With apologies to Forrest Gump but considering the variety of management styles out there can be like opening a box of assorted chocolates. There are so many possibilities. Some can offer good experience for those on the receiving end, bringing a smile to one's face, while others can have you frowning with unfortunate memories and leave an unpleasant taste in your mouth.
Consider this scenario: You as the hiring manager are in the middle of an interview with a candidate you like. You want this person to join your organization. The conversation is progressing well when, out of the blue you're asked, "Can you describe how your staff views your management style?"
Not how you view it, but those on the receiving end.
Tricky question, as it's possible that your staff considers your approach to leadership in a different light perhaps than how you view yourself in the mirror. This is like the "weakness" question, a potential trap for the unwary. What are you prepared to say about yourself? To admit about yourself. Provide the wrong answer here and if the candidate has other options they might look elsewhere.
The Name Game
The possibilities to describe who you are as a manager, while they have several names, can be sorted into a limited number of personalities. Do you consider yourself . . .?
- The Team Manager: "We're all in this together, folks" is the credo of this collaborative style leader. While we may be a homogeneous team as an aspirational goal, sometimes this manager may decide that group needs outweigh that of high performers. Rewards may be skewed toward everybody, vs. toward individual achievement. Also, can tough employee decisions be made, that might impact the team?
- Absentee Manager: Like an absentee landlord this boss lets you get on with it, whether you have the tools, guidance or knowledge enough to achieve your assigned tasks. They don't bother you, even when you need to be. They're out to lunch a great deal. You're on your own until you mess up.
- Micro-Manager: "Here's how I would do it" is a common phrase that gets old quickly. This is the manager who can't let go, who stifles creativity and will always remind you how they used to do things when they had your job. There's only one way to do things. Did I mention stifling?
- Wind Under Your Wings Manager: This is the supportive manager who focuses on developing the career of everyone on the team. This leader will have your back and will work with you to develop yourself, but sometimes at the sacrifice of their own performance. Senior leadership may have other expectations.
- Textbook Manager: Pick a management text or self-improvement guide and you'll find this manager is there, whatever the term used. The paragon of management styles, this boss does everything right and by the book; they are principled, delegate and communicate well, know the business, and know how to lead the team by example. However, this person may not really exist outside of those same textbooks. Perhaps too good to be true.
- Political Manager: Sometimes known as the "SOB." This is the glad-handing boss who knows everyone higher up on the organization chart. They may find it difficult to voice opinions or make decisions without first checking the impact on the preferences and attitudes of affected higher-ups. They can't say no to the politically connected, even when no is what should be said. Not much of a backbone here, so core beliefs can be a bit wishy-washy. You might be tossed under the bus for the sake of political correctness. You cannot rely on this manager to do anything but what is in their own self-interest. Often employee turnover starts here.
The positive aspects for the personalities described above sound great and are fine to be offered up as your opinion to that questioning candidate in our scenario, but the actual question was . . . what does your staff think?
Note: I haven't lectured about which management style is "bad." I trust that designation is self-evident. Hopefully, those who see themselves as needing to make a change will do so.
Who Is Really Out There?
Have a care here. It's very likely that your own management style doesn't neatly fit into one of the above labels. Instead, most personality styles are a combination or composite of several of the attributes we've listed, and more characteristics, for good or ill can likely be named. Chances are though, that each manager, each personality leans toward one label or other; this is the 70 - 30 majority rule. And that leaning is where reputations are built. Where labels stick.
Employees react to how they're personally affected, and by what they hear from those they trust or perceive to be "in the know." So as well-intentioned as you might be, it's always wise to check the pulse of your staff. You might have a reputation that surprises you. And while you might think they have it wrong, you're not the one who gets to decide.
By being truthful to yourself and to that questioning candidate you increase the likelihood of a good hire and a long-serving employee.
Chuck Csizmar CCP is the founder and Principal of CMC Compensation Group, providing global compensation consulting services to a wide variety of industries and non-profit organizations. He is also associated with several HR Consulting firms as a contributing consultant. Chuck is a broad-based subject matter expert with a specialty in international and expatriate compensation. He lives in Central Florida (near The Mouse) and enjoys growing fruit and managing (?) a clowder of cats.
Creative Commons image "Box of Fine Chocolates," by Paul Keller
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