Leaders own the problems in their midst, even the ones they didn’t create. We are not performing on deliveries, even if the development group handed us a new product that was not ready.” Don’t zap your team’s energy by wallowing in the “woe is me” or blame game drama. After Jim left, my staff was upset at the way Jim challenged me in front of them.
During one of his visits to our production facility, Jim got heated with me in front of my staff. My wife wasn’t the only one to witness Jim’s rants. Filter out the unnecessary emotions and focus the team on the essence of what the boss is communicating.īe alert to the impact of your boss’s rants on others and avoid the “misery loves company” temptation. As the leader, you are ultimately responsible for your team’s performance. Hold yourself and your team accountable for their failures and missed commitments, but don’t let your frustrations cascade onto them. Defuse the attack by listening quietly and carefully.Īfter making sense of the boss’s rant, communicate deliberately and objectively with your team. Instead, use non-defensive communication techniques. Don’t antagonize the boss by telling him to “calm down.” Avoid giving a “yes, I’m wrong” answer just to get off the phone or out of his office.
Seek to clarify what you don’t understand and restate the message to confirm it is understood and received. Twice, Jim’s calls compelled me to leave family vacations in Cape Cod to address issues at my production facility in Mexico, and then return to catch the tail end of our family trip.īreathe fully, listen carefully and sort the signal (the actual message) from the noise (the boss’s intensity) to figure out exactly what’s setting him off. Once, my wife Debbie could even hear him from across the room. Sometimes his calls were so intense that I had to hold the phone about six inches from my head to keep my eardrums intact.
My boss, Jim, was passionate about performance.
Unfortunately, the ferocity of the frustrations hurled by the ranter often leave the recipient feeling like a refugee, adrift, disoriented and sometimes desperate.Īs a young plant manager, I was on the receiving end of numerous rants while struggling to keep up with the demands of my new job. An effective rant is an intense reprimand intended to sharpen focus and motivate results in the recipient. For all the emphasis on respect in the workplace, many leaders struggle with how to respond when their boss goes on a rant.
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