This is my second post on the theme of bad managers. Here’s a link to the first if you missed it.
This week, more examples of unacceptable behaviours from those in positions of responsibility. Names have been changed to protect the identity of complainants.
Lack of leadership and professionalism
‘Attending a 2 day/3 night conference with my manager where we were required to feedback on all conference sessions to senior management on our return (to justify spend on our attendance). My manager appeared to find the bar of an evening more appealing and literally disappeared every night. Showing up late, if at all to the day time sessions. The kicker was them asking for my conference notes (which ran to +10 pages) so they could share back with the leadership team.’ Julia
Taking credit for others’ ideas
‘Using my slides/content in presentations and passing it off as their own!‘ John.
Micromanagement
‘I spent the worst six months of my career being micromanaged by someone who knew nothing, either about my field of expertise or, significantly, their own limitations. Nevertheless, it served an important lesson…never again!’ Kat.
‘Micromanaging so creativity is stifled.’ Sarah.
Cowardice and dishonesty
‘During a restructure, having promised that my team would not have to apply for their existing jobs as they weren’t part of the re-org, my manager caved into pressure and left me to tell 40 people that their roles were at risk. You can imagine what that did to morale. And how I felt having to communicate the u-turn whilst being told to ‘tow the line’.’ George.
Lack of compassion
‘My workload was easily that of 3 people. When I respectfully flagged that I was “struggling to manage” and needed practical solutions (in truth I was nearing a nervous breakdown) I was more or less told to ‘get more organised’ and ‘get with the programme’. A few months later, whilst 6 months pregnant, I broke my foot and was on crutches. I was still expected to commute in over an hour when I couldn’t drive and was very unsteady. There was no reaching out to ask if I needed to change working model/if I was ok/if I needed recovery time. Felt like I barely existed. Could only stick it out for a year there!‘ Jo.
Insecurity
‘Feeling threatened by your staff so diminishing their contribution or taking them off projects they are excelling at and giving them the ones nobody wants.’ Tom.
Favouritism
‘Setting up an a and b team, a preferred inner circle and marginalised outer circle.’ Andrew.
Unprofessional behaviour
‘Having an affair with a team member who then gets promoted.’ Tal.
Not taking responsibility
‘Very early on in my career an error went through on a printed sample which should have been checked and approved by my manager before sign off. He threw me under the bus instead.’ Robyn.
Lack of trust
‘Being promised reward/promotion if you do this or that, and then seeing the goal posts move, and realising you’ve been played. Trust is the greatest asset for leadership. It is derived from transparency, honesty and courage. Many have the title, very few could be considered worthy.’ Simone.
‘I have great memories of my time when we were made as managers to take a flogging to our team when our system was so poor it was just flagging up the wrong results and in all actuality the team was performing just fine. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed after we all threatened to walk out but this was a multi-occurrence thing. Refusing to believe your team over the system was a great way to poison the well I have to say.’ Jeff.
Poor time management and inconsideration
‘Waking up to an email sent in the early hours asking for critical input to a presentation only I could provide they were giving that day at 9:30am. They had been sitting on the request that should have met with earlier discussion and contribution for 2 weeks. I am a single parent and was working full-time with two very young children at the time. I only saw the email come in because I was up with a very poorly child and hadn’t slept. This senior manager really struggled to manage time and deliver to deadlines, frequently being distracted by shiny things and events- like decorating the office for Christmas! Madness.’ Phoebe.
Call for examples of good managers
In a future post I’ll share examples of good managers who illustrate how it should be done. Feel free to DM me with yours. Let’s explore what good management looks like in action.
What to do when you have a bad manager?
In future I’ll also explore suggestions of what to do if you have the misfortune to encounter a bad manager.
