Have you ever worked for a manager who yells?  Or maybe you yell and scream at your subordinates when you don’t get what you want.  For years, this is how authority dealt with employee issues.  Even though many companies currently view yelling at employees as unacceptable behavior, many employees are conditioned to expect a good scolding after making a mistake.

Although yelling is technically unacceptable and very unprofessional, it still occurs. If, as a leader, you have ever yelled at your employees, your reputation has suffered irrevocable damage.

Top 5 reasons to stop yelling:

1.  You cannot control your emotions.  Yelling at someone, especially in a professional environment, is a clear sign that you have lost control.  And anyone in a leadership role should always appear calm, cool under pressure, and ready when the next challenge arises.

2.  You are leading by fear.  You may think that yelling to get results is working for you.  After all, you have achieved some of the best results in the company.  But in better economic times, you probably have the highest turnover and the most HR issues, too.  Leading by fear definitely gets results, but it will never earn you respect.  Nor will it ever foster a healthy workplace  atmosphere that allows employees to grow and thrive. Successful leaders create low turnover and productive environments through productive coaching and positive results towards the bottom-line. 

3.  You are too lazy to discipline creatively and personally.  It is easier to yell than to think of a solution.  Your employees will assume that you do not care about their development, but only about your job, your reputation, and your own needs.  Successful leaders demonstrate competency-based leadership vs. knee-jerk emotional reactions.

4.  You cannot be trusted.  If you choose to yell because someone placed a box of merchandise in the wrong location without putting its contents away, you cannot be relied upon to react professionally when you are needed in a true crisis.  Successful leaders are trusted because they create two-way communication.

5.  No one is going to listen to you.  If you are a habitual yeller, there will come a point when people will tune you out.  They know that you are going to yell and that they have to listen just enough to endure the episode.  But your message will be lost.  Successful leaders want engaging conversations vs. a glazed stare.

If you feel your anger boiling inside over something trivial, just stop.  Take a breath and calmly say, “We’ll talk about this later.”  Go to your office or another area away from the problem.  Write down or record what you want to say.  Then gather your thoughts in a professional manner and you will gradually calm down.  When you are composed, call that person in to discuss the issue intelligently.  You will achieve better results from calm two-sided discussion that aims to solve a problem, not just release your aggression.  And you will encourage better communication between all of your employees.

You can apologize, but you can never take back what you said or how you said it.  And people may be willing to forgive, but they will never forget the way you are capable of treating others.