What’s the Difference Between Leading and Pushing Your Team?

Every manager wants to optimize the productivity of their staff by always trying to get them to go the extra mile.

While it’s easy to think that employees are highly motivated by overtime pay and other incentives, it’s also essential to remember that there’s a fine line between inspiring your employees and pushing them too hard.

Unrealistic expectations of supervisors are the source of 22 percent of workplace stressors, according to a study by Officevibe. The same study found 60 percent of workers saying they don’t feel their companies care about them, while greater than 75 percent said they don’t get meaningful feedback. These findings indicate supervisors may not be offering the support needed for staff members to succeed while keeping high expectations for employee performance.

If engaged and inspired employees are important to you, you’ll want to make sure that your workplace is one that supports employees and gives what they need to do their best. Being supportive will help to avoid employee burnout or pushing them too hard.

If you’re unsure of the line between leading and pushing, consider the following indications your staff members are being overworked.

4 Indicators of an Overworked Team

1) Tardiness and poor attendance

While there are numerous genuine reasons workers could have poor attendance, a pattern of workers calling in sick or struggling to make it on-time might be a red flag. Staff members that are being pushed too hard will start to resent coming in promptly. If you begin to notice multiple workers calling in or being late all the time, it’s a good idea to take steps to get to the root cause of the issue and determine if something is wrong.

2) High turnover

Like tardiness and absences, turnover is a normal part of any workplace. However, a high rate of turnover should be cause for concern. A key factor here is to consider which employees are leaving. If you’re losing long-term employees that have been the bedrock of your company for five years or more, it could be because they want a better working environment.

3) Too much individuality

You might think that motivating your team to do its best would bring people together. However, being pushed excessively usually causes teams to fray. If you notice a lot of finger pointing or employees being split into cliques, you may want to determine if the fractured nature of your team is due to your leadership style.

4) A lot of overtime

Overtime is typically associated with boom times for a business, and you would think that some employees relish the chance to make overtime wages. However, too much overtime can quickly drain employees, who may begin to wonder why the company isn’t hiring more staff.

In fact, making employees work too many hours in a week doesn’t always mean greater productivity. A recent study found work output falls off significantly after someone works 55 hours in a single week.

Are you looking for top IT talent?

At SMCI, we support company leaders by providing them with customs services and talent acquisition solutions. Please contact us today to find out how we can help your company.