If you contemplate handing in your two weeks’ notice every time you talk to your boss, you’re not alone. Terrible bosses? I have had my share. Know the facts of terrible bosses so you can get out before it’s too late.
In the classic TV show Dragnet, Sergeant Joe Friday famously admonished witnesses to give him “just the facts.” Generations of business executives have adopted the same approach, demanding substantiation rather than conjecture.
The problem is that the world is a confusing place and there are plenty of facts to go around. A quick Google search is all that is required to find the facts to support any argument. Studies conflict with other studies, contexts shift and the game goes on.
A 2018 poll from job-search site Monster found as many as 76% of people say they currently have or recently had a toxic boss. Meanwhile, just 19% of respondents describe their boss as a mentor.
It’s important to know whether you’ve got a bad boss on your hands so you can “take measures to mitigate the stress and own greater power in the relationship” as soon as possible. Some ways you can try mending your relationship include looking for commonalities to bond over and proactively offering to help lighten their workload.
One of the most surprising things about boss motivation is that it often comes after starting a new behavior, not before. You’ve seen this haven’t you?
We have this common misconception that motivation arrives as a result of passively consuming a motivational video or reading an inspirational book. However, active inspiration can be a far more powerful motivator. Motivation is often the result of an action, not the cause of it.
Here are the top traits of terrible bosses drawn from my years of experience:
Pompous and arrogant
Perhaps the worst trait I’ve
personally observed is ego. We all have an ego, but the ego I’m talking about
is the ‘super-ego’ that dominates. I’ve found if a boss is really good at
what they do, they won’t have to tell others about it.
It’s all about them, isn’t it? If a leader doesn’t understand the concept of “service above self” they will not engender the trust, confidence, and loyalty of those they lead.
Any boss is only as good as his or her team’s desire to be led by them. Real bosses take the blame and give the credit – not the other way around.
Lacks empathy
Tim Brown, the CEO and President of IDEO, the global innovation, and design firm, describes empathy as making an effort to “see the world through the eyes of others, understand the world through their experiences, and feel the world through their emotions.”
Bad bosses don’t have this ability because they don’t care. Extraordinarily bad leaders address problems in the open public. They don’t coach; they make things personal and like to pass on the blame to specific employees and teams.
The know-it-all
The worst bosses are acutely unaware of how much they don’t know. They most often have a big need to be the smartest person in the room and have no desire to learn from others. One of the hallmarks of great bosses is their insatiable curiosity.
Bad bosses, on the other hand, aren’t extremely curious about their organization, and this weakness creates huge problems for the future.
Poor
people skills
Terrible bosses are often negative people who have no idea how to motivate others. They share their negative opinions about the company or a department-wide project, rather than emphasizing the positive aspects of a situation.
Unable to consider anyone’s viewpoint but their own, poor bosses don’t respond well to complaints or suggestions. And they love to put their own ‘spin’ on issues.
Non-listener
A bad boss often seems to listen
but never hears. They rarely are willing to work to understand the needs
and desires of others.
No humility
Bad bosses are energized by being right. They rarely acknowledge the effort or success of the team. When they do, it is usually covered in a big ‘spin.’
They very rarely admit to their weaknesses or mistakes they have made and are never humble.
Don’t tell the truth
A boss who lies is untrustworthy — not a good foundation for a productive relationship. Some can become so immune to their own stories that they can convince themselves that the lies are true.
They may legitimize their fibbing by rationalizing that others do it, deflect this character flaw by pointing the finger to others, or use mistruths to generally hide blunders.
Other bad bosses just can’t face
the fallout that will result from telling the truth.
Never wrong
Learning to admit that you’re
wrong is one of the best things you can do for your colleagues.
Ask Lexi Reese, the COO of Gusto and a former Googler, and she’ll tell you the best thing a boss can do is communicate to their reports the type of leader they aspire to be and then say, “But I also am human and I’ll probably f—k it up.”
Most importantly, the boss should encourage their reports to let them know when they’re falling short.
If your boss refuses to admit
that they’re wrong, this means they’re not willing to go out of their comfort
zone for you.
A national independent study by
Lynn Taylor Consulting found that 91% of employees said that owning up to one’s
mistakes as a manager was an important factor in employee job satisfaction.
Admitting to mistakes sends a message to your employees that it’s a safe environment to take smart risks — and without that, you’re sapping innovation.
Consistently overpromises
An overpromising boss is an untrustworthy boss. You might have been promised a series of promotions, increased responsibility, or a raise, but all you get is silence.
Overpromises.
It’s often helpful to get to the truth through emails if one-on-one discussions are getting you nowhere. If the responses aren’t coming via email, or at all, be wary.
Rarely expresses gratitude
Does your boss put you down in
front of others? If you let it go once, it’ll happen over and over again. Good
bosses know they should have this conversation with their employees in private.
While it may sound counterintuitive to apologize to someone for something that clearly wasn’t your fault, amazing things happen when you can bring yourself to do so. An intimate bond is forged.
All you have to say is something akin to, ‘I blame myself for your outburst earlier today. Clearly, I’ve been relying on you too much. If you have any issues with me, I’d appreciate hearing about them in the privacy of my office.
A micromanager
Micromanagers can’t resist becoming involved in the smallest details of their employee’s jobs. While micromanaging ensures that everything is done the manager’s way, employees resent the lack of responsibility, autonomy, and lack of growth opportunities.
Micromanager.
Is your boss so pushy and
overbearing that you find yourself unable to accomplish anything efficiently?
This may be a perpetual problem, so get ready for it early.
If they want a play-by-play of every meeting, email, and call, then take detailed notes of every business interaction and send them to your boss. Your boss will think that they’re on top of things and will leave you alone.
By over-communicating with a micromanager or needy boss, you’ll diffuse their desire to constantly check-in, while you build all-important trust at the same time.
Don’t want to hear your viewpoint
Stubborn bosses are as common as
company water coolers. But there’s a fine line between appearing insubordinate
and arguing your case. If there’s
something in it for your boss, you have the best chance of changing
behavior.
You must avoid the temptation to fight the same battles repeatedly. Change your argument to find a compromise, and document your case if you’re passionate about your perspective.
Just don’t win the battle and lose the war.
The bottom line
From my experience, great bosses
rarely if ever exhibit any of these ‘deep dark’ negative traits. Good leaders
occasionally will exhibit one of these negative traits, but not in a
significant way. The very worst of the bad leaders exhibit many of these
traits.
I have only seen one very senior boss exhibit a majority of these bad traits (in fact all of them at times). He was a ‘chosen one’ by a CEO that shared some of those bad traits.
The moral of this story is company
culture has a great influence on leadership development. If these traits are
possessed by your current leadership team or your emerging leaders, you will be
in for a rocky road ahead.
Which of these bad traits stand out
to you? Do you have any other signs of ineffective leaders worthy of mention?
Leave a comment and share your insights with others…
