Writing people off is easier than rethinking your approach.
A manager’s favorite escape hatch is the word “unmanageable.”
It sounds like a conclusion earned through patience and wisdom, but it usually describes the manager’s frustration, inflexibility, or lack of range.
I have seen this happen dozens of times. An employee asks too many questions, pushes back on vague instructions, or needs more structure than the manager knows how to provide.
That’s when you’ll see frustrated managers start throwing out labels. At first, the employee is “difficult,” which then turns into “draining,” and finally they become “unmanageable.”
Labels are useful because they protect the manager from having to ask harder questions.
• Did I make my expectations clear?
• Did I adapt my approach to the person in front of me?
• Did I want obedience when I claimed I wanted growth?
Some employees are disruptive and do resist help, so I’m not arguing against having standards or holding people accountable for their behavior.
What I am hoping to discourage is the use of sloppy verdicts. Once a manager starts calling people unmanageable, their curiosity disappears.
A weak manager uses “unmanageable” as a get-out-of-jail-free card, whereas a strong manager uses difficulty as data.
References: Steiner C. Scripts People Live: Transactional Analysis of Life Scripts. Grove Press; 1973.
Post Title: Writing people off is easier than rethinking your approach.