What are the attributes of bad managers?
They are poor leaders – Be it communication with the team, handling the team, or taking full responsibility, bad managers, in general, tend to be poor leaders. They do not take the employees into consideration.
They do not have empathy – They are not likely to understand each team member individually or the plight of the supporting teams.
They are not involved – They are not involved in business altogether. They hover on top of the team but the guidance and advice is minimum from them.
They are over-involved – Some times micromanagement can leave to unsatisfied employees or employees with low morale. Such bad managers cause more attrition then the bosses which are not involved.
They wake up at the last moment – A boss is the one who has to plan and get the plan implemented. If he himself wakes up at the last moment, and the plan is not outlined for the team, the team will fail regularly and miserably in the tasks assigned.
They keep grudges – One of the worst qualities of wrong bosses or bad managers is that they keep grudges against others and in general are found to be more jealous and overbearing on employees. These qualities cause further problems down the line.
They are dumb/misaligned – Bad managers can either be dumb, or they can also be misaligned with the objectives of the organization.
The best way to handle a bad manager is to either communicate to them about their mistakes subtly, or to escalate if things get out of hand. If you do not do so, it is likely that team motivation will drop slowly which will affect you as an employee as well. Letting a bad manager do his job in the wrong manner will cause more rifts in the team.
So, do you have the wrong boss managing you? What are his qualities and how do you tackle them?