I often lament the inability of many managers to provide leadership; instead reverting back to the old style command and control management perspective. An arrogance exists where managers believe in their infallibility; believing workers are there to serve them. The virtues of servant leadership are countless; a manager is a cost to the business, their job is to ensure the people actually producing income within the business are working as efficiently as possible removing inefficient practices and roadblocks.

The moment I hear “This person works for me” I immediately know I am dealing with a narcissistic old style manager. The only time somebody works for you is when you own the company, anything other than a business owner is a wage/salary earner – it’s that simple. A collaborative approach works best with professional people, the manager needs to bring a coaching mindset to develop their team, they don’t, they just like to control the people below them.