Management and Leadership: Begin Within.

My most frequently-asked questions to date have been:

What can I do about a manager who is verbally offensive?  Doesn't understand me or fails to genuinely listen?  Is disrespectful and unpredictable in their handling of employee mistakes?  Takes sides and is unfair?

These frustrated voices rise and call for help from corporate cubicles, library reference desks, non-profit offices, and elementary and middle school classrooms.  The questions and their origins go on, ad infinitum, and speak to the countless ways employees--and the greater organization--can suffer under unconsciously harmful leadership practices.  And I'm not surprised to learn that these same managers have a few complaints of their own about employee performance or communication.  For the purposes of coping and practicing empathy, employees will find it helpful to investigate dynamics on their own to understand what their superiors are going through personally and professionally.    

While the Manager/Employee relationship is interdependent, the focus today will be on managers and their call to leadership because they bear the burden of power and its responsible use.  Of the hundreds of articles circulated on management and leadership, the following blog posted by Harry Spence reiterates my own sentiments:  the real work begins within; in the heart and intellect of those in leadership where constant awareness of their own mind and actions can prevent potential harm inflicted from the wielding of rank or power over others.   

The question moving forward: How do we convene for the purpose of restoring damaged workplace relationships?  Does your organization have the space and leadership to do this?