At the turn of the century, the office was a very different place. For one, there was no remote working. For most offices, there still wasn't even the internet. And the way bosses managed back then differed greatly to the modern workplace.
If you’d asked someone in the year 2000 to summarise their boss, I’d wager that the picture they painted would be far less flattering than one created by the modern worker. After all, there’s a reason that the TV show, The Office, hit home when it was released a year later.
But the world has changed immeasurably since then – and there isn’t any space for a David Brent in the modern office.
Back then, managers were often just like Brent – albeit without the dad dancing. They could be a bit overbearing. They felt staff couldn’t work without their input. Often the approach was to hit staff with the proverbial stick, rather than trusting them to deliver.
Since then, we’ve realised just how wrong they got it.
And increasingly, I’m realising a good manager doesn’t manage at all. They coach.
Your staff usually know their jobs. They know how to do them. They’ve got decades of education and training behind them, and the skills to deliver.
And crucially, they should be trusted to deliver – after all, if they don’t, then there’s always someone waiting in the wings.
So why do they need a David Brent barking orders? How does that get the best out of anybody? Well, it doesn’t.
What does get results is the softer approach.
Staff will deliver more for your business if they are motivated. If they feel listened to. If they are encouraged and empowered.
And that can be the ‘X factor’ into turning staff who simply do their job into staff who excel in their job – and accelerate your business.
David Brent never had this approach, nor did a lot of managers back then.
Despite being called managers, they actually struggled to manage as they couldn’t connect with their staff.
They weren’t curious. They didn’t try to understand their staff’s wants and desires – instead, they tried to shape their team around them.
Like Brent, they’d be rightfully viewed as dinosaurs in the increasingly remote modern office.
What that modern workplace benefits from are managers who can find ways to connect with their team. Managers who want to understand and tap into their teams’ driving forces.
I recently filmed a video on managing difficult people, where I sat down with another business coach – Anth Quinn – and we established that the reality is the problems around managing tricky staff often come from the top.
If the pandemic taught the business community anything, it is that we all need to be more flexible, be it from where we work or how we work.
That’s the unavoidable reality of the modern office.
That’s why in 2024, I’m working on a new campaign called ‘The Changing World of Work’.
I want to encourage leaders and managers to find out how they can coach – rather than manage – their team and how that can ultimately grow their business.
So be a coach, not a manager.
And don’t, whatever you do, be a Brent.
kinnery.co.uk