“My boss is always breathing down my neck. Which is pretty impressive for someone with their head up their butt.”  Maxine

It may seem that I like to pick on bosses. The truth is, I think most people in supervisory and management positions are good people who want to do right for their companies and employees. Often, they fall short of their intentions because of the pressure they feel to treat employees as assets to be managed, and resources to be engineered, rather than as whole human beings, eager to be fully engaged.

Like all human groups, there is a culture within management that puts pressure on leaders to behave in specific ways, many of which are not affirming or respectful toward employees. Bosses are expected to be experts of the work, firm in their decisions, confident in their action, and tough toward employees. Those who lead with an iron fist, making decisions that are good for the company, even if they are bad for employees, are lauded as great leaders.

Leaders who are employee-oriented, who view employees as experts and include them in decision-making are seen as weak, and criticized for favoring popularity over achieving work goals. It is difficult for individuals to go against the prevailing culture of management that pressures them to treat employees as less competent or committed than the leaders.

We need a new culture of management built on the assumption that employees want their companies to succeed as much as management does. We need courageous leaders willing to adopt new models of partnership with employees built on cooperation, co-creation and co-ownership.

What would be different if your boss treated you as a partner rather than an adversary or a resource? Would you be more engaged? If you are a supervisor or manager, could you imagine going against the culture to treat employees as your equals in intellect, creativity and competence? Would you be viewed as a weak leader?

Learn more about new models of leadership from my book, “Management Culture” available at mgmtculture.com and Amazon.