Managment Skills

I received a course notification today for a course for managers & supervisors called “Managing Employees Who Have Rotten Attitudes or Lousy People Skills”.

My first instinctual reaction was this is going to be a joke e-mail. When I opened it the content looked like the real thing, and thought man someone has way too much time on their hands to make up a fake poster like this. Then I realized this is an ACTUAL course.

So the concept behind the course I suppose is good, trying to get the best out of the people you work with.

However the language used on in this course poster holds a lot of presuppositions which are unbelievable to me when I think that they are targeting leaders in our organizations.

First you have the course title “Managing Employee Who have Rotten Attitudes or Lousy People Skills” then speckled throughout the description the author repeatedly refers to employees and their attitudes as “weak”, “crummy”, “lousy” in one instance “just plain stink”.

By the language alone this begins to devalue the “problem” employee in the eyes of the manager/supervisor and is actually quite demeaning to read.

The second thing that stands out for me in the course is as statement that “Employees who don’t know how to get along with others – or worse yet, WON’T get along with others – make life hard for everyone around them, especially you, their manager.”

It talks of making them feel like you “hear” them. (And yes it put it in quotes)

The pictures in the poster of the employees look like they are depressed not weak or crummy. They look truly unhappy.

The course description ends with, “Enroll today and end your frustrations for good!”

How ominous does that sound?

Is this really what this company thinks are skills leaders in our society need? Tools to take care of the trouble makers (them)?

Where is ownership, where is the compassion? (Where is the "me"?)

Where is the let’s get curious about what is underlying all of this behaviour to truly make a difference in way you (and the employee) engage with each other?

I look at my workplace and I see the leadership within. There is such a variety of leadership styles in our workplace. And I see the leaders who make the biggest impact and have the happiest employees in our organization. They are the ones who are showing up… authentically being themselves and encouraging others to be their selves. Encouraging growth and valuing it, in their selves and others. This is what true leadership is.

What is it going to take for people to get it? Just sit back and allow yourself to imagine what a fantastic environment “work” would be if the leaders who were there showed up and encouraged you to do the same?

Breathing is good. There is always more.