A good boss supports his employees and promotes their growth. A bad boss keeps his employees down and creates an uncomfortable working atmosphere - with all the negative consequences. Are you a bad boss or manager, or do you have a bad boss or manager? In this article we will give you ten noticeable features.
Consequences of poor personnel management
If you have or are a bad boss, it has many negative consequences. One of the most important ones is described by the saying “people don't quit jobs, they quit managers”. An American study of 1,000 respondents has shown that poor personnel management is responsible for 44% of layoffs.
But mental health and productivity also suffer from poor human resource management. In addition, studies have shown that the number of sick leave is increasing. Reason enough to tackle this problem!
Characteristics of a bad boss
If you are, or have a bad boss, you are likely to recognize one or more of the following traits.
1. Does not give recognition
For many employees, the appreciation and recognition of their work is even more important than the salary they receive. A study by StepStone has shown that 30% are looking for another job because they are not getting enough recognition in their current position.
Even worse is a boss or manager who shows no appreciation, but wins the laurels himself. 57% of those questioned in the aforementioned American study find this unacceptable.
2. Yells at employees or bullies them
There are two situations in which a boss can yell at his employees: when it is very loud and they cannot otherwise understand him, or when there is a life-threatening situation. Otherwise, shouting is never a good idea.
It's even worse when the yelling turns into structural bullying and a culture of fear emerges in the team. For example, imagine an employee being publicly snubbed during a meeting. Such behavior does not encourage employees to be genuinely involved and never leads to the formation of close-knit teams.
3. Gives no support and no feedback
In order to achieve the common goal of the team, employees expect to be instructed or looked after by their boss or manager. A bad boss expects employees to read their thoughts, lets them find out everything for themselves and only points out afterwards that things did not go as they imagined. This is not effective and only creates irritation.
New employees with less experience in particular benefit from additional support and feedback. They would like to learn and so contact their boss or manager.
4. Don't admit mistakes
People make mistakes, so do managers! A good manager will admit their mistakes and apologize when the situation calls for it. A bad boss will find all kinds of excuses not to admit mistakes.
5. Never say "thank you"
When employees have achieved a special result - for example when they have "won" a prestigious new customer - it is nice when they get a pat on the back for it. Even if they have worked through a weekend to get a certain task done on time, they expect at least a thank you from their boss. A bad boss does not take note of this, but sees it as a matter of course.
6. Is a bad planner
Good planning is the best way to distribute the existing workload fairly and to make reaching deadlines realistic. A bad boss throws work on your desk for several days and says you have to finish it tomorrow. Of course that doesn't work. As a result, employees always have to play the fire department and never find the peace and quiet they need to really work on something or think about something. This does not benefit the quality of the work and creates a tense atmosphere.
7. Focuses on what is wrong
A noticeable trait of a bad boss or manager is to only point out what is going wrong, not what is going right. By constantly pointing out other minor problems and mistakes, he wants to look better himself. But he forgets that by doing so he is encouraging risk-taking, which reduces the chance of exceptional results. And the result is exactly what a boss or manager is ultimately responsible for.
8. Set unclear expectations
There is a big difference between being self-employed and being confused. As an employee, do you often not know what to do? Or do your employees often don't seem to understand what their tasks are? Then it could well be that this is due to the manager's communication skills. Make it clear what needs to be done and why and when a task or project is successful.
9. Is a micromanager
A good boss sets a goal and defines clear expectations. However, he then leaves the team the freedom to achieve this goal themselves. A boss who interferes in every little thing gives his employees no chance to learn and grow.
10. Use nepotism
At the bottom of the list, but definitely an important trait: a bad boss prefers certain people. He assigns the best assignments to the people he likes, rather than those who are best suited to them. Someone with whom you share a lot of common interests and with whom you can talk well doesn't always have to be the right person for a job.
How do you become a good boss?
You now know ten salient characteristics of a bad boss or manager. But what are the qualities of a good boss?
• He is positive and helpful, does not scream or break down.
• He gives recognition and appreciation, not only through salary increases, but also in the form of compliments.
• He explains clearly what he expects from his employees.
• He does not accept the laurels himself, but pays tribute to the team members who perform particularly well or who have brought the project to a successful conclusion.
• He forecasts and realistically plans the existing workload.
• He encourages growth and accepts that mistakes can happen.