I’m a management analyst in the Community Services Department of a mid-sized city on the East Coast. I’ve been in this position for two years. I report to the community services manager who has many fine qualities; however, I wish I could tell him that he has several failings that undercut his ability to effectively lead our team. I believe that he would get dismissive and defensive of any feedback from me or other staff underlings.

I wish I could tell him not to be so directive and short with me and the rest of his support team. I’d like the opportunity to figure out things (of course, with his guidance). Moreover, I find it difficult to relate to him as a person if he is all business.

Is there a way to communicate some ways that managers can enhance their leadership capacity?

Local government managers of all kinds have tough jobs these days. They tend to be so overwhelmed and harried that they under-appreciate the impact of their behaviors on those they lead. Managers are simply too busy and stressed to stop and assess their behaviors. To make matters worse, subordinates are often reluctant to give constructive feedback to their leaders. 

Given this reality, I’d like to share some suggestions on improving leadership capabilities. I have gleaned some themes of common leadership shortcomings and suggestions for improving leadership by reaching out to emerging leaders participating in the Municipal Management Associations of Northern California and Southern California. 

My purpose in writing this column is to help managers create some awareness of what their direct reports are not telling them and thus perhaps help them intentionally modify certain behaviors. 

Bad Bosses Are Good for You

Before I get into what I discovered from my queries of emerging leaders, let me say that bad bosses are good for you. As a young manager, I worked for three lousy city managers. In the short- to mid-term, I suffered from their lack of communication, guidance, and caring. However, over the long haul, I began to catalog all their leadership mistakes and vowed that I would never emulate them and would serve as a better leader as I progressed in my career. 

Bad bosses provide a master class in what not to do. A bad boss forces you to clarify your values, leadership philosophy, and behaviors in interacting with others. Bad bosses force you to determine what kind of leader you want to become. (See Timothy McIlveene, “The Hidden Blessings of Bad Bosses,” Ivey Business Journal, Jan 16, 2026.)

Bad bosses provide a master class in what not to do.

Empathy for the Role of Mid-managers

As we critique some of the negative behaviors of managers, we need to acknowledge and have some empathy for the extreme burdens that we have placed on all managers, especially mid-managers. Many early- and mid-career professionals do not adequately perceive the demands on middle managers.

For example, in the post-pandemic world of local government:

• Gallup reports that mid-managers are the most stressed-out cohort in the workplace. (See Jim Harter, “Manager Burnout Is Only Getting Worse,” gallup.com, Nov 8, 2021.) In fact, recent research from Team Simon indicates that 75% of middle managers are experiencing burnout. (See Simon Sinek, “6 Shocking Stats That Prove Middle Managers Are in Crisis,” simonsinek.com, Sept 10, 2025.)
• Middle managers are overwhelmed with administrative tasks and responsibilities to the extent that they have little time to lead their in-person and remote employees. (Sinek reports that mid-managers only have 41% of their time to actually manage people.)
• Mid-managers are now responsible for the new tasks of coaching, encouraging, supporting, and developing staff with all the old responsibilities of managing operations, pushing out the work, and still meeting the goals and metrics often imposed by others.
• Like all employees, managers struggle with difficult work-life balance issues.

Suggestions from Emerging Leaders

I asked emerging leaders from the two Municipal Management Associations in Northern and Southern California to respond to the question “What would you wish you could tell your manager to improve their leadership?” Fifteen early and mid-career local government professionals responded to my invitation to contribute to this column. From their written comments, I identified seven common leadership shortcomings of managers and related suggestions for enhancing their leadership. (While the respondents were typically referring to their immediate supervisors and managers, the themes identified below certainly pertain to all managers, including senior managers.)

Theme No. 1: Overly focused on tasks

According to several emerging leaders responding to my queries, their managers overly emphasized tasks. In their one-on-one meetings with staff and in team meetings, some managers solely focused on tasks and accountability. These team leaders never actually got to know their team members, what they value, why they gravitated to local government service, and who they are outside of work. Because of a lack of connection, the emerging leaders felt less committed and engaged in their work.

Suggestions for managers: Get out of your office, walk around, go out to the field with employees, and/or grab a cup of coffee with a direct report. Share some of yourself; ask open-ended questions about your staff person’s family or leisure pursuits, listen, and get to know employees on a human level.

Followers tend to follow if they feel connected to you. Leadership is a human enterprise. (See Career Compass No. 79 “Leading by Connecting.”)

Theme No. 2: Distracted by urgent matters and the busyness of the job

Several emerging leaders reported that their managers were distracted and not fully present when interacting with staff. Managers are juggling a lot of work and non-work responsibilities. In response to the demands from senior management, middle managers often communicate an urgency that “everything is a priority.” This creates a chaotic work environment. Overwhelmed and stressed out mangers are not often truly present in their one-on-one meetings with direct reports or in team meetings.

Suggestions for managers: Obviously, prioritize what is important versus what is urgent yet not so important and communicate to staff the priorities of the week or the month.

Most importantly, ask yourself how you are showing up. How you show up affects the team. Are you calm and focused or scattered and distant? Are you stressed out? (See Career Compass No. 105 “How Do You Show Up as a Leader?”)

You set the tone.

Theme No. 3: Don’t sufficiently communicate context or other necessary information

Communication issues were an issue cited by several respondents. Some managers did not sufficiently communicate “why” something was necessary. They immediately jumped into “what” the team needed to do and “how” the team or employee should do it.

Others reported that some managers did not provide the context for decisions by top management or the governing board. As one emerging leader stated, “Context is important if I am going to do my job.” 

Poor communication was particularly a problem when the organization was experiencing a lot of uncertainty and turmoil. If there is insufficient information provided by managers, rumors and false stories abound.

Suggestions for managers: Rely on a whole array of communication methods—online as well as in-person. Use formal meetings and informal check-ins and team huddles to communicate important information, especially why certain decisions are being made and the political and organizational context of the decisions.

In uncertain and turbulent times, recognize that employees are scared, especially when jobs, careers, and identities are threatened. People don’t hear all of what you are trying to communicate. Consequently, managers need to communicate, communicate, communicate. When you think that people are tired of hearing from you, communicate some more. 

Theme No. 4: Little acknowledgement of unrealistic workloads

A lot of recent research suggests that workloads and deadlines are untenable. Part of the reason is that demands from governing boards, top management, and community stakeholder groups just keep coming with few additional resources. Another problem is that non-value-added work (such as administrative reporting and non-stop meetings) takes up too much time. For instance, since the pandemic, the number of meetings has tripled. (See Berenika Teter, “Work Meetings in Numbers: The Latest Meeting Statistics,” archieapp.com, Oct 28, 2025.) 

As one respondent stated, “If our days are filled with meetings, there is little time to do independent work or engage in creative problem-solving.” Another emerging leader concluded that “low morale is almost never the fault of individual employees, but rather larger organizational and structural issues that aren’t being addressed.” 

Suggestions for managers: Obviously, simply acknowledging heavy workloads helps staff who are struggling with unrealistic demands. Auditing meetings and other non-value-added activities and eliminating some of them is another effort to demonstrate that the manager is mindful of workload burdens. And, of course, in team meetings and huddles, help employees focus on their priorities of the week. (See Career Compass No. 115 “Combatting Chronic Organizational Distress.”)

As part of this effort, managers must advocate for their teams when meeting with department leadership and top city or county management. Even if the manager is unsuccessful in advocating for staff needs, standing up for staff and their legitimate needs goes a long way to build relationship and trust with one’s team.

One emerging leader suggested that “acknowledging the pressure, recognizing that the workload was unsustainable long-term, and advocating for change (even if it resulted in no change) would all have gone a long way to improve morale.”

Theme No. 5: Overly control staff

When feeling pressure from above, some managers exert tighter control. Feeling a lot of stress, team leaders may tend to become micro-managers and tell their direct reports how to do the task and begin to demand constant updates and overly focus on accountability. Controlling behavior on the part of managers just creates stress and anxiety for employees.

Suggestion for managers: Communicate the “why,” provide a little guidance, allow some flexibility, and encourage employees to “figure it out.” As Daniel Pink has noted, autonomy is a great self-motivator. (Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us, 2011.)

Theme No. 6: Ignoring performance issues

Several respondents complained that their managers ignored ongoing and long-term performance issues. Poor performers undercut the efforts of the team to achieve their goals and were demoralizing to team members. 

Suggestions for managers: If training, coaching, and other support does not improve a team member’s performance, find another role for the person or commence progressive discipline. While a manager can be compassionate in how someone exits their role or the organization, the manager is foremost responsible for the overall performance and morale of the team. 

As one emerging leader suggested, when coaching is not enough, managers need to “act with courage” for the good of the team. Another stated that the longer performance issues go unaddressed, the more they erode the team or organizational culture that the manager seeks to build.

Theme No. 7: No safety

If people don’t feel safe in disagreeing or providing their own perspectives, the manager should not be surprised by the silence of team members. One respondent noted that the manager contributed to the lack of safety by either not taking seriously or even aggressively responding to any differing opinions from staff members. Moreover, if the manager never accepts any responsibility for team mistakes or failings, people won’t feel comfortable talking about missteps or problems.

One emerging leader noted that it is difficult to creatively solve problems or innovate if people don’t feel safe.

Suggestions for managers: Recognize the importance of promoting psychological safety. In team meetings, first let people do some venting and then ask them open-ended questions or request them to amplify their responses. For instance, ask “What are some of your concerns about this idea?” “Could you tell me more?” “What am I missing?” “What would be one or two steps forward in addressing this problem?”

An all-team debriefing experience also creates a learning and safe environment. As a project unfolds, ask: What is going well? What is not going well? What are we learning for our future practice?

Of course, a manager who models the way by showing some vulnerability can help create a sense of safety. In addition to inviting dissent, a manager can say:

• “I made a mistake.”
• “I need help.”
• “I don’t know how to proceed.”

(See Career Compass No. 32 “The Power of Vulnerability.”)

Enhancing Our Leadership Capabilities

Under stress, we managers are often not exhibiting the best version of ourselves as team leaders. There are no perfect managers or leaders. We can all do better. 

Managers of all kinds, especially mid-managers, are overwhelmed and under-supported. Top management must take some responsibility to upskill mid-managers and supervisors and provide them with training, coaching, and social support. (See Career Compass No. 96 “Why We Need Great Mid-Managers More Than Ever.”)

It is my hope that giving voice to emerging leaders who experience some of the shortcomings of managers can lead to more awareness. Of course, to get some constructive feedback from team members, the manager must first create some psychological safety in one-on-one and team meetings. (See Career Compass  No.69 “Psychological Safety: The One Key Determinant of Team Effectiveness.”)

To address a potential shortcoming, a manager might:

• Do some self-reflection. 
• Get some feedback from a trusted colleague or coach.
• Focus on one behavior to change, write it down, and share it with a coach or trusted colleague. 
• Share with the team any behavior that you are trying to change. 
• Monitor your progress with an “accountability buddy.”
• Participate in a peer support group (for instance, check out the Peer Compass Groups. at https://compasspeergroups.com)
• Continue your own professional training with a focus on leadership development.
• Monitor your progress and congratulate yourself on any positive behavior changes.

Sponsored by the ICMA Coaching Program, ICMA Career Compass is a monthly column from ICMA focused on career issues for local government professional staff. Dr. Frank Benest is ICMA's liaison for Next Generation Initiatives and resides in Palo Alto, California. Read past columns.

If you have a career question you would like addressed in a future Career Compass, e-mail careers@icma.org or contact Frank directly at frank@frankbenest.com. 

To get ICMA Career Compass delivered to your mailbox, be sure to subscribe to the ICMA Coaching Program emails. Under MyICMA at the top, select Communications, and select Coaching under E-Newsletters.

The ICMA Coaching Program offers free one-to-one coaching for any local government employee. Register on CoachConnect to choose a coach, and explore more Coaching Resources.