30 Times People Realized They're Working For An Idiot, As Shared In This Online Thread

But before we vilify managers, allow me to play devil's advocate and consider the following: according to a study by West Monroe Partners, among managers who oversee one to two employees, 59% report having no training at all, and the same measure stands at 41% among those who oversee three to five workers. Surely that has to do something with their poor performance.

The aforementioned author, Leigh Branham, is a Senior Professional in Human Resources and Founder and Principal of Keeping the People, Inc., Mt. Juliet, TN, a talent management consulting firm that helps organizations analyze root causes of turnover and employee disengagement, and then develop and implement employer-of-choice strategies. He believes the primary reason for this comes from senior leaders who, in most companies, think that managing people is intuitive and that new managers will learn on the job.

"This is especially true in the small-to-medium-size companies that comprise most of the economy," Branham told Bored Panda. "Most new managers have little insight into how to properly coach empathically and give effective performance feedback, have difficult conversations, or how to motivate through praise and recognition—skills that are often considered 'soft' but are not intuitive for most new managers, yet make all the difference between good management and bad."

Steve Smith of GrowthSource Coaching, a California-based company that, among many things, also specializes in helping business professionals become extraordinary leaders, thinks the fact that many entry-level managers are selected based on how well they performed as employees—not for their future capability as a manager—doesn't help, either.

"Additionally, they may have been asked to step up to fill an unexpected vacancy," Smith told Bored Panda. "Combine this with most companies' views on training and development (that it's only necessary to correct problems), and this is why most managers never receive training to prepare them up-front. Training opportunities usually show up only when the manager in question has made mistakes that come to the attention of HR and/or senior management."

But Smith pointed out that not everyone is cut out to be a manager. "Management takes lots of skill, but it starts with having the right mindset. As an employee, you think about 'me.' As a manager, you must think about 'we.' Providing an atmosphere and workflow that makes your staff successful in their roles is the greatest thing you can do as a manager," he said.

Luckily for those who are motivated, there are very specific, proven principles and processes to prepare them as managers, as outlined in all three of Branham's books, Re-Engage, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, and Keeping The People Who Keep You In Business.

However, if you also find yourself in a position where you're responsible for other people but haven't had the proper training, Branham recommends you meet with each team member for one-on-one listening sessions. "Instead of asserting authority and pretending to be competent in their new role, managers should admit they don't know everything and solicit their team's ideas," he explained.

"Ask each team member: 'What ideas do you have to make the team better?' and 'What goals do you have as an individual that I can help you achieve?'"

"The skill of listening is all-too-uncommon among managers, many of whom are task-driven dominant types who are heads-down, overburdened by their own to-do lists, and have never worked for a skilled manager who might have been a role model."

Let's hope you won't end up in a similar list!