Avoid the Curse of the Mummy Manager: Unwrapping the Outdated Practices Holding You Back

Do you bear the curse of the Mummy manager? As managers, we’re wrapped up with scraps of lessons and experiences we’ve picked up from colleagues, mentors and other managers throughout our careers, applying them to our management practices in the hopes they’ll help us lead our teams successfully.

Yet 82% of managers have had NO formal management or leadership training, and only 27% of workers believe their boss is highly effective. This curse of ineffective management is being passed down from manager to manager, as many default to adopting a command-and-control approach because they think that’s how they should behave.

Much like an ancient Egyptian Mummy, these managers can break free from their outdated wrappings, and it’s needed across the board because organisations are still suffering from poor engagement. Only 23% of employees are engaged globally, and seeing as 70% of the variance in team engagement is attributable to their manager alone, a new approach to management is now critical.

The curse of poor management

It’s a fact that good managers engage their people, and bad managers don’t. As the saying goes, ‘You don’t quit a job; you quit your boss.’ Anecdotally, it’s something we all know to be accurate; we all remember that one boss who nurtured us and encouraged us to find our voice, and conversely, we never forget the micromanagers who made our working lives miserable.

But, while in the past employees were more likely to ‘put up and shut up’ if they had a bad manager, Gen Z, and young Millennial employees are more inclined to vote with their feet if the workplace doesn’t live up to their expectations – and research suggests that this demographic is currently the least engaged at work. A 2024 CNBC survey found that almost half of Gen Z workers say they’re just ‘coasting’ at work, with 42% claiming they’re just working for the paycheck.

This is particularly worrying, as by 2025, Gen Z workers will make up 27% of the workplace. Employers simply can’t afford to ignore them. What’s clear is that Gen Z individuals want to work for organisations that align with their values around inclusivity and equal opportunities for all. Research by Deloitte Digital found that Gen Z employees place a high value on empathy from their bosses – indeed, they consider it a prerequisite in the workplace.

This means that the traditional ‘command-and-control’ approach to management is becoming as ancient as the Mummies we referenced and simply has no place in the modern workplace. A new, more human-focused approach is needed—one that actively inspires and encourages employees of all demographics, not just Gen Z, to operate at their highest level of potential. Management should be about enabling, not instructing.

Operational Coaching: An Enquiry-Led Solution

Enter Operational Coaching, an innovative approach to management that has the potential to revolutionise leadership dynamics. At its core, Operational Coaching emphasises building respectful relationships between managers and their teams. This new style of management encourages the greater use of an inquiry-led approach (built around embedding more of a coaching mindset), which fosters more open communication and collaboration.

One key aspect of Operational Coaching is its ability to enable team members to step up and develop their independent problem-solving skills. When Mummy managers revert to a command-and-control approach, whereby they fix and solve staff problems by telling them what to do based on their previous knowledge and experience, they take away the learning opportunity for staff to find solutions, inevitably stunting their development.

Conversely, when managers adopt an Operational Coaching approach, which involves learning to ask more powerful, insightful questions that stimulate the thinking of others, they invite employees to identify and take action for themselves, drawing on their skills and experience to begin to solve the problems they’re faced with.

Managers who practice this approach build confidence and skill levels within their team. Enabling others this way is an essential precursor to empowering team members more widely. By helping them develop agency and the confidence to follow through, team members’ sense of ownership and fulfilment is enhanced, improving productivity and engagement.

Dominic Ashley-Timms is the CEO of performance consultancy Notion, the creator of the multi-award-winning STAR Manager programme, which enables managers and leaders to adopt an Operational Coaching style of management that transforms organisations. Dominic recently co-authored the management bestseller The Answer is a Question.