Bad bosses 101: 5 ways to spot the jerks who are ruining your culture
Last week we discussed the impact of letting bad bosses lead in your organization. Some of the signs of poor leadership can be easy to spot, such as open aggression, lying, and micromanagement. But in many cases, identifying which managers aren’t cutting it can be difficult, especially if consistent feedback isn’t yet a part of your culture. Here are some warning signs to look out for on your management team and how to take action to correct them.
They lack courage
Good leadership requires guts. That’s because you must have vulnerable and uncomfortable conversations in order to lead. These include giving critical feedback to a team member on performance, championing their team’s ideas, speaking out against bad strategies or policies, and managing up, to name a few. That doesn’t mean that these conversations are any easier for good bosses, they just accept that they’re a requirement to move their team and the organization forward.
This lack of courage might show its ugly head in your company in the form of overly conservative initiatives that focus only on incremental improvement or the absence of debate with peers and superiors. The most obvious is team members who are surprised by performance sanctions due to lack of previous feedback due to these missing crucial conversations.
They lack empathy
One management skill that’s highly correlated to overall performance is empathy. This critical competency is closely tied to many others, including engagement, decision making, and coaching, so it’s no wonder that those who lack it tend to have issues leading their teams to successful outcomes.
Some signs you might see in a boss who lacks empathy are not respecting work/life boundaries, being overly critical of others or accusing people who are upset of being too sensitive. Lack of empathy can also manifest in never admitting when they’re wrong and overreacting.
Their team is out of the loop
Open, transparent communication is crucial for keeping teams aligned. Providing specifics around company or departmental changes, as well as giving insight into the “why” behind changes, goes a long way toward building and maintaining trust and keeping teams engaged, even when the decisions are unpopular.
Leaders who are poor communicators may confuse and frustrate teams by failing to fully understand and relay decisions, giving conflicting information, or neglecting to provide the information at all.
They are consistently a bottleneck
While providing feedback on work is a necessary function of being a manager, bad bosses damage progress and team morale by consistently holding up work. Often this comes from micromanagement, gatekeeping of necessary information, or failing to adequately delegate or coach other team members. Their department's delays and stagnation are felt throughout the organization and are only intensified if the leader has an extended absence from the company, such as a vacation, family leave, or exits the company.
They take the credit and give the blame
It feels good when your team wins, and great leaders know that success is a shared effort. It’s the ideas and efforts of the whole team, not the individual, that lead to the best outcomes. Bad bosses claim ownership over the wins, failing to recognize the contributions of the whole team. Worse yet, some of these same managers tend to point fingers when things go wrong. They refuse to take accountability or seek solutions, which can have serious implications when it comes to trust with their teams and their peers.
What to do
The poor leadership signs listed above are all too common in organizations. The good news is that with the right plan in place, many of these behaviors can be corrected.
Get feedback on what needs to change
While you may not know concretely that a manager is failing, there are likely signs such as team turnover or productivity that indicate leadership performance needs a closer look. Talking to the manager’s team members via skip level meetings, may help their direct reports speak more comfortably and hone in on the areas in most dire need of attention.
Develop an action plan
Work with the manager to factually communicate your findings and create a plan together to address the performance issues. Document the plan and keep it narrowly focused.
Invest in ongoing development
Most managers want to do a good job and have been promoted into their roles due to their success as an individual contributor or their seniority. While being a successful individual contributor may help managers understand the work, it does not help them become good leaders. Equipping managers with training and coaching on leadership competencies will better set them up for success in their roles.
Examine how you got here
The reality is that poor leadership isn’t created in a vacuum. If your organization promotes leaders who lack empathy, your team will see that as an endorsement of that behavior. Being intentional about promoting positive leadership qualities while addressing toxic ones will go a long way toward curbing future negative behaviors.
Final thoughts
While poor leadership is a costly issue for many organizations, acknowledging and creating a plan to address problem behaviors can lead to higher morale and better performance in your organization. There is no time like today to start correcting these hidden issues that are affecting your bottom line.
