Do executives or managers ever drive people away intentionally?I've never met a manager who admitted he intentionally tried to getpeople to hate him, but it sure happens daily in credit unionsacross the country.

A recent survey found that 82% of American workers don't trusttheir boss. Also, 65% of those surveyed would rather have a newboss than a raise!

What causes employees to lose respect for their leaders?

What causes employees to no longer trust the boss?

What causes employees to strongly dislike who they reportto?

Here are three significant mistakes managers make that willcause employees to hate working for him or her:

1. Employees hatesurprises.

A drastic schedule change based on what the manager wants toaccomplish with no respect to the employees' desires is not asurprise employees are going to welcome. Obviously, in the pace ofthe modern economy, changes happen quickly and credit unions haveto shift gears with the need for employees to get on board with thechanges as fast as possible.

Good communication can make these shifts in direction notsurprises at all. But, when a manager moves expectations, deadlinesor employee vacation schedules with any kind of frequency for noapparent reason, the employee will quickly become disengaged withthe job.

Another surprise employees surveyed said they hated is trying toguess the boss's mood. In leadership, attitude consistency iscritical to creating a solid work environment. When the boss ismoody, the tone of the workplace, meetings and interactions canchange dramatically.

When employees wait to see the mood of the boss to determine howtheir day is going to go, it's a good indication this is not themost pleasant working environment, not to mention their focus is inthe wrong place.

2. Employees hateunclear goals.

Executives frequently announce the company goals without anyclarity on what each employee's goals are or how they individuallycontribute to the overall credit union goals.

All employees want to know the score. Whichever way you measureyour success in your credit union, it's important for employees tounderstand how they make that success happen and what theirpersonal goal is in helping the credit union as a whole.

Be sure to provide your employees either personal goals or teamgoals (teams can be by branch, teller line, loan office, etc.) andprovide them continuous feedback on how they are performing againstthose goals; otherwise, your employees are not going to show anyinterest in what you are trying to accomplish with your successmeasurements.

3. Employees hateempty talk.

Don't say it unless you truly plan on doing it. Managers whomake promises or commitments and fail to follow through for anyreason will create a trust barrier with their employees. When aleader promises to get back to an employee on a question they had,the employee fully expects that commitment to happen. When themanager fails to follow through, not only is trust lost, but anyextra effort or commitment the employees had been giving to thatmanager will be lost.

Measure your commitments without being wishy-washy. There isnothing wrong with saying, “I need to get back to you on that,” aslong as you get back to that person in a timely manner. A managerbecomes wishy-washy when responses such as, “That is a possibility.We'll see what we can do,” or, “That sure is something we need tothink about,” become synonymous with being told, “No.”

Managers who create hope where none exists, sets in motion thefoundation for distrust and dislike.

Managing people can be a significant challenge in the fast paceof business today. A manager who builds workforce loyalty andcommitment while creating a desire to perform is a significantcomponent to credit union success.

The last thing a credit union leader needs is for employees tohate working for them because of poor management execution,regardless of intent.

Russell J. White is a consultantand speaker from Lake Wylie, S.C.