When resources are scare, we need to get the best out of every role, and out of every person filling them. Including managers. Even when we feel like maybe they ought to know better, do better, be better.
I don’t mean suck up to them, play to their ego or tell them what they might want to hear like pampered poodles. And I definitely don’t mean turn a blind eye to bullying, threats or intimidation.
I just mean that managers are people too, often caught in the middle management sandwich – more judged than praised by both more senior executives and the team they manage. Their role is typically isolating, without peers with the exact same position description.
It’s a position of high expectation and low validation, where success is often defined by the absence of disaster. It requires a fluid blend of mentor, administrator and bearer of bad news. And a lot of the tasks are repetitive, with no satisfaction of a finish line.
Like anyone else, they will have strengths, weaknesses, blindspots and insights. They will make assumptions and assumptions will be made about them. They will make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes.
A title or a pay check don’t guarantee performance. Managers’ roles are defined and shaped by relationships, up, down and sideways. While each person is ultimately responsible for how they conduct themselves, no role exists independently of others. And like any relationship, it is a two way street where the foundations of kindness, curiosity and acceptance matter.
Helen Mentha 