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Management is not easy. Some build up their whole careers into climbing the corporate ladder, and intend to keep climbing, but to do that, their team must be the best of the best and the best at doing what they do. Makes sense that managers are under so much stress, juggling between their own career ambitions, personal life, and the demands of leadership, the needs and goals of their team, and the demands of the work. Again, not easy. And yet, people keep piling more responsibilities, such as employee engagement and culture.
So, with this in mind, what are snow plow managers? Read this short article to find out.
What is the opposite of a micromanager? Erica Lamberg writes for Fast Company, and according to Owl Labs’ new term, a snowplow manager. This newly coined lingo takes after snowplow parenting, where parents try to remove any challenge from a child’s life. Not great when seen from an outsider adult’s perspective, right?
So, what are snowplow managers? They are managers who try to take on many responsibilities to protect their team. This type is often seen as a better alternative to micromanagers, but in fact, they can create a stifling environment that doesn’t allow their team members to grow and develop their capabilities.
How can you spot them? They tend to be the ones who micromanage, more out of concern for the team’s well-being than maliciousness. Not only that, they tend to avoid delegating tasks, some because they don’t want to overwhelm their team, others because they don’t trust their teams to do things quickly or right enough. In some cases, they might even exclude their teams from meetings with leadership to protect them from demands.
“Rather than empower workers with self-reliance, snowplow managers often request constant updates and check-ins, showing their lack of trust in their team.”
Again, this doesn’t come from a malicious place. In fact, studies show that managers have higher stress levels than 55% of non-managers. The sources of this stress are usually productivity and engagement, especially for those who manage remote or hybrid teams. To try to combat this, they tend to remove obstacles, but it all comes around to accidentally stagnating their team’s careers by denying them opportunities to develop. “The short-term relief isn’t worth the long-term setback,” says HiBob’s people and culture director, Annie Rosencrans.
But there must be a root cause of supportive management turning into a snowplow, right? For some, efficiency and reputation can be motivators, but there’s even a hypothesis that as layoffs become more of a threat, managers are trying to save themselves and their team through results. Some companies prioritize short-term results over long-term achievements, which makes managers want to protect their team. This, combined with the fact that big companies are slashing middle management, gives rise to snowplow management.
Bryan Robinson, PhD, has written several articles about leadership, management, and making sure that managers are good leaders. As such, he has a new article on Forbes tackling this trend.
First of all, what makes a good and supportive manager? He breaks it down to seven musts:
Failing to do these can lead people to toxic management or a snowplow style. Sadly, as we’ve established, this is more due to stress and a lack of training than anything. Burnout is more prevalent in managers than non-managers, according to meQuilibrium. But the most surprising thing is that Owl Labs’ CEO, Frank Weishaupt, theorizes that for many employees, a good manager is actually a snowplow manager, as this management style makes them feel less overwhelmed. Still, this can have bad consequences down the line, as they can become dependent.
“They tend to be perfectionists who envision their employees’ success as a reflection on them, and they hover in an effort to achieve perfect results.”
Now, what if you feel seen? What if you are a snowplow manager? Can you change your ways to alleviate some stress and let your team grow? Of course. They might not be easy, but Robinson advises following three steps:
Now, but what if you’re under a snowplow manager and want to turn it around? Well, then there are five steps for you:
But let’s go back for a bit. How can you be a supportive manager while avoiding taking full responsibility on your shoulders? Liza Zigarmi and Stella Grizont recommend just being present for your team through attunement on a piece for the Harvard Business Review.
Attunement can be described as being present and validating people’s feelings without necessarily jumping into action and trying to fix things. It’s not about changing emotions; it’s about acknowledging them. This is a good strategy to support workers in taking the leap to fix their own stuff without leaders loading themselves with more stuff to worry about.
Let’s be clear: Leaders are under a lot of pressure, which makes them more susceptible to burnout. Attunement is a good strategy, but it won’t relieve any of the stress from burnout. If played right, it could make your team more independent and improve the trust on both sides.
Not only that, but according to Gallup, 52% of workers report feeling under a lot of stress, and 22% say that they feel anger. Attunement can help you connect with your team’s emotions and regulate each other to grow.
“When employees perceive that their leaders care about their emotional well-being, they are more engaged and happier. In fact, they are more likely to endorse their organization, perform at a high level, remain with the company, apply discretionary effort, and engage in citizenship behaviors.”
So, how can you attune?
The whole workforce is under a lot of stress, and managers might be the ones feeling the brunt of it most clearly. Those who want to be good managers empathize and try to change their ways to protect their teams from demands or possible layoffs by taking on more than they can chew, which makes teams feel supported but inevitably leads managers to burnout. Not only that, but this can kneecap a career trajectory, as workers aren’t independent enough to make decisions on their own, as they are always reliant on a helping hand.
The response to all these issues is, of course, to allow people to fend for themselves in a corporate environment. It might sound easy, but it is not. Trying to step back might be challenging, almost as much as having to ask your boss to allow you to commit mistakes, and yet by following the steps and methods we enumerated in the article, things will take shape little by little.
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