Managers Banging on Managers

I’m not talking about sex. I’m referring to managers becoming too involved in or vocal about what they believe is deficient performance by a fellow manager. It’s a slippery slope, and not just for the person under the microscope. The thing is, the “victim” may well deserve the attention he or she is getting, and the complaining manager may well be correct. And if intentions are true, the whistleblower is doing a good thing. I think.

Problem is, if the complainer is playing Prince Machiavelli, or worse, is flat out incorrect, misjudging the situation then puts the shoe on the other foot. There’s nothing supervisors should be more concerned about than whether those they manage have the ability to judge a situation correctly. I’ve seen lousy judgment screw up the lives of enough otherwise talented and effective people that it’s the attribute at the top of my report card.

We had a senior manager at our company whose intelligence, energy, chutzpah, and skill sets were extraordinary. Having survived a few supervisors, he went on to become one of our top managers, at a very young age. His Achilles’ heel was thinking he could do “it” better. He became disenchanted with his cushy station within the company (bad judgment) and he did an excellent job of making it known to all around him (bad judgment). Unfortunately for him, he decided to try “it” himself (bad judgment), doing it on the side during office hours (really bad judgment)—and to this day he is still barely treading water, having hacked his way through three more management positions at other companies, always ending up with the same outcome: UNEMPLOYED. Almost a decade later, he has yet to understand—the big, blusteringly confident voice in his head needs to be disregarded, perhaps even cold-cocked.

Managers criticizing fellow managers (bad judgment) absolutely wreaks havoc on a senior team. It almost never is constructive, typically is rooted in someone’s inability to suppress their own hysteria, and usually results in upset on the order of a black hole. Once someone indicates a lack of confidence in a colleague’s performance, it rarely is forgotten. Because the show must go on, reasonable team members inevitably focus on getting their jobs done. But they don’t forget.

If you’re all hot and bothered about the job someone else is doing, proceed gingerly. It’s probably not your responsibility to begin with, and there is no bigger can of worms than being a whistleblower whose judgment has failed them.

Comments

[loose]

Fundamentally, Mohammed said exactly the same thing. Thanks Ron.

[Ron in Alexandria, MN]

Wise counsel L.C. and a story well told. A manager judging another manager is a slippery slope. As renowned business speaker and respected author Ian Percy said, “We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions.”