I understand what you're saying - but that's what GL wants.
You can't not communicate. Whoever says this sentence to an employee also says it:
"I am a puppet of GL. I enforce what they decide."
This is fatal for several reasons:
- It often makes employees angry and helpless because they can't defend themselves. Communication is a one-way street. This is what GL wants, no matter what you think and what the consequences are. There is almost no quicker and more sustainable way to reduce motivation.
- It makes the manager ineffective! To the marionette.
It is tempting to take yourself out of the line of fire as a manager by shifting responsibility to the management. Or the rules: "Look, these are our rules". Tempting - and fatal. Because if you take yourself out of the line of fire, you take yourself out of the equation altogether.
Of course you can and may refer to GL and rules - but you have to leave yourself in the equation:
- I support this decision by the management and I want us to make the best of it.
- These rules are important to me because they also create a certain degree of justice.
- I want to stick to XYZ. If you say it's not possible, then let's describe exactly what the consequences would be
Sources and further links
This behaviour often occurs in the cuddle trap
Stefan Heer (2022)