I wanted to get a promotion and in my company that is a very formal process where they have a committee which interviews you, asks your staff questions, etc.
I got a 0/5 score (basically none of the 5 recommended me) from the committee and in big caps in the feedback form was:
"DOES NOT INSPIRE T...
"why do employees need to trust me? They just need to obey." and "I gave my team a stern talking to about what they said about me" You need to think long and hard about this.
I am almost leaning towards suspecting a troll. The statement, "why do employees need to trust me? They just need to obey." in combination with trying to intimidate subordinates ( "gave my team a stern talking to" ) speaks of such poor qualification for any kind of management position, that I have trouble believing this is an earnest question. But I suppose an entirely unqualified person handling subordinates is not the craziest thing to happen in a workplace environment. Bottom line, the promotion was rightfully denied and given the reaction OP is unfit for this role.
the OP's management style is fairly normal in some locales, particularly those with high unemployment levels. Just needs to learn to adjust management style to a new locales needs.
@Kilisi Fair. What irritates me still is that OP was explicitely told why they did not get the promotion by the commitee and responded with more of the behavior which was criticized.
@Mär Op was upset and venting. I've seen much worse managers than described here. But I'd take the committee explanation with a large grain of salt anyway.
@Mär I once met a manager who defined employee trust as the willingness of his employees to follow his instructions without explanation and interpreted questions as a lack of trust. You are assuming a level of self-reflection not everyone has. I kinda doubt that OP cares about building it though beyond getting the promotion.
@nopromotion - So your reaction to hearing your team doesn’t trust you and actually fears you is to have a stern discussion with them? This is called intimidation and is a great way to be fired.
It really sounds like you're unfit for your current position. I'm glad the company talked to your colleagues and denied the promotion, it really was the sensible thing to do for them.
@scaaahu "needs not only an answer, but also a lesson" can be true even if the question doesn't belong here. Probably 90%+ of the questions I think should be closed on this site are "valuable workplace questions", but just aren't a good fit for the site. Most of those have an underlying on-topic question, but unfortunately when there's 9 answers and one with a score of 27 it's way too late to make such a significant edit (and also no-one else seems to care about the long-term value of questions). It shouldn't be closers vs answerers, but closers + editors + answerers (= great questions).
@scaaahu "The OP obviously needs not only an answer, but also a lesson" - they also obviously want neither, seeing as how they haven't logged back in since they posted this. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it look at its reflection.
@Kilisi: I'd say the feedback from OPs managers and their refusal to promote this person based on these criteria would suggest a locale where fear based leadership is unacceptable.
Why do you need trust? It's not difficult to see if you have any people skills at all. If people don't trust you and instead fear you, among other things, they will be hestitant to tell you the cold hard truth if they think you won't like it, which means you won't have all the info you need to do your job. Are you in the habit of shooting the messenger?
WorkplaceSE gets so many questions about a reasonably functional manager who is afflicted by an obviously toxic work environment that it is refreshing to get a question about an obviously toxic manager who is afflicted by reasonably functional work environment.
Your team is working WITH you not FOR you. One day you will fall under a manager who will treat you similar to how you treat your team. How would you feel then?
I don't think this question is being asked in good faith. This sounds like an employee making fun of their boss for this behavior by pretending to be them.
Discussion on question by nopromotion…
Discussion on question by nopromotion…