I want to yell at people all the time…and since I’d win the competition for being the most impatient person around (I would), I’m surprised I’m not constantly yelling at people. But somehow I manage to hold back. There are a lot of bad supervisors who yell at employees and there are a lot of good supervisors who yell at employees (ok, the yelling part makes them not so good). Many supervisors are under a lot of pressure to keep the workplace humming…some to stay on budget, some to keep expected profit margins, others to get things done. And when an employee makes a mistake, perhaps what is considered a “stupid” mistake, or a mistake that has already been corrected, their supervisor might yell.
Whatever the reason, yelling rarely helps. It might feel good at the time, but the good feelings won’t last, especially when it creates the understandable bad feelings from employees. If you are an employee (you may be a supervisor yourself) with a supervisor who yells at you, you have to explain the consequences. If your boss doesn’t see the downside to the yelling, then you’ve got some thinking to do, or some people to help you out.
TRY THIS:
Take your supervisor aside and explain how the yelling isn’t helping…in fact it’s hurting. Explain what it does to you and how it’s not productive. If you screwed up, own up, but say the yelling doesn’t improve things. If you didn’t screw up, but something just happened that you aren’t responsible for, then explain and also mention how the yelling is a bad thing. You and everyone else will be much more productive if you’re not waiting to be yelled at – and demeaned – in front of other employees.
HOW ABOUT:
“Look, I know I screwed up back there and I want to make things right, or learn from this, but your yelling at me just doesn’t help at all. I feel like a child and I’m not a child. I understand your frustration, but if you want me to understand that I screwed up, you don’t need to yell to make me feel bad. Like everyone, I feel bad when I make mistakes, and I want to correct things. You don’t want employees to feel terrified of making mistakes, because that means I’ll be spending more time trying to get perfection than I will trying to get my work done and problem solving when things go wrong. Things go wrong…it’s how we make them better that counts.”
Stephen Hammond, B.A., J.D., CSP
If you have any questions, please contact Stephen
