A problem has been percolating in companies for some time. Its adverse affects have become commonplace and too little is being done about it: The problem is destructive management.

A Workplace In Trouble

Today’s workplace is hardly a reflection of our best work. Outdated manager mindsets about the role work plays in people’s lives and in society are choking the workplace and creating intolerable work environments. Making matters worse, moldy cultures and climates linger. Workplace fulfillment is absent.

Strategy firm Root found in their research that 68 percent of survey respondents believed managers are more interested in their own success than inspiring their direct reports. It’s no surprise that TellYourBoss.com found that 65 percent of employees in their study would prefer a new boss over an increase in pay.

It’s not just management malaise at the middle-layer of the hierarchy holding back companies and its staff. It’s also low trust in senior management’s business goals. Consider the findings in last year’s Edelmen Trust Barometer report. 54 percent of participants said that business growth or greed is the real reason behind innovation.

Identifying the Symptoms of Destructive Management

The swirl of problems mentioned above makes it tough to identify their causes. Today’s managers need to look for symptoms in their own work environment. Even more so, they need to look for symptoms caused by them.

Symptom 1: Blind Impact. This is when managers are unaware of how their actions, words, and attitudes impact others. These managers consistently underestimate the value people have in the business.

Symptom 2: Antisocial Leadership. An antisocial leader doesn’t have the skills to encourage, build, and evolve a community of employees united by a shared purpose.

Symptom 3: Chronic Change Resistance. This is a manager’s resistance to adapt to change, support it or even initiate it. It’s also a company’s arrogance or naivety in recognizing how changing business conditions affect operations and strategy.

Symptom 4: Profit Myopia. Managers with this symptom habitually look to profit as the best measure of success. These managers don’t know of other ways to measure their staff’s or the company’s impact on their customers or clients.

Symptom 5: Constipated Inspiration. This symptom infects managers’ leadership styles and prevents them from learning how to inspire their staff.

Symptom 6: Silo Syndrome. A manager afflicted with silo syndrome cannot see beyond his immediate responsibilities and has no awareness of the impacts his decisions have on others.

How to Overcome Destructive Management

The keys to overcoming destructive management are to pay attention to how you relate to people and personally focus on your leadership style.

1. Develop workplace optimism

Workplace optimism gives hope to employees that good things will come from their hard work. It’s a description of how it feels to work on a team.

2. Enhance meaning

Three areas of meaning are important to people: work, social, and personal. Connect your employees’ efforts to a bigger picture (work). We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Help your employees find meaning in the relationships they have and develop in their work (social). Talk with your employees about what is meaningful to them in their careers and in life (personal).

3. Know your impact

Your leadership style has the greatest impact on your staff’s work experience. Spend time talking with a trusted few to learn how your style enables and creates barriers to performance.

4. Increase connection

As human beings, we crave connection with others. We’re social animals. Develop ways to intentionally help your employees connect. 

While companies struggle to find ways to counter the influences of destructive management, you can act and improve your staff’s work environments. Focus your work on creating positive, energizing work environments. It’s the context that significantly influences how people feel about work and go about doing it.

Written by Shawn Murphy.

Originally posted on talentculture.com