How do Your Employees Really Feel About You?

Scenario: "Dude, I am the best manager in the world. Yay!" There's a reason why over 50% of managers think they're above average:

Most managers are delusional.

Yeah, we said it. How so?
  • They think their God's gift to the universe.
  • They think employees love them.
  • They think customers crave their expertise.
  • They think they're super hot.
Most of us hate criticism, so we live in our little bubbles thinking everything about us rocks. Nothing sucks. And whoever hates us is stupid.

Most of us have developed that "I-am-the-best" mindset since childhood.

  • You know -- when your parents or your relatives said at your fifth birthday:
  • You're the most beautiful person in the world
  • You're the strongest kid ever
  • You have the prettiest eyes
  • You have the greatest sense of humor
  • You move mountains when you talk

Folks, truth be told: You were an ugly kid.

You could've gone to Halloween as yourself. Rice Krispies wouldn't talk to you. A blind man wouldn't hug you. The doctors slapped your parents after delivering you. Doctors then placed you in an incubator with tinted windows. Yes, you were fugly. (Just kidding. You were beautiful!) Going along with that theme...

You're probably not the greatest manager as you think you really are.

With the "I-am-the-best-ever" mindset, you can harm your company in several ways -- including:
  1. You decrease employee morale.

    For instance, you're monitoring your employees like crazy. They hate that. Yet, without uncovering the truth, you continue doing what they hate. They'll start dreading coming into the company. Then, they'll talk behind your back. Then, they'll produce lousy-@ss results to ruin your reputation as a manager.
  2. You diminish performance.

    Without understanding fully what can make their work shine, you suck the potential out of your employees. They need _________, _________, _________ resources; yet, you're the alpha manager who scare the living-$hit out of them. "I'll be fired if I speak up, won't I?" Performance = sucks.
  3. You decrease productivity.

    "Dude, you can make me more productive by just changing this _______ and this _______." Most employees are yearning for you to make them more productive. Yet, without inviting their opinions, you quash the greatest ideas from the best people to improve employee productivity.
The good news: you can improve. How?

Seek the absolute truth about how employees feel about you.

As business guru Jim Collins says, confront the brutal facts -- like it ain't no thang but a chicken wing on a string. You can do so in many ways.

Here's what we do to confront those brutal facts of our employees...

And, it cuts straight to the heart of the matter, without the blah, blah, blah crapola. Use this spectacular, super crazy, and sexy template, and give it to your employees: Name five things that suck about me as a manager. That sucker rocks because it incorporates a sense of humor into a sticky situation. That is, you'll be much more welcoming to accepting brutal feedback from your employees.

Seek the truth frequently.

The above template is something we use constantly. The first time you seek brutal feedback, it'll surprise you. But, as time progresses and you make a conscious effort to improve where you suck, those "five" things that suck will turn into 4, then 3, then 2, etc. (And when you hit 0, don't stop. You're a badass. You don't quit.) You'll see your employees becoming much happier working with you, and that translates into some pretty kick-ass productivity and results. The moral:

Bring out the freakin' truth like you're the baddest mutha flucka on the planet.


Now here's your chance to tell us by emailing us: Name 5 things that suck about our journal, Trizoko.

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Posted on September 25

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