Recovering from bad management

Both in my consulting and in my own working life I have seen this issue from all sides. I have taken over units that had just gone through bad management, and one where the unit’s productivity and morale was so gutted by its previous experience that it was effectively off-line. I have seen mistakes made by the incoming manager in attempting to repair such situations (and I’ve made my share of them). I’ve even been in such organizations myself, and have observed remarkable managers do wonderful jobs returning these units to top form and restoring the morale of their members.

Units that have been destroyed by bad managers remind us that our organizations are composed of humans with diverse individual abilities, aspirations, and satisfaction in their work. When a unit has been laid waste by a bad manager, it is the ties between those individual characteristics and the work at hand that have been shattered, and which the new manager must restore.

To begin with, if you are the new manager in such a situation, you should make it clear at the outset that you do not see yourself as appearing on the scene at the nick of time to drive off the evil troll and restore the simple villagers to their pastoral contentment. You should emphasize that it is all about restoring the unit to productivity, and that you recognize that it is the employees who express that productivity. Second, you should solicit information from everyone about their view of what went wrong and how to fix it.

The point here is twofold: 1) you will get some good history here, as well as some excellent new ideas, and you should consider them all carefully; 2) you will also, you should be aware, get personal criticisms, whether veiled or overt, of your predecessor. You should neither solicit nor comment on these. Listen in silence - let the employee vent, but do not reinforce or reward such personal criticism. Never agree with the criticism, and definitely do not choose such an occasion to contrast yourself favorably with your predecessor (you should never do such a thing in any event).

Once you’ve done your research, learned what the unit has been through, how it has absorbed and interpreted the experience, and you’ve determined how to proceed, call the group together one more time for a “we’re going back to work” meeting (in emergency situations, the “back-to-work” meeting can be moved to a point within the research period). You will refer neither to your predecessor’s shortcomings nor to your own undoubtedly sterling moral and professional qualities. You will talk only about the work facing the unit and how you all will be addressing it. You will inform them that it is time to bring their skills and experience back to bear on the group’s work. You will explain in some detail how you see that happening, and - again, without highlight yourself - what will be provided to help them do that - and this can be as simple as a fairly and firmly structured environment that everyone can feel secure enough in to return their focus to their work.

In returning everyone’s attention to the business of the group, you will be setting in motion the repair and rebuilding of those ties between the individuals in the unit and between their individual skills, aspirations, and satisfaction in their work. You do not need to address these directly yourself, making a self-congratulatory public and patronizing display of how much you value your employees - this will likely be recognized as shallow manipulation in an attempt to distract them from poor management. They came to work to satisfy not just economic needs, but personal and social ones as well. By offering them solid, professional management focused on helping them do quality, productive, efficient work, you will be establishing the conditions that give rise to the satisfaction of those personal and social needs, and which restore the productivity and morale of the unit.

One final note: While what I have just advised is essential, it can still take time for the unit to regain its trust and confidence in the quality and sincerity of the management it is now receiving, especially if the preceding experience was particularly bad or long-lasting. A special challenge for the group can often help speed things along. Is your organization designing a new product/service or process that your unit could perform or play a key role in? Can you think of such an initiative that you could convince your bosses to let your unit take on? If you can fight for and win such a challenging project for your unit, your presenting it to them will show them that the organization’s view of them is reflected by their being given this new, large, and important task, not by their having been burdened with the previous bad manager. Then, you will be amazed at how they will show you what they can do. And you will have put the past firmly behind you.