Whenever I coach managers or speak to executives, I simplify leadership down to its most practical expression: helping people succeed.
Employees do their best work when they have the tools, support, clarity, development, and encouragement they need to thrive. When those needs go unmet, motivation fades and engagement drops. Eventually, people begin looking elsewhere.
The uncomfortable truth is that not everyone promoted into management is equipped to lead others. Some managers inspire trust, growth, and commitment. Others create frustration, disengagement, and turnover. Which are you?
Over the years, I’ve observed five management behaviors that consistently damage morale, kill trust, and push good employees out the door.
1. When leadership becomes self-absorption
Most managers enjoy recognition and appreciation. That’s normal. But some leaders take it much further.
At the extreme end, narcissistic leaders make everything about themselves. They seek admiration, resist criticism, and often elevate their own status by diminishing others’. Employees working for these managers may find their ideas dismissed, their contributions minimized, or their confidence steadily chipped away.
These leaders often create environments where people become reluctant to speak up, take risks, or challenge the status quo. Over time, the team learns that protecting the leader’s ego matters more than producing great work.
Human-centered leadership isn’t about being the most important person in the room. It’s about helping others become successful.
2. Ignoring great work
One of the simplest leadership practices is also one of the most overlooked: recognizing people for meaningful contributions.
Employees want to know their work matters. They want to feel seen, valued, and appreciated for the effort they invest every day.
Research has consistently shown that employees who receive regular recognition are more engaged, more productive, more committed to their organizations, and more likely to stay.
Yet many managers assume that because someone is highly motivated, they don’t need encouragement.
That’s a costly mistake.
Recognition isn’t about handing out trophies or platitudes. It’s about reinforcing behaviors that drive performance and reminding people that their contributions make a difference.
3. Seeing employees as expenses instead of human beings
Some workplaces still operate under an outdated philosophy: People are resources to be managed rather than human beings to be developed.
In these environments, employees are valued primarily for what they produce. Their well-being, growth, and personal experience receive little attention. Decisions are made with productivity in mind but rarely with people in mind.
The result is predictable.
Stress increases and burnout spreads. This may lead to costly turnover.
The strongest organizations understand that caring about people and achieving business results are not competing priorities. In fact, they reinforce each other.
When leaders treat employees as valued human beings rather than interchangeable parts, performance improves because people are more willing to invest discretionary effort into their work.
4. Too much control
Micromanagement remains one of the fastest ways to drain a team’s energy.
Managers who need to control every decision often struggle to trust others. They insert themselves into every detail, second-guess decisions, and create approval bottlenecks that slow progress.
The consequences extend far beyond frustration.
Innovation declines. Ownership disappears. Initiative dries up. Employees stop thinking creatively because they learn that independent thinking isn’t welcome.
Human-centered leaders don’t build followers who depend on them for every answer. They build capable people who can think, decide, and solve problems on their own.
Leadership was never meant to be about controlling people. True leadership has always been about creating the conditions for others to succeed without it.
5. Hoarding information
Few behaviors undermine trust faster than withholding information.
Listen, today’s employees want transparency. They want to understand where the organization is headed, why decisions are being made, and how their work contributes to larger goals.
Managers who operate behind closed doors or screens often create uncertainty and suspicion. People begin filling information gaps with assumptions, rumors, and worst-case scenarios. Talk about a trust-killer.
Author Patrick Lencioni famously identified trust as the foundation of every healthy team. And transparency is one of the primary ways leaders build that foundation.
When leaders openly share information, communicate honestly, and explain the reasoning behind decisions, employees become more engaged, more innovative, and more committed to shared goals. Who doesn’t want this?
Final thought
People don’t leave companies. They leave managers who show these behaviors.
Human-centered leaders understand that their role is not to control people but to serve them, develop them, and remove obstacles standing in their way. Under these favorable conditions, people become far more likely to stay and do their best work.
—Marcel Schwantes
This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com.
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