Sometimes, your leader is just another bad employee
Checked out…
Doing just enough to keep their job…
Or even worse being vindictive and controlling to hide their own weaknesses…
I was asked a question at my speaking event in New York last week about what to do when you have great ideas for improvements and process changes and run them up the ladder and nothing happens with it?
This is a lesson I wish I learned earlier in life. Maybe I am just dealing with a bad employee.
I equated it to when you have a bad experience with a customer service person over the phone or a bad restaurant experience because of a waiter.
Sometimes you are just dealing with a bad apple. An employee that does not have the right approach or that does not have the company or customer service as a top priority.
It is easy to see when it is a peer at work or an employee not pulling their weight but when it is a person in a position that we look up to we just assume they are there because they are best for the job.
The unfortunate reality is many people in authority positions don’t deserve to be there.
Maybe they were the best for the job at the time the job was open and needed to be filled.
Maybe they just knew the right people at the right time to get them the job.
Maybe they were great at one point but over the course of 5-10 years personal issues and the mental struggle of the job wore them out.
When I started seeing things from the perspective of “Maybe this is just a bad employee mailing it in at 40% effort” I honestly lost all frustrations.
To be frustrated would mean I was expecting more from them than they were expecting from them selves and that is just a losing equation.
So next time you get frustrated with a person or a leader or even a peer, realize they may just be a bad employee doing just enough to keep their jobs and nothing more.
Have you ever dealt with a situation where a leader let you down?
Shoot me an email and tell me your story! Mike@winrateconsulting.com