Washington: Have you ever known a manager who seemed to be an expert at managing his or her own boss and other higher ups, yet seemed to cause havoc on anyone at his/her own level or below?
Leadership coach and author Marshall Goldsmith calls this “playing favourites” and notes that it is quite pervasive in firms even though most of the leaders he encounters claim to abhor employees who suck up to management.
Don’t get me wrong — managing up is important. It is critical to be able to understand your boss’s personality and views on various things. You need to know what they are trying to accomplish, and what they need you to do. You also need to maintain a good relationship so you can let them know all the things you are accomplishing.
But in the process of managing up, what you shouldn’t do is trash your peers or direct reports or treat them poorly. Some leaders treat employees fine when higher-ups are paying attention, but can be bullies to lower-level employees (even their own staff) when no one is watching.
According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, some of the most common tactics adopted by bullies include:
— Returning emails and messages from bosses or other higher-ups, but ignoring requests or messages from those at lower levels.
— Falsely accusing someone of “errors” not actually made.
— Staring, glaring and being non-verbally intimidating.
— Discounting the person’s thoughts or feelings in meetings. Talking over them.
— Using the “silent treatment” to ostracise them.
— Disregarding satisfactory or exemplary quality of completed work despite evidence.
— Starting, or failing to stop, destructive rumours or gossip about the person.
— Encouraging people to turn against a person.
— Singling out and isolating one person from co-workers, either socially or physically.
— Publicly displaying undignified, but not illegal, behaviour.
— Yelling, screaming, and throwing tantrums in front of others to humiliate a person.
— Stealing credit for work done by others.
— Abusing the evaluation process by lying about the person’s performance.
— Using confidential information about a person to humiliate them privately or publicly.
— Retaliating against the person after a complaint was filed.
— Making verbal put-downs/insults based on gender, race, accent or language, disability.
— Assigning undesirable work as punishment.
— Making undouble demands on the person (e.g., workload, deadlines, duties).
- Launching a baseless campaign to oust the person.
— Encouraging the person to quit or transfer rather than to face more mistreatment.
— Sabotaging the person’s contribution to a team goal and reward.
— Ensuring failure of the person’s project by not performing required tasks: signoffs, taking calls, working with collaborators.
Not all people managing up are bullies. But those specific individuals who are managing up and bullying their own staffs or peers at the same time are the ones causing some of the greatest morale problems in the organisation.
What makes it particularly difficult is that the higher-level boss who is being manipulated often doesn’t see any of the bullying being done to the peers or lower-level managers. Since they are on the receiving end of positive comments, they assume the person treats everyone in such a positive manner.
Why should you care about this? You should care because such behaviour can harm the morale of the entire department and the engagement of those you work with. Some of the best practices for managing down or across include:
— Communication is key. One of the biggest complaints people have about their bosses is that they don’t tell them what’s going on. This makes them feel insignificant and unimportant. Share information and be transparent with your boss, but also with your peers and direct reports.
— Listen. Make the time to ask people what they think and then really think about what they’ve said. It’s great training for less experienced employees and it provides new, creative ideas to you. Despite its importance, some leaders are just not good listeners.
— Be available and accessible. Let your people know that you have an open-door policy and follow through on it. If they don’t come to you periodically, you should initiate a conversation with them. Get out of your office to meet folks in their own offices or other locations.
— Be advocates for your team. They need to know that you have their back and are promoting them.
— Don’t micromanage. Give your people responsibility and autonomy. But let them know that you’re there to help them as they need you.
For a firm to discover the troublesome leader, leadership must collect feedback from not only the boss, but also the person’s peers and direct reports.
Only by collecting candid feedback from a diversity of sources can you really see what is going on with a person’s true performance. Then you will be able to address it.
— Washington Post
