
Employees want to grow, expand their horizons and learn. Most people enjoy a clear career path to follow. When you have a poor manager, they derail these intentions. It may be they stop providing opportunities to learn.
They may micromanage everything to the point they fear anyone learning anything they don't know themselves. Employees may stop trying to climb the ladder because it would cause them to have to interact even more with a poor leader.
What does this have to do with turnover? Well, when employees stop being able to grow they stagnate. Eventually, they start looking outside of their normal area for ways to continue growing. It could be they move off your team to another business area or it could be they leave your business entirely.
High turnover costs your business dearly. You have to spend money finding, hiring and training replacements. You lose forward momentum with customers and potential sales. Your business gets set back every time with turnover – even when you plan for it and everything goes perfectly.
Missed objectives
Every business has objectives and vision. For these to be realized the manager has to set goals, measure progress and coach as needed.
If the goals are too low, employees won't need to stretch or become innovative to reach them. If they are too high, employees may not be able to hit their targets and will get frustrated.
Over time as objectives are not hit or the bar is too low your growth grinds to a standstill. When you aren't growing, you are losing ground and money – and employee engagement.
Profitability
You probably already see where this all heads – lost profits. Managers are necessary to keep the whole ship running and with coming up with ways to strategically maintain and improve profits.
In the end, for any business to be a success, they need great leadership. Managers who can't inspire, engage, motivate, coach and train employees end up costing you in many ways and may put you out of business.
A leader is admired. Be a great leader!
