Bad bosses are one of the main reasons employees quit their jobs. And a lot of that management failure can be chalked up to one fatal flaw:
The inability to communicate effectively.
Problems often arise with newly promoted supervisors who struggle to make the transition into the new position. They aren’t necessarily bad bosses or bad communicators — they just aren’t used to the role.
Here are some helpful reminders you can give to those novice managers to avoid a communication breakdown:
- Make sure to relay news from above — Especially in today’s climate, employees are desperate for word about their company’s future. If managers don’t give workers news quickly, they’ll hear it somewhere else — and wonder why their boss didn’t tell them.
- Give feedback often — No employee should hear about a problem for the first time during an annual performance review. But keeping those issues under the lid for too long is one of the most common mistakes new managers make.
- Don’t overuse e-mail — New bosses love e-mail — it’s quick, easy and it keeps you from having difficult conversations with an employee face-to-face. However, employees appreciate it when their boss takes the time to discuss important issues in person.
- Meet regularly — A common tool that can help a novice supervisor: weekly or bi-weekly staff meetings. Many departments schedule them anyway, but if not, a manager can start holding them in order to learn about the staff’s questions and concerns.
