The sugary sweet, smells like bullsh!t from a mile away is my biggest professional pain point. What it says to me is that either:

a) my manager isn’t smart enough to recognize what’s really happening
b) s/he doesn’t think I’m smart enough to recognize what’s really happening
c) s/he doesn’t think I’m smart enough to have a potential solution

Clearly, none of these situations are good.

The only way to avoid that is really to put yourself in the shoes of your reports. What would you want to hear? How would you want to be heard?

The key, for me, is to be able to show the light at the end of the tunnel (but do it AFTER you incorporate the feedback/concerns/ideas of your reports). Without a plan to turn the ship around then you’re sunk. Celebrating successes is important, but you want to try to identify them ahead of time so that you can start slowly building positive momentum. That momentum means more when it’s in everyone’s sights ahead of time.

CK – My comment wasn’t meant to be a rebuttal to Phil’s initial post, btw. I seriously am curious about that balance between a realistic point of view and retaining an optimistic point of view. i.e. it wasn’t meant to need a comeback, but to get a genuine response about how to achieve that balance without sacrificing a realistic point of view or without sacrificing optimism in the face of dark times. I think it succeeded. Phil’s response if great. I only wish my managers were half as thoughtful and tried even 10% as much as the crew here at Slacker Manager tries to know themselves as managers.

I literally come here to try to get a handle on what my managers could be doing better and then try to incorporate that into my own daily attitude. It does NOT always work, of course. Some days I do indeed give up and go home. Other days I am reminded of the very good people I work with and that I should focus on making sure those people scratch their heads in bemusement if someone mentions that I have a negative attitude.

An insincere manager can be sensed a mile away by employees. When a manager is faking then employees stop trusting because of the lies or perceived lies and thus ending up not leading.

A good book is “Leading at a higher level” by Ken Blanchard. It is a long read but well worth it!