Seeking Insights on Leadership Challenges in a Multi-Generational Workplace, servant leadership vs old people and fear

[Anonymous]

I'm in my 30s and I'm suspicious of people who refer to their own management as "servant leadership." How are you serving? What exactly does it look like? Nobody objects to a boss who supports them in reaching their full potential. If they do, it probably means you're doing it poorly, or not actually doing that, or have a very different vision of their potential than they do.

In other words, I'm not convinced this is an "old people" issue, or that we're getting the full story. I'd like to hear an example of a clash as told by an employee. And why on earth would you have to run your DCUM post through ChatGPT?

[Anonymous]

I'm in my mid 40s and I have employees ranging from mid 60s to 20s. I don't make generalizations based on their ages, that's usually insulting and often not true. The chatGPT post reads like nonsense to me and if this is the way you communicate with people of any age I can't imagine it's effective with anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 30s and I'm suspicious of people who refer to their own management as "servant leadership." How are you serving? What exactly does it look like? Nobody objects to a boss who supports them in reaching their full potential. If they do, it probably means you're doing it poorly, or not actually doing that, or have a very different vision of their potential than they do.

In other words, I'm not convinced this is an "old people" issue, or that we're getting the full story. I'd like to hear an example of a clash as told by an employee. And why on earth would you have to run your DCUM post through ChatGPT?

I am 70 and I agree with all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in my 30s and I'm suspicious of people who refer to their own management as "servant leadership." How are you serving? What exactly does it look like? Nobody objects to a boss who supports them in reaching their full potential. If they do, it probably means you're doing it poorly, or not actually doing that, or have a very different vision of their potential than they do.

In other words, I'm not convinced this is an "old people" issue, or that we're getting the full story. I'd like to hear an example of a clash as told by an employee. And why on earth would you have to run your DCUM post through ChatGPT?

Servant leadership is just the term that’s used to describe one style. I don’t know where the term came from, but it mostly means that you see your role as empowering your staff and stepping in as needed. Your job is to “serve them” by removing impediments rather than dictating commands.

OP is not apparently aware of what it means at all. I hate when someone refers to themselves as a servant leader, actually, because I see it more as instituting a style
of management adopted by a team, rather then something insisted upon by their manager. I have only had 2 actual servant leaders in my career. That’s my preferred style for someone to whom I report. However, I know people who hate it because they like very clear boundaries and a hierarchical structure.

[Anonymous]

The only “servant leader” I had was totally fake and ready to throw his reports under the bus in a second.

[Anonymous]

I am 37. I had two boomer managers who were servant leaders but never would have used that term. They were wonderful, genuinely wanted to help you be the best you could be, and knocked themselves out to make sure you had everything necessary to do your job.
They were followed by two managers my own age, both who called themselves this ridiculous term and spent all of their time either holed up in their offices or "working remotely" sucking up to their superiors. They could not have matched names to faces among their 50+ direct reports. (Hospital)
You sound utterly insufferable.

[Anonymous]

You’re probably like my old boss who was a total idiot and ineffective manager but thought she was a great boss because she spouted words like servant leadership and read Brene Brown books.

[Anonymous]

What does “command and control mentality” even mean? Any older supervisors I have had simply don’t waste time. They avoid meeting for the sake of meeting and just want employees to get their work done. There’s nothing fear-inducing about that unless you talk more than you produce.

I’d prefer that over team-building exercises and unnecessary meetings. I’ve only had one younger supervisor, and she was a big fan of meetings. Lots and lots of enthusiastic meetings, but very little substance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In order to get promoted you will need to adopt your style to the people above you.

Once you are there you can change things.

This is a great insight.

[Anonymous]

I’m Gen X and servant leadership is my favorite style. However your seems to be mixed with pretension and faux sincerity which also as Gen X, really goes nowhere with me. I prefer genuine servant leaders with integrity not someone who grabbed it off a chat bot.

[Anonymous]

I think managing by Excel Spreadsheet can be effective. My old boss who has an MBA from NYU did it for three years for his staff of 40 and extremely effective.

Raises and bonuses all tied to spreadsheet. Rules were clear. The bonus pool and raises followed a strict formula.

Every day you attended work and worked more than 8 hours, were productive got a 50 percent bonus Match that day. Any day you did that plus available on moments notice to help boss, step in for a crisis, stayed OT late to help out a coworker, did an extra project got 100 percent match.

Did bare minimum no match. Took a vacation day or sick day or a holiday no match.

The zero percent people got their funds reallocated. So high performers could get 300 percent bonuses and 10-20 percent raises.

Zero percent people got pip at end end and replaced.

People did not need managing they need clear guidance and clear rules and work output tired to pay.

His excel spreadsheet are now KPIs at FAANGs that tie back up bonus and salaries.

[Anonymous]

You need to be careful about categorizing people, OP. An HR person reading your post might flag it for unconscious bias/ age discrimination. See people as individuals.

[Anonymous]

OP, I hate to tell you this, your servant leadership style will ultimately fail. Believe me, the most effective leadership style in upper management is authoritarian command and control. People must be be fearful when you enter the room, but love you for your results at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think managing by Excel Spreadsheet can be effective. My old boss who has an MBA from NYU did it for three years for his staff of 40 and extremely effective.

Raises and bonuses all tied to spreadsheet. Rules were clear. The bonus pool and raises followed a strict formula.

Every day you attended work and worked more than 8 hours, were productive got a 50 percent bonus Match that day. Any day you did that plus available on moments notice to help boss, step in for a crisis, stayed OT late to help out a coworker, did an extra project got 100 percent match.

Did bare minimum no match. Took a vacation day or sick day or a holiday no match.

The zero percent people got their funds reallocated. So high performers could get 300 percent bonuses and 10-20 percent raises.

Zero percent people got pip at end end and replaced.

People did not need managing they need clear guidance and clear rules and work output tired to pay.

His excel spreadsheet are now KPIs at FAANGs that tie back up bonus and salaries.

This is managing by formula and data, but by spreadsheets. The spreadsheet is the vehicle to collect the data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to be careful about categorizing people, OP. An HR person reading your post might flag it for unconscious bias/ age discrimination. See people as individuals.

It's not "unconscious bias" it is flat-out discrimination and it's against the law. Saying you need to develop a way to manage "old people" and treat them differently than younger people is akin to saying you need to find a way to manage minorities differently.

Hopefully one of the "old people" are taking lots and lots of notes and quotes from OP and go find themselves a very good EEO-based attorney. I can tell you that no organization will look favorably on any manager who has multiple EEO complaints. Not only is it unlawful, it's a threat to their bottom-line and corporate identify.

I think OP will quickly find themselves on the unemployment line where I'm sure their servant leadership skills will be a hot commodity. /s