Bad bosses! They can make your life hell. Employees often refer to them as abrasive, mean, condescending, and it is indeed true that they lead through sheer intimidation. The funny thing is that such bosses think they are pretty good as boss and that they have the ability to get the job done. However, employees know that it is far from reality – that there is more to being a boss, let alone being a good one.
The following are some traits of a bad boss and if you posses a few of them, it’s time to revise your role as a boss:
Bad managers don’t give credit: Bad bosses hardly give the due credit to their people. Worst still, some of them tend to steal the credit of his/ her team members. The top management often thinks the later to be genius, but the employees know better. Instead of emphasizing and reinforcing the good things, bad managers ladle on the criticism, if they ever bother to give a feedback. And the worst ones prefer adding extra twist of meanness.
Bad managers don’t act as a mentor: Good bosses usually act like a mentor for their employees. They ensure that the team grows and develops to be the best in their field. On the contrary, bad bosses are far from being your mentor. Instead of taking employees under their wings or investing time in developing them, such bosses shy away from open communication, which is essential for becoming a mentor. This is usually the result of their poor listening skills.
Bad managers don’t give space: One of the traits of a good manager is that he/ she will give you enough space for growth and development. They help you build your skills by encouraging as well as challenging you to accomplish more. They help you to take up new challenges, learn something new and guide you throughout. In contrast, bad managers tend to micromanage; they will hardly give you any space to work freely or grow. Such micromanaging can often reach to a level where you cannot even send a simple email without the manager proofreading it. In most cases, such managers are insecure superiors or control freaks.
Bad managers don’t encourage innovation: In relation to micromanaging and not being a mentor, bad managers don’t encourage innovation. Worse still, they tend to crush any new ideas or innovativeness that may bring a change within the organization. As mentioned, these people are mostly insecure and the mere thought of bringing a change or introducing something new, which they are not familiar with, often freaks them out. Also, many managers fail to foster a culture of innovation, as they don’t think it’s a part of their job. And those who does, often tent to steal the credit.
Bad managers plays blame game: Bad managers blame everything else in the world – the outside world, weakest colleague, the people being not committed or efficient enough or the economy being going down – when to fail to achieve the departmental targets. They have a host of excuses.
All these aforementioned traits of bad managers are based on some emotions, which are essentially negative. And such negative emotions are dangerously contagious. Thus, the sooner you recognize the signs of bad management, the better.
