'Australian workplaces are full of bad managers'

The labour shortage and pandemic have left companies haemorrhaging due to inadequate supervisors, says a chief executive.

Businesses are relying on subpar managers due to the skills shortage, which is hurting their productivity and employee morale according to Christina Foxwell, chief executive officer of coaching, HR and leadership firm Ignite Purpose.

Ms Foxwell said poor managers were hindering many businesses’ productivity, morale, and their employees’ desire to return to work in person.

“Want to know why people don’t want to come back to the office? Because Australian workplaces are full of bad managers,” said Ms Foxwell.

“For the last 12 to 18 months especially, businesses have been severely impacted by the labour shortage affecting economies all over the world including Australia.”

“During the pandemic, we lost a lot of people from Australia’s workforce. Many people with significant management and industry experience retired. Others quit their job and moved away from the city to enjoy a more stress-free life living in regional and coastal areas working for themselves or in different roles involving less hours and less responsibility.”

“In addition, many people from overseas returned to their home country. While people are slowly starting to return to Australia, we are still experiencing a significant shortfall in skilled labour.”

Ms Foxwell said due to the deficiency of staff, firms had to promote and bring in people to managerial positions who were either not ready, not trained, or not capable of taking on the responsibility.

“Organisations still need managers and so a lot of people have been promoted into managerial roles who are not managerial material,” she said.

“Businesses have become desperate and placed people into management roles that they just simply should not be in.”

“Basically, many workplaces across the country are full of bad managers and we all know what this means.”

Ms Foxwell said rather than improve and help grow firms, bad managers would hinder businesses through several glaring traits.

Lack of leadership

“Bad managers often lack leadership capabilities and tend to manage through fear and domination rather than cooperation and encouragement. They don’t lead by example,” said Ms Foxwell.

No coaching or mentoring

“Bad managers also fail to coach and mentor their staff resulting in an under-motivated team and under-utilised skills. Many bad managers are also insecure about their role and don’t want to expose themselves by showing how underequipped they are.”

Micromanagement

“Many bad managers also tend to be micromanagers. Micromanagement may be an effective approach sometimes, but if it is misused, it can stifle and corrupt innovation and productivity. Micromanaging not only limits an employee’s ability to deliver success, but also causes the boss to stretch themselves too thin and not manage the team well.”

Lack of empathy and understanding

“People enjoy working in an environment when they are working for a manager they feel understands them, listens to them and directs them accordingly. There are always going to be issues and challenges to deal within a workplace, and one of the most important things a manager can do is empathise with their employees.”

Ms Foxwell said for firms to turn the corner they either need to provide suitable training and support to help already appointed managers improve their skills, or ameliorate their efforts to find staff that possess the required expertise to succeed in the roles.

This article was originally published on HR Leader's sister brand Accounting Times.