What Would Your Team Say if They Had a

 

Going through my daily routine of reading the news, I stumbled upon an interesting article written by Anthony Balderman for CareerBuilder.com. It's not the typical place I look for news, but the headline caught my eye, What Does the Boss Need to Hear?

Balderman's premise is that you just won the lottery, what would you tell the boss? Telling off the boss is a fantasy shared by many employees, however most of your team members will never say anything for fear of repercussions. On the sly, CareerBuilder.com asked, and here are a few of the responses:

Be Professional:

"He needs a crash course in saying 'no' or 'not right now' when it comes to promises to clients or myself (employees). He continuously bites off way more than he can chew and needs to make requests fall within a more realistic time-line. Stop promising what's difficult to deliver in the time frame given, state it can be done but will take longer than client believes.

"Also, his consistent tardiness to meetings and discussions, especially those I've planned for him (since it affects me), is not only unprofessional, but reflects poorly on myself and the company. It's inconsiderate to other parties involved to be tardy even in personal settings, but that insult is magnified in the professional realm. If time equals money, you have cost them by your tardiness.

"[And your] follow-up stinks to high heaven. I wouldn't care, except this directly affects my income and it aggravates me severely. My income level is dependent on your follow-up and it's been a big disappointment whenever I think of it."
—Kim

Be Careful:

"I did tell my boss what was on my mind and was fired. No regrets.

"My boss promoted a team peer without considering the other team members' experiences, which were all negative. The peer which was promoted had [a romantic bias] towards another peer. In bringing this information forward, my boss remarked with, 'You are making me feel as though I was bamboozled.' I replied, 'I cannot and did not make you feel anything. I simply want you to know that you may have a potential lawsuit as a result of not checking your facts prior to a haphazard promotion.' Within a week, I was let go and given an eight-month severance package. The action that occurred continued with others over the next six months."
—Tina

Be the Boss People Want to Follow:

"Protect, back up and defend your workers."

"Listen twice as much as you speak."

"Do not always seek to find bad behavior to punish, but also seek good behavior to reward."

"Promote within."

"Encourage a work environment that is conducive to success."

"Allow for failure."
—Michael Coritsidis

Although Balderman wasn't talking to project managers, I have witnessed many of these types of behaviors among project teams. I think this is good information for anyone responsible for leading people. Creating an environment where these types of situations don't occur is important, but in my opinion what's even more important is creating an atmosphere where team members can freely discuss the challenges and successes they face. As project managers responsible for leading people as well as managing process, this is something to think about.

Have you ever experienced anything like this? What do you do to foster dialog within your project teams?