Tough leadership or too harsh? Why strong management matters more than ever

A call yesterday from a Business Manager, concerned that a staff member who had resigned gave exit feedback that the Manager's communication style was too tough.

The staff member concerned had been given firm feedback that her performance and behaviour were not up to scratch - the response to which was the resignation.

The call to me was the Business Manager suffering a moment of self-doubt and asking me if I thought she was too harsh?

My response:

• Nobody at an exit interview ever admitted that they weren't good enough;

• Instead, they blame a person and not a system;

• So the Business manager was always going to be the "excuse".

My advice:

• I quoted a client at a recent workshop, Partner in a 4-location mixed practice, who shared with us that "I like my Managers to be hard and fair - but mainly hard."

• So I suggested that my Manager should stay exactly as she is - or get tougher.

You are going to get sick of me saying that we are moving in to a challenging economic cycle and that business is going to get harder this year.

The sooner we prepare our teams and clinicians for that, the better.

By the way - you are also going to get sick of me saying that business owners and managers need coaching, community and confidence more than ever.