There’s one thing that not just managers, but all workers fear looking like at work

60% of employees say the ability to do what they do best in a role at work is “very important” to them according to Gallup surveys.  Our research at Cortex would support the fact that people are highly engaged when they know what is expected of them and are given the tools, resources, support, and training for them to perform optimally at what is asked of them.

No one at work from janitors to administrative assistants to C-suite leaders want to appear “stupid”.  The fear of someone not looking like they “know what they are doing” only increases when they rise to the level of supervisor to manager to leader and even up to the CEO position. The fear of seeming “incompetent” drives people’s actions and can give them less than ideal results.

Constant change can make this fear worse.  Change is stressful at work because you can be asked to perform tasks or be held accountable for things that you don’t feel you have a high degree of competence in.  The more changes, the harder it is to keep up with all of them and remain current as far as the skill sets necessary to perform them.

Review Job Descriptions at Least Once A Year

Some of the changes that can lead to frustration and a higher fear of “looking stupid” is when the organization is experiencing rapid growth, there are a number of new technology applications they need to learn, and there are disruptions in the marketplace. To ease this fear, job descriptions should be reviewed and possibly updated each year. Good times to do this are during job appraisals, performance reviews, and the hiring process to ensure that they reflect the job duties that a team member is or will be responsible and accountable for.  This would also allow leaders, managers, and supervisors the ability to identify which skill sets are needed for the job and whether the revised tasks are still a good fit for the employee.

Why Managers Don’t Speak Up About What They Aren’t Good At

If a manager’s job description isn’t clear, or updated as the duties are modified consistently enough, they can feel insecure about speaking up about skill sets they may need to be improved. Let’s say I am asked to be a manager.  I’m flattered that you believe and trust me enough to perform that role.  Things are changing so rapidly at work that there’s no time to “train” me so you let me “jump right in the deep end” and instruct me to “come to you with any questions I might have”.  So I jump in, head first, and do my very best.  I work hard to imitate what other managers are doing, do the opposite if I think they are terrible at their jobs, or go on my “gut” believing that if you think I can do the job, I must be able to.

I don’t say anything to you when I start running into issues because I fear that you will think I don’t know what I’m doing.  I’m afraid that if you lose trust in my abilities that I will get demoted and that, of course, would prove to everyone else I didn’t know what I was doing.  My pay will probably go down or the worst could happen, I would be fired.  The incentive for me to “fake it until I make it” is high and the risk could be equally as high for sharing that I may not have the skills necessary to the job I am being paid to do.

The Sink or Swim Management Training Method

To speed up transition and onboarding periods for new managers, some approach it with a “sink or swim” management training approach. This may have worked for some positions and departments in the past.  You could perhaps throw a manager into a position without any soft skills training because the unemployment rate was high and the people they were managing may not have been able to get another job.  Now that unemployment is hovering at or below 4% nationally, a bad manager starts to show up in low retention rates. This can begin to negatively effect already difficult recruitment efforts.  In fact, the diagnosis within the organization becomes “we just can’t get qualified applicants anymore or keep the employees we have”.  What is also common is, “We can’t replace Joe, we don’t have anyone else to take his place as the manager of that department”.

Free Manager Skill Set Checklist Assessment

To ensure that you are spending energy and resources on building the right manager skill sets, here is a manager skill set checklist.  You can find the main skill sets most managers need in order to be proficient at for them to effectively work through others. You can find over 400 cheat sheets to help build your leadership tool belt at https://cortexleadership.com/category/leadership-blog/.