Just like in the children’s story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the best managers know how to strike a balance between being too tough or too easy on employees.
The ‘too tough’ manager is mistakenly seen as an effective leader. Being ruthless might appear strong at first but when overplayed employees will become disengaged and demotivated. Autocratic leadership behavior is often justified because of crises, emergencies and constant firefighting. This can become a never-ending cycle.
The ‘too easy’ manager tries to keep everyone happy by setting low expectations and trying to be everyone’s friend. Employees lose respect and become stagnant which results in low motivation.
There are times when a manager should be tough and times to go a bit easy. The default mode is to challenge and empower employees to achieve top results in a supportive and encouraging way.
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