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Chapter 1: What does Michelle Obama say about Gen Z and bad bosses?
You may have heard during the week that Michelle Obama has said Gen Z needs to learn to endure bad bosses. Easier said than done, Michelle, say us. But if you're dealing with a bad boss day in, day out, how do you deal with it? To get some advice now, I'm joined in the studio by the CEO of HR consultancy firm, HR Buddy, Damien McCarthy. Hello, Damien.
Good morning, Clare.
Are you a bad boss? No, I won't ask you that.
You'll have to ask my employees.
What about that question, though? Like, what is a bad boss? Because I might think somebody's bad, but my colleagues might think that person is great.
Yeah, that's actually a good point. It's a point I would make as well, that if you have a boss or a manager with a team of 30 people, 29 might think they're great. And there's one employee who will brand them as a bad boss. OK, so I suppose the point I would make is bad boss is fine. You know, they get the slack. OK, they're in the managerial position.
Sometimes they have bad bosses over them as well. So that can be a factor. And sometimes there are, believe it or believe it not, bad employees. OK, but there is no doubt. And, you know, when I was looking at this, I came across a startling stat, which I think is incredible by the Chartered Management Institute, which tells us that 82 percent of managers in workplaces are accidental managers.
That is the problem, isn't it? People who haven't had any ambition, maybe to be a manager, no training to be a manager, but end up in that position.
Yeah, and it's the classic kind of, I suppose, when we were going to college doing our HR exams and so on, you know, the engineer was always used as the example. You know, you had your wizard of an engineer, a great performer, knew what they were doing, and then they get promoted to the people management position or the supervisor of the factory or whatever. And it all goes wrong from there.
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Chapter 2: How can we define a bad boss?
And it's also about rewarding people. So there's a path there and the path often is in up into management.
And rewarding by promotion and that brings the bigger salary and so on and that's how they grow. Okay, that's fair enough. I suppose the point I'm making is that 82% aren't formally trained in leadership management and in people management. And that's a big mistake.
It's a big statistic, isn't it?
It's huge. It's actually startling. It's mind boggling. I mean, if you look at workplaces and organisations and in workplace research, we're finding this out as well. About 50% of workers across different researches across the world are saying that there is more investment now and more interest in investment in AI than there is in people management.
So they feel their managers aren't being trained in people management and that's where the problem exists.
And I would make this point, I suppose, if I was to give one piece of advice this morning is that, you know, you're making a big mistake as an employer or as a workplace if you're not training your people managers or if you're promoting people into people management and not giving them the skill set and the knowledge. So get line manager training done.
OK, well, there's that. But then there's Michelle Obama saying that you have to just stick it. You have to get through it. And if you can get through it, you will show that you've built resilience.
Yeah, well, actually, I agree in large part with what Michelle Obama said. OK, she makes a very good point. But you have to take it with a pinch of salt as well. You can't intentionally go out to disgruntled workers. That's just not a good idea. I mean, it has bad results for any workplace, any organisation. There'll be a drop in productivity and engagement.
There'll be higher absenteeism and there'll be higher staff turnover. OK, so they're just cardinal sins in people management and running an organisation.
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Chapter 3: What percentage of managers are considered accidental managers?
Because if you're going to take it to HR, you need to have documentation. It can't be kind of hearsay. That's important. I do just want to go back to Michelle Obama because whilst I kind of take it with a pinch of salt, I do in the main agree with her because she went into kind of two zones, the grit zone and the toxic zone.
And like the grit zone is kind of those things where they don't agree with their manager and so on. I think anyone listening in, if they go back to their careers when they were young, they could very easily, like I can, pull out an example of a poor people manager. Someone who was in a people management position because they were a company.
Who shouldn't have been.
Yeah, and they weren't trained and they dealt with you badly and, you know, disgruntled you and it was a bad experience. Michelle Obama's point was that You know, everything can't be rosy in the garden for the young worker. They have to carry the bags, she says. OK, so I suppose, you know, you have to put in the groundwork. You're going to have a bad experience.
No workplace should be setting out to give you that bad experience. Train your managers. But, you know, you kind of have to put down your time as a young person. And actually the long term growth in that and seeing the poor people manager, you're the future leader. The young workers in most places now are the future people managers. They're the future leaders.
So if you never see a bad people manager, how can you grow? How do you know what to do right?
And that's where you get your grit, is that the point?
That's your grit, yeah.
So, see, the younger generation now, Gen Z as we call them, they get a bad rep, don't they? Like, oh, they won't put up with anything and they're not able for any hardship. And unfairly, I think. Probably not all true, right?
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Chapter 4: Why is training essential for people managers?
But very often, as I said, bad bosses, if they're not trained properly, and I would doubt that that manager was trained.
Yeah, that's probably at the root of it.
And there's pressure coming down from the top.
Damien, we'll leave it there, but it's fascinating. Thank you very much for coming in. That is Damien McCarthy from HR Buddy. The Clare Byrne Show. With Aviva Insurance. Weekday mornings at nine. On Newstalk. Conversation that counts.