Blanket Management And The Damage It Does In The Workplace: Pexels Image

Management is tricky. It’s all about mixing authenticity with professionalism and gaining respect while keeping the upper hand. For many, staying afloat is a matter of finding a management style which suits them and sticking to it no matter what. But, without your realising, this blanket management method could be doing your team more harm than good. 

You’ll simply never be able to please every employee if you approach things this way. Whether you’ve gone for stern or soft management methods, you can bet someone on your team is fails to react, and is it any surprise? Every member of your team is different, after all, and you should treat them as such.

While authenticity in the workplace does require consistency in terms of your personality, then, your management style definitely shouldn’t be fixed. For proof of just why that’s so important, consider the following damage your blanket style is doing your employees at the moment. 

You fail to realise personal needs

Every employee is different, and they all have different needs. This applies to everything from health to working conditions. Employees with certain health complaints, for instance, may need extra breaks and special care. Or, perhaps you have to implement an entire care plan for a pregnant employee. Either way; your blanket attitude to health could fast lead to discomfort or even law-breaking. As such, you should read up on specific conditions within your team, and even sign up for pregnancy-specific health and safety training from EssentialSkillz and other companies like them. That way, you can ensure you meet all health needs at all times.

Be sure, too, to take individual working styles into account. You may notice that some employees work best when left to do their thing, while others need a little managerial prompting. Failing to acknowledge this could impact employee performance, and thus, both their happiness and potential under your management. Make sure that doesn’t happen by ALWAYS taking time to recognise and respect working styles.

Your perceptions are all wrong

Most of the time, management is about perception. You should be in a position to recognise both when team members are flourishing, and when they aren’t. With your blanket management style, though, your perceptions may be entirely off-track. That’s because you’ll be so busy treating everyone the same that you won’t notice individual differences in your team. Yet, it’s noticing things like this which will ultimately make you a better manager. 

The fact is that your employees aren’t just business commodities; they’re people. That’s a fact which you NEED to take the time to notice. Instead of implementing blanket strategies and treating everyone the same, then, you should stop and pay attention. If you see team members struggling, work to offer extra support, or even give them the option of remote working for a while. It might mean letting go of that management style you settled on so long ago, but you can bet that it’ll serve you and your team better in the long-term.