Six out of ten employees say they are miserable because of bad bosses. Ouch! That is an alarming statistic that you should not glance past as it directly affects your company’s performance.

But, I guess there is some good news in this statistic; bosses agree they are not very good at being “boss”. The talent management consultancy DDI found that 64 per cent of managers admit that they need to work on their management skills.

That is a big percentage. When I learnt of this, it made me wonder, “Are they doing anything about it?”

What do you do when you realise you’re not as good as you could be? For example, walking out of a meeting having just made a presentation and you think to yourself, “That could have been better”, what do you do next?

Maybe you excel at making presentations, so think of something you’re not great at — perhaps giving feedback, holding people accountable quick enough for it to matter, raising your team’s performance, influencing others, etc., — what do you do after you missed the mark?

“Next time I will do better” were the words spoken to me recently. To which I immediately asked, “How?” implying, ‘What are you going to do to improve?’

“I will,” he countered. “Watch and see.” That still left me thinking, “How?”

To make a change you have to do something about it.

A common attempt to getting better is the ‘hope and prayer’ approach where you say next time it will be better and then don’t do anything specific to make it better. The idea is that hoping it will be better will make it better.

But you know better than this — hope is not the magic formula.

The hope and prayer approach may just be the root cause as to why 64 per cent of managers admit they need to do something about their management skills. Managers’ inaction masked in hope means poor management will remain as is.

Another inaction approach is the proverbial, “I need to work on it”, and then getting too busy to ever work on it. Not allocating time to getting better only robs your future today.

The third failed approach that holds you back from getting better is to believe in utopia, thinking everything is perfect even when it isn’t. You may be able to Photoshop your memory, but the mirror on the wall doesn’t lie.

Rather than holding to an idealised view, mature leaders allow reality to be their fuel to ask for help.

That is certainly what I would do — I would ask for help if I didn’t feel I was as good at something as I could become. I would reach out to somebody who could help. There is no shame in asking.

I realise this may require swallowing some pride as asking for help is in and of itself an admission of inadequacy. But why in the world would you allow your pride to make you mediocre? It seems shameful to allow “false” pride to interfere.

Turn to somebody who is doing well in the area where you’re not and learn from him or her. Study what they do. Ask how they do it.

Pick his brain to how he learnt to do what he does. Most people want to share whatever they know and enjoy helping other people get better.

Another, and probably better, approach is to work with an experienced coach. When seeking a coach, be mindful that they fall into three brackets: life coaches — who specialise in helping people identify and achieve personal goals; executive coaches — who believe the answers are inside of you and act as facilitators of your growth; and the rare breed of performance coaches — who take an active role in your growth improving your ability to succeed.

Just like in athletics the coach’s role is to help you become the best you can. I think of myself as a leadership maximiser — helping good leaders become great.

This involves making sure leaders know what to do, how to do it and are doing it.

Getting better is only up to you. Nobody else can do it for you. But you can get help. Just ask!

The writer is a CEO Coach and author, including the ‘10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East’ and other writings. Contact him at tsw@tommyweir.com