Colleagues do not know where they stand? Do not expect their trust and loyalty.

When colleagues do not know where they stand, do not expect their trust and loyalty.

This post raises 3 questions:
➡️As a middle leader, what is the effect on you of having senior managers that are untrustworthy?
➡️What do you do when your suggestions are rejected but the evidence proves you are right?
➡️How do you approach a situation where your values do not align with your leaders'?

True story...
I met a cleaning team manager on a large holiday park last week. We'll call him Danny.
He is in the classic, problematic mid-leader position.
Danny is very customer focussed and expects his team to be as well. This means that when customers arrive, they open the door to a spotless chalet that smells fresh and looks immaculate.

⚠️But here's the problem
As Danny sees it, the company's senior management team is solely focussed on profit through cost cutting. This has meant reducing the number of cleaning staff and shortening the time they have to spend to service each accommodation. 📌Different values📌

Also, there is no compensation for different times of season - what works in low-season March is expected to work in high-season August.
This results in substandard cleaning. It's no surprise to see poor reviews and the low scores dragging the overall ratings down.

And guess who has to field the on-site complaints!

However, as Danny related, the senior team tick a "Good Management" box : They regularly ask employees for suggestions.
But then ignore them. 📌Untrustworthy📌


Danny has told them that having immaculate chalets will boost the review scores - and that will increase bookings. They don't seem to see the logic.
📌Suggestions rejected 📌

The situation is not helped by the fact that the company owners do not have experience in this part of the leisure industry.

➡️This is one for us to contemplate

🗨️I think it is more damaging to have managers who pretend to have a consultative approach than it is to be led by people who are open and honestly autocratic. At least you know where you stand.

When your team do not know where they stand, do not expect trust and loyalty.

In Danny's situation, he needs to build as much evidence as possible and get some of his team to back him. It is a good example of leading 'upwards'.

⚠️This is all fine in theory - or as the result of a ChatGPT prompt - but what about the senior managers who dig their heels in? How do we get them to budge? Please don't tell me they don't exist!

🔖I'm looking into this in depth.

🔖If you have any comments, please DM me. Be part of the conversation

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