Surviving Poor Management 12: 10 Signs of a Bad Boss

This continues our series on how to survive poor management at work and grow

Sophia worked for a small advertising company with 35 employees. The quality of the firms work received awards in multiple states. Nevertheless, Sophia recognized the firm was in trouble. She identified the problem as the owner.  He excelled in creating outstanding advertising campaigns. Unfortunately, he managed poorly. He didn’t trust his staff. He micromanaged his team. He rarely delegated responsibilities, and retook delegated tasks back from his employees.

10 Signs You’ve Got a Bad Boss

Kelly Eggers wrote an article last year, 10 Signs You’ve Got a Bad Boss ,that we share with you. We like it because it expands the concept of poor management from one boss, to a culture of poor management. Recommend you read the entire article on Jobs.AOL.com.

Eggers describes the following problems that create a poor management culture within the organizations:

• Bad Communication: Poor or secretive communication creates problems and rumor
• Leading by (Very Specific) Example: Micromanaging or telling employees there is only one way to do things kills morale and creativity
• Team Building that Isn’t team building: Get to know your employees in social settings as well as at work. Jared and Sarah Stewart suggest creating pools
• Little or No Training: Companies that are not willing to invest in their employees fail to keep their best employees
• Ineffective Training: Training that does not achieve the desired result could be worse than no training at all—it could reduce existing productivity, results, & profits
• Poorly executed performance reviews: Many companies use obsolete or ineffective methods for evaluating performance. Bad performance appraisals lead to poor awards
• Stifled Mobility: Managers who fail to recognize—and take advantage of—their employees best skills and strengths cannot help them achieve their potential
• Preventing Follow-Through: Not allowing employees to feel the satisfaction of completing a good job or project kills their motivation to do well
• Obstacle-Course Applications: Unclear job descriptions and convoluted application processes stifle hiring the best people
• Hiring for Skills, Not Competencies: Ignoring competency for keywords

Monday we review symptoms and remedies for five critical management problems

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