What causes employees to strongly dislike who they report to?

Here are three significant mistakes managers make that will cause employees to hate working for him or her:

1. Employees hate surprises.

A drastic schedule change based on what the manager wants to accomplish with no respect to the employees' desires is not a surprise employees are going to welcome. Obviously, in the pace of the modern economy, changes happen quickly and credit unions have to shift gears with the need for employees to get on board with the changes as fast as possible.

Good communication can make these shifts in direction not surprises at all. But, when a manager moves expectations, deadlines or employee vacation schedules with any kind of frequency for no apparent reason, the employee will quickly become disengaged with the job.

Another surprise employees surveyed said they hated is trying to guess the boss's mood. In leadership, attitude consistency is critical to creating a solid work environment. When the boss is moody, the tone of the workplace, meetings and interactions can change dramatically.

When employees wait to see the mood of the boss to determine how their day is going to go, it's a good indication this is not the most pleasant working environment, not to mention their focus is in the wrong place.

2. Employees hate unclear goals.

Executives frequently announce the company goals without any clarity on what each employee's goals are or how they individually contribute to the overall credit union goals.

All employees want to know the score. Whichever way you measure your success in your credit union, it's important for employees to understand how they make that success happen and what their personal goal is in helping the credit union as a whole.

Be sure to provide your employees either personal goals or team goals (teams can be by branch, teller line, loan office, etc.) and provide them continuous feedback on how they are performing against those goals; otherwise, your employees are not going to show any interest in what you are trying to accomplish with your success measurements.

3. Employees hate empty talk.

Don't say it unless you truly plan on doing it. Managers who make promises or commitments and fail to follow through for any reason will create a trust barrier with their employees. When a leader promises to get back to an employee on a question they had, the employee fully expects that commitment to happen. When the manager fails to follow through, not only is trust lost, but any extra effort or commitment the employees had been giving to that manager will be lost.

Measure your commitments without being wishy-washy. There is nothing wrong with saying, “I need to get back to you on that,” as long as you get back to that person in a timely manner. A manager becomes wishy-washy when responses such as, “That is a possibility. We'll see what we can do,” or, “That sure is something we need to think about,” become synonymous with being told, “No.”

Managers who create hope where none exists, sets in motion the foundation for distrust and dislike.

Managing people can be a significant challenge in the fast pace of business today. A manager who builds workforce loyalty and commitment while creating a desire to perform is a significant component to credit union success.

The last thing a credit union leader needs is for employees to hate working for them because of poor management execution, regardless of intent.

Russell J. White is a consultant and speaker from Lake Wylie, S.C.