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Writer's pictureVictoria Scott

"Bad Manager" Video – Selective Hearing

Updated: Sep 28, 2022

My next Good Manager vs. Bad Manager video is live! It’s called Good Manager vs. Bad Manager: Selective Hearing. In this video, you will watch a "Bad Manager" and a “Good Manager” listen to and “hear” employee suggestions differently. My special guest is also back - my son!


Have you ever encountered a situation where someone made a suggestion at a meeting and the manager, or their team members, jumped down their throat about why it could never work? Maybe even making them feel small, as if their ideas weren’t even worth hearing about, and discouraging them from contributing in the future? They are left wondering if they should defend their idea or just stop talking in the hopes the attack will end.


Then later in the same meeting, someone else makes essentially the same suggestion – to be received with rave reviews! All of a sudden this “stupid” idea has become the most brilliant one – after it came from the "right" person.


In my experience, that happens because the manager and/or team members hold a bias against that person for whatever reason. Yes, maybe the person who brought up the idea didn't have a lot of confidence when they first voiced it, but that's not why this happens. I’ve worked for many managers who just didn’t seem capable of doing their jobs unless they had at least one favorite and one least favorite – the one person they would always find an excuse to pick on, the one person who they took all their frustrations out on. Whenever that least favorite person eventually, inevitably left the organization, a new least favorite would be selected to fill the void.


One way you can counteract this behavior is to become the brave “first follower” who champions the good idea that came from the "wrong" person before anyone else in the meeting has the chance to start attacking it - using your influence to disarm the attack before it begins.


If you are a manager, I hope that this message serves as an opportunity for you to reflect about whether you unwittingly do this, or whether you have observed it from any of your employees, so that you can make changes when it you spot it. Every employee deserves to be heard and when your employees are silenced, so are their great ideas. So, who is this behavior really ultimately hurting?


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