So I have this friend Ryan. And he has a blog. And he writes good stuff. I even guest posted for him! And he's a mentor for Bloggers Helping Bloggers and, in general, just a pretty cool dude. But last week, he posed a question to his fellow Gen Y persons and because I'm technically not Gen Y (I mean, I could be depending on which measure you use but most of them put me at the tail end of Gen X), I couldn't respond to the survey.
So I'm responding in a post. Because it's a topic I feel strongly about and also, I don't like to feel left out (age discrimation is not cool, Ryan).
The gist of the survey was this: he wanted people to describe characteristics of a good and bad boss. Or, why did you leave a job? I feel that, having left multiple jobs over the years, I am an expert. And, despite the sentiment that most people leave a job because of their boss, I only did this once. I usually left because of pay or other reasons, but there was one instance–at the best job I had, sadly enough–where my boss was so unbearable I swore I would never again sell my soul for a paycheck.
What made her so bad? Well, the red flags were there during the interview and hiring process but I figured I could get over that. Little did I know that it would get worse. For instance:
Her moods. Moodiest. Woman. Ever. With this woman, you never knew what you were going to get. And that wasn't just day to day, it was hour to hour. I have never seen someone's moods change so quickly. And so often. I get that we all have our moments and that not every day is sparkles and unicorns. But when you are in charge of people, you need to have consistency. Your staff needs to know what they're getting. Changing your mood on a dime is not a great characteristic of a good leader. It sets a bad tone for morale.
Withholding information. In what I can only assume was a power play, she never gave anyone complete information. When your work is consistently a team effort, each person needs to know what's going on. She would never meet wight the teams as a whole; rather, she would meet individually so then, when we talked to each other, we'd all be confused. And look stupid. She was especially good at doing this prior to meetings with outside agencies. Then she could look like the superhero and come to our aid because we were just the dumb worker bees and she was the smart, informed head of the hive. Not giving your workers all the information they need to do their work so you can look good is a slap in the face to productivity.
Refusing to make decisions. She never made a concrete decision. Ever. And if she did, she refused to put it in writing. She did this so that if something did get screwed up, she couldn't be held accountable. She could just say “I didn't make that decision” or “you're remembering my words wrong”. Again, this was an attempt to always make herself look good at her staff's expense. When you are a leader, you need to make decisions and own up to them, good outcome or bad. That's why you're the boss. Not just to guide your stuff but to make those executive decisions. Failing to do so makes everyone question your leadership ability.
Lack of availability. I get that, as a supervisor, you have many, many meetings. With high level people, outside agencies and your staff. That's fine. In fact, it's more than fine. It's just part of your job. But this supervisor would disappear for hours on end, didn't respond to emails, had no cell phone, and insisted on not maintaining her calendar. This made her completely inaccessible to your staff (and her supervisor, but that's a different topic entirely), which made her an ineffective leader. Your staff needs to have access to you to discuss issues, information, and details. When you disappear and your staff needs you to finish a project, work gets held up. Not good for productivity.
Leading with fear, not respect. This particular supervisor was one of the most vindictive people I have ever encountered. If you disagreed with her, either in private or in public, she would make sure that you were punished. She would exclude you from big, high profile projects, critique your work with overly painstaking scrutiny, or basically find ways to embarrass you. She was rude, a bully, and often ignored common social decencies like saying “hello”. She threatened people to get what she wanted and fear of her sanctions was so high, people did whatever she wanted just to avoid them. But no one respected anything she did. You can't be a good leader if you don't earn any respect. And good people will leave.
No supervisor is perfect and many exhibit one or more of the characteristics. Sometimes on their own, sometimes together. That's fine. We all have our bad days and low moments. It's almost expected. But someone acts like this all day, every day, and that person is your supervisor, it makes for a hostile work environment. And low morale. And general unpleasantness.
If you are in a position of authority at work, don't abuse it. Treat your staff like they are capable, intelligent people. Don't demoralize them. Help them the best you can. Praise them when they do good work; don't just save your feedback for something wrong. Most people don't enjoy going to work. It's even worse when their supervisor is an asshat.
Don't be an asshat.
Mackenzie says
I think everyone can relate to this post and has had a boss with some of these characteristics. I had a boss once who was always in meetings and never gave us any direction at all. So annoying. And then I’ve also had a boss that was moody too. We all used to take turns to say good morning nonchalantly to her first to gage her mood, and then report back to the team so we would know what we were in for, for the day. Sad, but true.
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Mo' Money Mo' Houses says
Yup I’ve definitely had a boss like that. She always withheld a bit of info so I always felt a bit lost when trying to figure out how to do a task. Then later on I realized it wasn’t that I was incompetent, it’s that she made it impossible to do anything without asking her a million specific questions to get all the details! So frustrating.
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Pauline says
This divide and conquer attitude is so high school! Coming from a business owner you could bite your tongue and say nothing but she had a supervisor and didn’t get fired even though she was clearly impeding productivity? She must have behaved very differently with her boss…
A good leader brings out the best in people, not anger and hatred.
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Eschewing Debt says
I had one boss who I really could not stand. She was quite power hungry, and she seemed to believe that if women did not give up everything- family, kids, a life, etc., for a career than you were not worth anything. (Is it just me, or do most women in positions of power seem to act that way? That was my experience at least, though I hope I am the exception, not the rule). I was very glad to leave that workplace!
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Eric J. Nisall - DollarVersity says
It’s like Sonny (Chaz Palmentieri) said in A Bronx Tale:
“…I’d rather be feared. Fear lasts longer than love. Friendships that are bought with money mean nothing. You see how it is around here, I make a joke –everybody laughs. I know I’m funny, but not that funny. It’s fear that keeps them loyal to me. But, the trick is not to be hated. That’s why I treat my men good, but not too good. I give them too much they don’t need me. I give them just enough where they need me, but they don’t hate me.”
Some people think that by being feared, it equates to respect, which most of the time just isn’t true. They think that they have to be hard-asses all the time so people know they are in charge. Often times it backfires and leaves them on their own.
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101 Centavos says
Fear, love, money, respect, recognition, team dynamics… each motivator has its place and purpose at different times. A little bit of fear (of the consequences of failure, for example) is not entirely a bad thing.
And speaking of bad bosses, I once worked for an assclown whose favorite color was red… as in a red pen, bleeding all over my work. Hated that guy.
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Lance @ Money Life and More says
I can see why you hated this boss. I actually got cupcakes for national bosses day today… funny thing is I don’t think of myself as a boss even though technically I am a supervisor. I guess I’m a decent boss, at least according to the cupcakes I got today 🙂
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