Bernadette Boas argues that out-of-touch managers who ignore team impact create lower productivity, higher turnover, and damaged trust. She shares how she once focused only on task lists and felt she added no value, then recommends regular feedback cadences to fix the problem.
Have you ever worked with, or have you been a leader who's just a little out of touch, almost acting and operating robotically? Someone who makes decisions without fully understanding the impact on your team. It's not always intentional, but the effects can be devastating. Lower productivity, higher turnover, damaged trust, and even missed opportunities for innovation. So here's the hard truth. In today's fast-paced, hyper-connected world, unconscious leadership is no longer just a minor flaw. It's a liability. And if you're not evolving, you could be leaving your team and your organization behind. And I started thinking to myself, that is oftentimes what a lot of managers do out there. A lot of leaders who think that they're giving their people what they need, that they're there for them, that they're present and intentional, but they're really not. I had a situation myself probably about 14 years ago now when I first started my business and all I was doing morning, noon, and night was executing, you know, creating a to-do list and just, you know, waking up in the morning, showing up. And making sure that I got that to-do list done by the end of the day. And oftentimes it went into the night. And then by the time I either collapsed on the couch or collapsed on my bed, I reflected back on the day and would often find myself thinking, I didn't impact anything other than my to-do list. I didn't inspire. I didn't develop. I didn't grow. The team members that were working for me. I didn't really add value to anything. And of course, that's just going to lead to turnover. There's more people leave because the manager than the company. More people leave for the manager than the job itself. More people leave because the manager than they do that they're bored or frustrated with their job. It ultimately will often come down to and back to the manager and what the manager is not providing. So you're gonna have a decrease in productivity, you're gonna have an increase in turnover, and then at the same time, all of that is just festering and creating a poor internal image of the company because many employees will start questioning the leadership, the further leadership. Of a company by why are they allowing this person to continue to lead, or so-called lead and manage, when they're just destroying the team dynamics and the workplace culture. And of course, all the things that we talked about regarding the, um, implications and the challenges, a lot of it had to do with the breakdown of the workplace culture, of the team dynamics, of taking a functioning team and making them dysfunctional, but now we wanna make 'em highly functional. It should be dynamic and yet at the same time purposeful, uh, if it's not scheduled. So if you want to really ensure that someone who has demonstrated unconscious characteristics, you want to ensure that they are putting a schedule, putting a cadence in place to gain consistent and regular feedback. So then they're always aware and they're always on top of perception and the experience that they're creating with others and of themselves at the same time.
From Stuck to Leading, Episode 2 — Meet the 5 Inner Fears Destroying Your Leadership
