In sport there is the expression ‘losing the room’ which is used when the coach or manager has lost the faith / interest of the team. Essentially, the team has fired the coach and while they may listen to what they say, it just glosses over them and they do what they feel is best and any alignment with the coach’s will is completely accidental. When this happens to a baseball or hockey club, the coach is often replaced. The players after all are the talent. They are whom the public shells out their money to see.

Managers in dysfunctional organizations can lose the room as well. Especially if they are the source of the dysfunction. Too often people who make it into management are all too good at keeping their job. This results in gradual destruction of morale and high employee turnover. Sometimes it is a gradual eroding, but sometimes it is also a very glaring event. Or worse, a glaring event that knocks all the supports from out the erosion zone. That’s almost always uncomfortable.

How do you avoid this? I think there are three contributing factors that combine to cause this phenomenon. One on its own is certainly not nice, but when you get all three mixed into the stew you have a real problem.

  1. Trust – If your team doesn’t trust that you will do what is in their best interest it is really hard to get them on board with new ideas as they will be met with significant amounts of skepticism. Sometimes you have to make decisions which which are unpleasant for the team, but necessary for the company. When that happens, be honest about the reasons behind them. Problems happen when it appears you have your own agenda to push. Especially if you are still just new to the group. Blowing the trust of the team from the start is a fantastic way to hobble yourself in a new position.
  2. Respect – This is a companion to Trust. I won’t go so far as to cite the Golden Rule, but treat your team as the adults they are. Ask for their input on decisions. In a development environment, they actually do know more about how things are wired together. And don’t just ask for it then do your own thing anyways. That is an altogether too common pattern, but is a killer.
  3. Belief – A team needs to be able to believe that what their manager says. Without belief you end up with ‘sure, of course we are going to do x. riiiight’. Soon they are just a talking head. Not a manger. Certainly not a leader. Just the person who gets in your way.

Any high-functioning team, or even just a functioning team has those three elements. Both to and from management and within. But the disconnect between management and their teams is often where this appears most often and causes the most damage.