We've all heard it. People don't leave companies. They leave managers. People don't leave jobs and leave managers, however you want to tell it. We've all probably left a job because of a bad manager. So let's get right down to it. Like, what is a bad manager? What are some of the things that we're doing? Welcome to the Managing Made Simple podcast, where you get a masterclass in managing your team with ease in 15 minutes or less. I'm Lia Garvin, your host and team operations consultant for this show am I programs with small businesses and corporate teams. I condense a decade of experience driving team operations in some of the most influential companies in tech into strategies to save you time money. Most of all, stress doesn't matter if you're a business owner who realize that running a team isn't as easy as you thought it would be. Are a new manager learning the ropes, or are a seasoned manager ready to up their game? Everyone is welcome to hang out with managing Made Simple. From conflicts to feedback to delegating and more. We leave no stone unturned when it comes to what makes us love managing. Kind of hate it and everything in between. Let's go. Welcome back to the show. We've all heard it. People don't leave companies. They leave managers. People don't leave jobs and leave managers, however you want to tell it. We've all probably left a job because of a bad manager. So let's get right down to it. Like, what is a bad manager? What are some of the things that we're doing? And I wanted to share three things that maybe feel like kind of simple. But the when we do them, they really alienate us from our teams and we do the instead when we when we do the flip side, they actually forged a really strong connection with our team members. So these are three things. There's in a million things that a bad manager does. But I want to share three that I also talk a lot about in my book, The New Manager Playbook. Because when we do these things again, we get more out of our teams. We can scale ourselves, we get our time back, all the good stuff happens, right? So what are three things that bad managers do? Well, first, they do instead of delegate. So bad managers, folks that really haven't figured out how to lead yet, they feel like they have to do every single thing. They never have any time because they're in every single meeting. They're really they're spread really thin. They can't actually make time to really coach and evolve their team members because they're just doing, doing, doing a lot of times managers in the state come to me and say, like, I feel like I'm playing Whac-a-mole on one problem, I'm the next. I'm just running around or putting out fires. And they're they're stressed. They're overwhelmed. And if this is you, like, I'm not okay. I'm not calling you a bad manager, but this is a quality that's not going to be helping you. So just do and do and do and feel like, well, there's no way out the instead the flipping the script of this, what a good manager does and a great manager is they figure out how to delegate. They slow down, they look at their calendar and they think, okay, what are the meetings that I can either let go of right away or I can train a team member to take over, or I can be less involved in get some time back. What are the high impact tasks? Right. Valuable work that I could let go of, not just a bunch of B.S. nobody wants to do. Okay, that's the key about delegating. We don't just hand off like the shitty stuff, right? We want to be giving stuff that's meaningful. So this delegating instead of doing, that's the flip side. That's the thing that a good manager does. And again in the new manager playbook, my new book, we talk a lot about how to delegate the myths that show up when when we're delegating all the fears that we have around it because it is really hard. But when we start to delegate, our team members start to see that you trust them. They start to see that they are capable of more. They step into themselves as leaders and it's just transformational. Okay, so that's number one. Bad managers, folks are falling into that trap. Do instead of delegate. Second thing they tell instead of ask. So another thing is that managers tend to be all the time with is they say, oh gosh, I feel like I have to solve every single problem. And I felt that way too when I was managing in the corporate world, I felt like if anything goes wrong, it's on me. And I got to figure everything out and I have to learn the job of all my team members, even if it's not my skill set. And it was like so stressful and I was so overwhelmed. And then I realized, well, my job and through some coaching, trust me, and reading books and getting support, it finally clicked in that I actually don't have to have all the answers. I don't have to tell. I don't have to always know. Instead, I have to ask really good questions. Now, in the new manager playbook, I talk about this in terms of coaching, right? We ask powerful questions like, what do you think? How might you solve this? And asking instead of telling? Just like with delegating, instead of doing it shows our team members that we believe in them. It shows them I care about what you think. I value what you think. Now, if you're thinking, well, what if their answers are wrong? What if I ask them how they approach it? And I'm like, where did you come up with that? This is an opening to give feedback, so asking doesn't mean you're letting go of the reins. No. You're saying, hey, how might you solve this in? The team member says like, well, I think we should, you know, do x, y, z. And you're like, You can say, well, I, you know, talk me through the reasoning. I would ask for more and then saying like yeah I see what you mean with that. And in this situation what if we made these few adjustments. Right. And then it's a two way street. You're having a conversation. But that's not telling is of asking you first asked you you know, followed up by asking what their thought process or whatever was behind it. And then you're having a conversation about it. This is another thing that that good managers do, great managers do, is they're really teasing out the answers from their team members, because that shows their team members that, oh, I am really capable. I do know more than I think, because the other problem with telling, instead of asking, is that we've always got to tell people when we show people like, you know, I don't care what you think I'm going to tell you, they throw up their hands like, okay, I'll just wait for you to tell me. So it's an accountability killer. And that's another thing that really creates, you know, such burnout and overwhelm and stress on your team. And for you as a manager, because you get stuck where you always have to do it. So you don't want to fall into that trap. Yeah, that was number two. Do you want some hands on support for all of the topics I talk about on this show? Like a team expert who has worked within tech giants like Apple and Google, as well as small businesses on hand to help you delegate and get out of the weeds, handle tough conversations with team members within your hiring strategy, and get your teams to help bring in more revenue. Then it's time to sign up for my team Whisper Consulting sprint for 90 days. You have me in your back pocket to help you navigate any and every issue happening on your team. DM me the word Sprint on Instagram or email me at hello@liagarvin.com and let's build your unstoppable team. Third thing bad managers do or qualities of managers that just they need some more love, they need some support is when they criticize instead of recognize. Now this right here is why we are all so afraid of feedback. There is a visceral reaction that we all get when someone says, can I give you some feedback? Oh, I can't even say it without cringing. I feel like someone punched me in the stomach or I went on a roller coaster, or just dropped down to that part because it's that feeling of dread. What did I do wrong? What next? And I will say a lot of times I ask that question in my workshops. I say, what? What comes to mind when I ask the question, can I give you some feedback? And some people go, well, I'm excited. Feedback is a gift. I'd love to hear more. No, you want it like we're all afraid of it because usually feedback is bad. It means we do something wrong. It's someone criticizing us. Usually we get feedback. It's like, here we go again, I messed up, I'm not good enough. I'm wrong. I gotta add one more thing on my plate and the reason this happens is because usually feedback is paired with something constructive. Personally, what affects so good managers recognize that they recognize that we typically have a feedback aversion in general. Most of us because of it's typically paired with something negative. And so it makes us scared. And they recognize way more than they criticize because they understand that when we see that, you know, I'm not it's not all bad. I'm not screwing everything up. There are good things happening here, even when there's big issues. Okay? When we show people that we're recognizing, like, hey, you know, like, let's say a meeting, it was really off the rails. You are meeting with a client or an executive in your company, and your team member was something you delegated. They're supposed to run that meeting. And the meeting starts off okay. They share the agenda, but then it gets completely derailed. There's all these side conversations and your executive towards the end is like, or your client is like, what even is this meeting like, who called this? What are we talking about? What who's running this place? And they just, like, totally throw stuff at you and your team members like, oh my God, I want to quit. And you're thinking, how did they blow this so badly? You may be inclined to say, hey, this cannot happen again. It was high stakes. I gave you opportunity. Boom, boom, boom. But if you don't first recognize, like, hey, I gave you an opportunity. I know it was high stakes and I'm realizing it maybe was too early or I didn't have enough context or or there's more I could have done or hey, the meeting started off really strong. Like there are some good nuggets we can pull from that. But really, you got to be more prepared because look what happened, right? When we show someone we're either taking responsibility, we're recognizing our role in it or recognizing the good parts. Now they're more open to hearing that. Now that's in like a catastrophic situation. We want to be recognizing good work. Small wins, thanking our team members, showing gratitude, appreciation all the time. I'm not saying we're giving out participation awards. Thank you for coming to work today. We're like so grateful for that. No, we're saying I just got that email you sent to our client. I love the way you set up that sales report. Or hey, thank you for, helping the new team member really feel settled. They came to me after they said they're really excited to be here. Like that. Was all you thanking people for small things? Frequently, it bolsters their self-esteem and their confidence, and they start doing those things again. The more things we recognize, specifically, the more they say, oh, I want to do more of that. I want that recognition dopamine. They keep doing that. So when we criticize all, we're just reinforcing the don't do this, don't do that. We're not showing people actually the way. So the good managers, the great managers, they're recognizing all the time. So they are carving those neural pathways for like, oh, this is what a good job looks like. Okay. That is what good managers do. Three things bad managers do. First of all, they do instead of delegate. They tell instead of ask and they criticize instead of recognize. So we flip the script and we delegate and we ask how we would solve it. And we recognize we are transforming our teams. We're showing people we believe in them, that we think they're doing great work, that we see potential in them. All of that comes together. And again, these are all things I talk about in the new manager playbook. I cannot wait for you to check it out. And if you need support on any of these things, I know it's not easy, and I just want to be clear. I'm not calling you a bad manager if you're falling into any of these traps, but these are the things that result in your team's thinking. Like, I don't really like my manager. I don't feel supported by them. And this is what starts to kind of get us thinking, I think I want another job, right? Because 50% of employees, and I'm guessing it's more that actually have but 50% report having left because of a manager. And I think more of us have thought about it, but 100% of us have thought about it when these things are happening. Okay, so flip the script. You got to delegate. You got to ask it to recognize. And that's going to transform your team. All right. And if you need hands on support send me an email hello@liagarvin.com, I would love to help your team. That's all I have for today. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Managing Made Simple podcast, where my goal is to demystify the job of people management so that together we can make the workplace somewhere everyone can thrive. With that said, let's spread the word. If you love this episode, please pass it along to someone who might benefit from it. See you next time.