God Does Not Work For You
Screaming is awesome, isn’t it? Just look at how jolly all those magnificent death metal frontmen are. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Screaming is probably the single most joyful moment of expressing anger. It’s probably the only joyous moment, though some people with a knife or a gun would debate that. Screaming at the top of your lungs is a blast both for your physical and for your mental health. It relieves stress, burns calories, and according to some unknown Chinese medic, whose name I shall not pronounce, to save myself the embarrassment, screaming may prolong your life. Who would’ve thought?
Screaming at someone else on the other hand may not have the same benefits. Yelling inches from someone’s face, spraying them with your saliva, is not only a reason to get shot or at least arrested these days, but also very stressful to the one being screamed at. Shocking, I know. People don’t like it when they are yelled at. Knowing this, how can screaming at your employees still be a thing is beyond me.
There is a term that describes bosses that scream at their employees when they make a mistake. Webster’s dictionary defines them as complete losers with brains the size of a pimple on the left cheek of an ant. Or at least it should. Yelling doesn’t only show what a lousy boss you are but also is outrageously counterproductive. It skyrockets the stress level in the office, the fear of making mistakes slows down the work to the point where everyone is just afraid to do anything, and it leads to resignations by the dozens. You can’t build an effective team, simply because no one hangs around for enough time to embody your business culture. And let’s be honest, if screaming at your employees is part of the business culture at your office, there is something seriously wrong from the get-go.
If you still haven’t left the XIII century, I have bad news for you. Feudalism is over, and no one can be forced to work for you. So parading in your office like a lord among peasants, waiting to chop-off someone’s head, just because they dropped a pencil or potato on the floor will end up just like feudalism. Well, maybe not like feudalism, since it ended with the Black Death, and that’s not something I want to imagine or wish for, but still it’ll be bad for the business.
If stressing out and chasing away your employees is not enough to remind you that you are not a drill sergeant in the army, maybe the fall out of your screams will make you reconsider your motivational tactics. By yelling at your co-workers, the only thing you are teaching them is to operate like machines. With no emotion, empathy, or any application of their mind that you hired them for in the first place. For someone to think, it requires confidence, which you rip out of them as gently as a crocodile, who grabbed the leg of a gazelle, trying to drink some water from a lake in the Savanna.
By screaming at every mistake, you also push them to forget all your other great qualities (except your angelic voice), and your birthday as well. They start to lose respect for you and your authority starts to wobble. Fear is not a great tool for inspiring respect and good work does not happen with a gun pointed to one’s head.
There is not a single positive outcome from yelling at your employees. Instead of being a douche, you can try a new, mind-altering system that guarantees you won’t be compared to something you usually flush down the toilet. Don’t yell. What a concept. Yes, it’s not that douchey, and you won’t look like a grown-up child. You certainly won’t have the privilege of being insulted behind your back, and surprisingly, you will not ruin your business and your vocal cords. On the other hand, you will have a competent team, ready to make decisions based on their skills and knowledge, using their best judgment. Yes, sometimes there will be mistakes, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.
Any Entrepreneur will tell you that being a boss is not fashionable for about three decades now. People frown upon the idea of a boss. What they seek is a leader. A person that can inspire them and they can trust with anything. If you see your employees as your subordinates, they will perceive their job to be just that — a job. They will work till the clock hits 5 pm without any involvement, emotion, or devotion. On the other hand, if you look at them as partners, colleagues, teammates, and as your family, they will give so much more in their work, just because you are there, beside them, working alongside them and making mistakes, just like them. And there will be mistakes.
If there is a God, He certainly does not work for you
And if God does not work for you, you will make your share of mistakes. As I wrote in this article, failure and mistakes are a blessing.
My team at UnCanvas is crammed with brilliant minds in many fields, and I haven’t forgotten why I brought them on the team. They are simply better than me at what they do. Much better. I have no right to critique them if they make a mistake? I certainly couldn’t do better. And even if I could, I’d make many more mistakes than they ever will. I just know myself well enough and it would be a disaster.
When someone on our team makes a mistake, I am usually more afraid of their reaction than they are of mine. They are always beating themselves up, apologizing as if they pressed the button to start World War III. As their guide and as their leader, it’s my job and duty to offer them unconditional support. To reassure them that World War III will more likely start either by the Chinese or American politicians, over some water dispute than by a lonely copywriter, disruptive marketing expert, or crazy ass designer in our studio. I’m responsible for reestablishing their trust in themselves, and not the other way around. I trust them completely that they won’t make the same mistake, that they fixed the problem as best as they can soon as it occurred, and they learned enough from the mistake that it doesn’t happen again. And if it does, we start over and learn again.
I’m a firm believer that mistakes make a better future, so, although I don’t encourage my team to make mistakes, I certainly don’t critique them or scream at them when it happens. And screaming…well, that’s reserved for when I am behind the wheel of my car, driving into the night, listening to John Denver’s Country Roads and watch in horror when I see the moonlight on a torn white bedsheet hanging from a tree ahead of me.
Mukesh Manik is the Chief Disruptor at UnCanvas, a marketing company that loves to generate customers on demand for Business Owners & Entrepreneurs
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
