Savvy companies put a lot of thought into creating a consistent customer experience (CX), so that it doesn’t matter who your server, rep, consultant, etc., is—you always have a consistently good experience.
Organizations are devoting more attention to the employee experience (EX) than they have in the past, but for the most part, the experience of an employee still depends almost entirely on who their boss is.
One boss may be hands-off and want their employees to take the initiative, while another may be a micromanager who feels the need to give explicit instructions and do frequent check-ins, all the while taking on a lot of the work themselves.
Creating an Intentional Management Culture
A better approach may be to create an intentional management culture. The first step is for the company’s leaders to decide what they want that culture to be.
If I were the owner of a company, or its top executive, I would want the management culture to be empowering and less structured. In other words, I would want managers who were secure and relaxed enough to provide general guidance and then let their employees take the lead in their work. I would want managers who don’t have to force themselves to delegate, but who prefer to delegate.
These managers would be secure enough to not just trust their employees but not mind letting their employees take the spotlight when projects are successful. In my vision of the ideal manager, there wouldn’t be room for the insecure, competitive middle manager who feels the need to present themselves as the true owner of all projects in their department.
Direct and Clear Communication
Math is a weak spot for me. I realize now that just as numbers are difficult for me, some people are not natural communicators.
It would be second nature to me to meet with each employee (or group of employees) in a department I had taken over to let them know my expectations as their new boss. I would be sure to ask how they did things in the past and then discuss with them what could remain the same and what I expected them to do differently. I would want them to know exactly what the new requirements, if any, were for the job.
Since this kind of communication, which to me is just common sense and what you do when you truly want to be fair, is not second nature to many people, an organization that wants a communication-forward culture must require it.
The executive overseeing the manager, and maybe a representative from the Human Resources or Learning and Development (L&D) team, would let the new manager know when hired or promoted that this level of communication is expected and that the conversations should be documented. That way, if a question of performance arises, the manager could refer to the record to prove they had a clear conversation with the employee(s) about new requirements for the job.
Leaning Away from Bringing in “My Own People”
The new boss who comes in and replaces employees with people they developed themselves in a previous position is a familiar type. It’s not unusual, I would think, to lose your job when a new boss comes in and find you were replaced by a protégé of the new boss.
If I led a company, I would specifically train away from this model of management, emphasizing and rewarding the ability of a manager to make the most of the people who are already in the department they take over. The key is making sure the new boss understands the strengths, weaknesses, and potential of each employee they will be managing.
When a new boss comes in, it’s easy for them to feel overwhelmed by work personalities. They may have known their new reports socially but not be familiar with their work styles.
Part of creating an intentional management culture that ensures a consistent employee experience is giving managers the information they need. Once the new manager fully understands what each employee they are inheriting has to offer, they may be better positioned to optimize each of those employees’ strengths. People whose new managers recognize their value are less likely to have misunderstandings and friction that lead to a negative employee experience after years of a positive experience under the previous boss.
Does your organization pride itself on having a consistent employee experience or does each employee’s experience depend on their boss?