Another interesting study was done. One that should really catch our attention. It reveals that employees who are happier and treated well, produce better results than those who are unhappy. And most frontline workers are unhappy and are looking elsewhere for work.

No, it shouldn’t surprise us. But somehow it does. It surprises us first, because we are stunned that a study had to be done to prove something that is so obvious. The outcome of study should not be as surprising as fact that it was done at all! When we recover from that, then it may surprise us because we aren’t aware that most frontline staffers aren’t happy and they don’t feel that they are treated well at work.

Ugh! This must make us look at ourselves if we are managers. But we have to give ourselves a break…we’re not bad guy! I think I know why and how this happens.

The position somehow changes us whether we know it or not! My own research, and my work with thousands of frontline supervisors, lead me to believe that there is a clear and simple answer: We become so consumed with position, we lose ‘person’ we think and know ourselves to be. This is too bad too, because it was probably that personable person who got us this higher position!

Bosses can lose their own identity sometimes. It’s easy. It happens a lot. The results are devastating to both workers and to supervisor.

When we are boss, there are many dangers in becoming you ‘position’ instead of you ‘person’. There are many reasons why supervisors morph into being serious, alienated, distracted, unapproachable boss. One is that we want so badly to do a good job, and we think one way to do that is to take job very seriously.

But other reasons are that we don’t know how to be a good supervisor and we don’t know what this job is that we have been promoted into. The reason is that we don’t know how to spend our time, what to concentrate on and what or how to delegate. So we take it all so seriously because we really don’t know what we are supposed to do as a supervisor. This creates stress, distress, anxiety and toxicity. This is not only true for new supervisors. It remains true for many veteran bosses for whom people do not like to work.

So supervisors must concentrate on three things, and only three. When they know what these three things are, a lot of pressure that turns them into position will be lifted. Then, they can lighten up and be person they know they are again, as they will know what to do with their time as a supervisor. And, you won’t be surprised to learn that these three things are antidote for staff turnover!

Let’s start at beginning. The top three reasons people leave their jobs:

1st reason, they leave because their supervisor as a jerk; 2nd, because they don’t feel acknowledged, recognized or appreciated; 3rd, they have no say in their work