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15 unmistakable qualities of a really bad manager

15 unmistakable qualities of a really bad manager15 unmistakable qualities of a really bad managerTheres a quite popular saying that goes employees dont quit their jobs, they quit their managers.And theres a lot of truth in that saying if you think about it.Your manager or boss typically has a HUGE influence on what your job actually looks like from day-to-day, how you feel about coming into work, and what your career path will be in the foreseeable future. Your relationship with them is so crucial thatyouoften have to managethemto some extent too, as an employee, to keep things going smoothly (read abouthow to manage your manager and yes its a thing).We cant say that this popular saying (that people quit managers, not jobs) is 100% true at all times though there are many different things that impact anyemployees happiness at work, plusstudies have shownthat there are other reasons besides their manager that are just aslikely to drive employees to quit. But all things considered, you totenstill cant overlook the impact your manager typically has on your work-life.It couldnt be mora true than if youre so unlucky as to have abadmanager.Since weve already done a roundup ofqualities of great leadersthat people really love (its one of our best articles of all time), we figured why not do something similarexcept this time a roundup of top qualities that make a bad manager. To do just that, we went and asked a couple of dozen experts to weigh in on this one simple questionWhat are some unmistakable qualities of a bad manager?Their answers all boiled down to 15 undesirable qualities that, when exhibited in the workplace, wreaks havoc on employee happiness and morale and yes, drives employees to quit. Keep in mind that these dont include obvious negative qualities that you likely wouldnt want to find inanyoneyou work closely with let alone your manager, such as lack of ethics or morale compass, arrogance, and self-centeredness.1. Takes leistungspunkt for others workA good manager always takes responsibility for the performance of their kollektiv and wont throw any of their kollektiv members under the bus while still providing the gruppe members with all the praise in public, even for ideas that the manager wouldve come up with themselves. A bad manager is the opposite. They take all the leistungspunkt and blame their employees for the failures, which obliterates trust and leads to the team starting to also cover for themselves as opposed to working for the best of the company. Jesse Nieminen, Co-Founder ofViimaTheres nothing worse than working for a manager thats willing and happy to claim any big wins the team achieves, but deflects responsibility when times are tough and losses come around. gruppe wins and losses should be shared together, with management leading the way to ensure wins are multiplied and losses minimized. Kris Hughes, Senior Content Marketing Manager atProjectManager.com2. Doesnt show appreciation or give recognition to emplo yeesWe all like to be told weve done a great job, and some managers may overlook that when leading a team. You should always let people know when theyre doing a good job, its extremely motivating and shows you respect them professionally. Matt Reaney, Founder ofBig wolkeThey see you, their employee, as simply a set of hands and feet paid to get a job done. They dont ask about you personally, because they dont care. If it doesnt have to do with getting the job done, they dont care. Michael Wilkinson, CMF, CPF, Founder and Managing Director ofLeadership Strategies, Inc.and Author of The Secrets of FacilitationA manager is the one leading their team and will also be the one that knows when to give credit where credit is due. If they cannot appreciate instances where their team exceeds their expectations, it will be a source of demotivation. This will also worsen if the manager does not give credit to their team while also taking all the credit for themselves. Sean Si, CEO and Founder o fSEO Hacker, Qeryz, Sigil and Workplay3. MicromanagesA poor manager will micro-manage his or her team. They will see only one way to accomplish a task and will not value the input of others. Team members are not encouraged to grow, mistakes are frowned upon and unless a task is completed exactly as the manager wants it completed (even if completion in another manner achieves a positive outcome) the manager wont recognize the success. Cynthia Corsetti, CPCC, SPHR, Executive Leadership Coach atCynthia Corsetti Coaching, LLCBad managers fail to give their team personal independence. They over-delegate and over-assign. Employees who feel they dont have freedom will become disillusioned and frustrated. Nicholas Hobson, Workplace Psychologist and Co-Founder ofPsychologyCompass.comControlling your team in minute detail is a terrible trait for a manager. You should hire a team you trust to do the work and give them the freedom to carry it out. Micromanaging leads to a lack of motivation and creativity Matt Reaney, Founder ofBig CloudTreating employees like school children is a surefire way to demotivate your team. The best way to avoid micromanagement is to set up clear KPIs.. If your team is consistently hitting their numbers, theres no reason to monitor/manage how they get things done. For example, if your sales employees are consistently hitting their goals, theres no reason to monitor their customer communications or make a big fuss about what time they come into work and leave each day. David Scarola, Vice President ofThe Alternative mainboardA clear-cut sign of a bad manager is someone who jumps in and takes over every time there is a problem, even the slightest one. If your employees are resistant to bringing problems to you, because they fear youll take it over, theres a good chance you are doing something wrong. A great manager rejects the dependence of the their teammates and instead asks how would you solve this problem if I wasnt here? The 1 role of a mana ger is to grow people, and when you solve a problem for them nobody grows. Kevin Armstrong, Owner ofThe Alternative Board Vancouver4. Unable to trust (control freak)There are managers that are unable to give projects completely to their juniorins. The junior will do the work, but everything needs to be funneled through to the manager for approval which is ok on some things, but when a manager refuses to let anything go without approval, it results in bottlenecks. Youll have juniors sitting around waiting for their manager to approve their work, so theres a huge loss of productivity. Managers need to be able to trust the people they employ to do their work correctly. Michael Sunderland, Managing Director atFull Stack TalentSimilar to micromanagement, the untrusting manager wants the employee to get the work done, but is excessive in checking timing and details. They may feel that employees who are very successful are a threat, and so place greater emphasis in trying to catch them d oing the wrong thing. Richard Pummell, Human Resources Lead atDevelopIntelligence5. Plays favoritesManagers that pick out certain team members as their favorites arebad news. Often there are some members of the team that are mora similar in terms of culture, values or even work ethic, so its easy for managers to relate more easily to these people. However, when this results in them promoting their work over others, giving more weight to their opinions, or giving more assistance, it crosses the line. Other team members are quick to notice and can easily become disengaged as a result. Fiona Adler, Founder ofActioned.comIt can be hard to be recognised in the world of work, but even more so if your manager favours certain members of the team.Staff can feel really unmotivated if they have a manager with favourites it means their hard work goes unnoticed. Showing favouritism towards specific employees also leads members of the team to feel frustrated with the company dynamic when it comes to completing deadlines and making complaints about those certain members of staff. Chris Wain, Sales Director forAfrica Travel6. Doesnt provide clear or realistic directionA bad manager is one who does not clearly define for employees their responsibilities. This can lead to confusion amongst team members and work not getting done if no one understands that the tasks are their responsibility. Nate Masterson, CEO ofMaple HolisticsOne thing youll find from bad managers is setting unrealistic expectations with no guidance. There could be a lack of teamwork that is needed in order to complete a project. It is important for managers to know the difference between overworking their employees and challenging them. It is important for employees to be resourceful and learn their own way through a project, but it is also vital to show them the vital resources. Jacob Dayan, Esq., CEO and Co-founder ofCommunity Tax7. Is unavailable or avoids tough conversationsAs a business owner, your door s hould always be figuratively and literally open to employees. Its up to you to foster a collaborative environment, where team members feel comfortable approaching you with questions, concerns, new ideas, and even criticisms. If you set a tone of being too busy or too important for employees, youll likely miss out on the valuable insight they can offer. David Scarola, Vice President ofThe Alternative BoardDealing with conflict is part of the job description for managers- in fact, a study from the American Management Association found that 24% of a managers day is spent managing conflict. Its a challenging task that demands emotional intelligence along with an arsenal of conflict resolution techniques- and a manager simply isnt doing their job if they shy away from conflict management responsibilities. Ben Aston, Founder ofThe Digital Project Manager8. Lack of empathy or compassion (low emotional intelligence)Effective leadership at any level requires the ability to recognize and cont rol ones own emotions. It also requires the ability to show empathy, recognize and influence the emotions of others. A poor manager lacks this skill. Cynthia Corsetti, CPCC, SPHR, Executive Leadership Coach atCynthia Corsetti Coaching, LLCAnother quality of a bad manager is not caring if their employees are overworked. An employees mental health is crucial to the employees life as well as their productivity at work, and a boss who is not in tune with what their employees are experiencing does not value the needs of their employees. Nate Masterson, CEO ofMaple HolisticsWhen a manager fails to make a concerted effort to understand the needs and desires of their employees, and how they can help them reach both individual and group goals, morale suffers. This causes lowered productivity and a higher turnover rate. Kieran Canisius, CEO Co-Founder ofSeuss Recruiting, Seuss Consulting, andZocket9. Unable to listen and respond to feedback (poor listener)This is probably the most damaging c haracteristic that a manager can have. They wont listen to a person speaking and therefore they never truly get to the route of the issue. Instead, the manager hears a few words and begins to interrupt with a solution, which may not even be the right solution because they didnt truly listen to the problem. The manager with poor listening skills has no chance of having a productive and effective team. Cynthia Corsetti, CPCC, SPHR, Executive Leadership Coach atCynthia Corsetti Coaching, LLCThe number one thing that defines a bad manager for me is an inability to listen and respond to feedback from staff. Individual team-members are always a rich source of information they could hear real-life feedback from customers, for example, or have insights into where processes could be refined.A manager whos too arrogant to realise the value of this information not only misses out on opportunities to improve things They also alienate the staff by failing to listen. As a consultant whos zipped around numerous companies for over a decade, Ive encountered a great many managers like this. Ben Taylor, Founder ofHomeWorkingClubWith bad managers One way communication is rampant. In any meeting they lead, their voice dominates the air waves. They dont care what you think, they dont ask questions, and when you give input, their focus is explaining why you are wrong. Michael Wilkinson, CMF, CPF, Founder and Managing Director ofLeadership Strategies, Inc.and Author of The Secrets of FacilitationBad managers speak more than they listen. When youre the loudest voice in the room, its easy to forget that you hired a bunch of smart people that are more qualified to do their jobs than you are. Managers sometimes consider employee silence to be an indicator of agreement or an absence of ideas.However, employee silence is more likely due to feeling uncomfortable speaking. Perhaps they dont want to interrupt a manager who leaves little room for others to speak, or they think their idea will go over poorly, or they dont want to point out flaws in a managers plan. Dave Lane, CEO ofInventiv10. Doesnt lead by exampleIm sure everyones seen a manager who talks to their employees about the times being tough and everyone having to work longer hours for the same pay, then leaving the office early to play golf. While hypocrisy often isnt this obvious, its a common problem with far-reaching consequences for the morale and performance of the team, as well as the credibility of the manager. A manager always leads by example, whether they want it or not. Jesse Nieminen, Co-Founder ofViimaPitching in with the grunt work, being one of the team and showing up is so important for leading others. No one wants to work for someone who never shows up, doesnt do work themselves or acts superior. Be someone they can follow in the right path Matt Reaney, Founder ofBig CloudAlso known as a do as I say, not as I do mentality. As an employer, all eyes are on you, which means, you need to be your model employee. You cant expect your employees to be chipper, if youre bringing in a bad attitude every day. You also cant expect your employees to conquer challenges, that you dont know how to conquer yourself. Knowing the ins and outs of your industry is paramount to good leadership, as is setting the positive tone for company culture.-David Scarola, Vice President ofThe Alternative BoardSimilar to those who micromanage their team), managers who require excellence from their team members, but do not produce excellent results in their own daily work leading by example are sure to fail in time, because they simply will not earn respect from their team. Kris Hughes, Senior Content Marketing Manager atProjectManager.com11. Lacks humility or self-awarenessI believe lack of humility is a trait of a bad manager because, even though they are in a position of leadership, managers dont have all the answers. If they pretend like they do (and I have seen many managers/leaders do this), the n they end up wasting time and valuable resources. A good manager realizes they cant accomplish everything on their own and thats when theyre able to leverage the strengths of their team. Tyler Hanna, CEO and Co-Founder of8-bit RexSome bad managers have such low self-awareness that they blame others for their own failings. They dont see how their action and inaction contribute significantly to the problems they have. Michael Wilkinson, CMF, CPF, Founder and Managing Director ofLeadership Strategies, Inc.and Author of The Secrets of Facilitation12. Manages with fear, not fairnessThe manager who leads with fear wants employees to feel they are lucky to have a job, and whenever a request is made it includes a tacit threat that if the request isnt delivered, there will be ramifications down the road. This can also include the manager who selects favorites and gives others the cold shoulder and will frequently change how they treat an individual employee. Employees never know where they stand, and generally dislike any interactions with the manager. Richard Pummell, Human Resources Lead atDevelopIntelligenceThe old-style my way or the highway mindset of management has no place in modern society, but there are still plenty of managers out there that try to lead this way. While a fear-based style might get some short-term results, the long-term negative impact will always be more substantial. Servant leadership is the only way to drive consistent results in a business world now that is as complex and dynamic as its ever been. Kris Hughes, Senior Content Marketing Manager atProjectManager.com13. Is complacent about poor performing or toxic team membersKeeping a bad teammate on the team is poor decision. Its not doing any service to the weak team member and its not fair to all the other teammates. It is the most dangerous and most common sign of a weak manager by suffering a poor performing team member and not cutting them loose before its too late. Zach Hendrix Co-Fo under ofGreenPal14. Doesnt follow through or recognize their own responsibilitiesOne of the main qualities I see in a bad manager is that they think they get more freedoms, when in fact they actually get more work. Ive seen it time and time again, someone becomes a manager and thinks they dont have to follow all the rules or do the small duties it takes to maintain a team. In short, they get lazy, and theres no quicker way to get your team to quit on you than by being egotistical and entitled. Nick Glassett, Founder ofOriginLeadership.comCountless managers receive requests, questions, concerns etc from their team and either 1) never respond or 2) respond and then fail to follow through. This can be very demotivating for team members and sets the tone for a company culture of dropping the ball. Great managers are so organized, their team knows they can count on them to follow up. Kevin Armstrong, Owner ofThe Alternative Board VancouverThis person is the opposite extreme of a microma nager. They think that they can get everyone working at capacity with just the very occasional bit of guidance. They often arrive late, take long lunches, and leave early on a regular basis. They over-value the contribution of their strategic thinking and are quick to take credit for their team members work. Pretty soon, people resent these types of managers. Fiona Adler, Founder ofActioned.com15. Doesnt live up to workplace valuesBad managers will demonstrate inconsistencies in the values of the company. They might advertise the principles as part of the mission statement, but their day-to-day actions say otherwise. And of course Actions speak louder than words. Research shows, inconsistencies in values is recipe for employee burnout. Nicholas Hobson, Workplace Psychologist and Co-Founder ofPsychologyCompass.comThis article first appeared on Kununu.

Has technology killed face-to-face communication

Has technology killed face-to-face communicationHas technology killed face-to-face communicationMost of us use our cell phones and computers to inform, make requests of, and collaborate with co-workers, clients and customers. The digital age has connected people across the world, making e-commerce and global networking a reality. But does this reliance on technology, also mean we are losing the ability to effectively communicate with each other in rolle?Ulrich Kellerer thinks so. He is a leadership expert, international speaker, and author. According to Kellerer, When it comes to effective business communication, over reliance on technology at work can be a hindrance, especially when it ends up replacing face-to-face, human interaction.Carol Kinsey GomanYou were the founder and CEO of Faro Fashion in Munich, Germany. What did you discover about business communication in this role?Ulrich KellererThe digital age has fundamentally changed the nature and function of business communicatio n. It has blurred international boundaries allowing people to connect with each other across the world. Communication is mobilized and instantaneous, and it is easier than ever to access and share information on a global scale.However, Ive also seen the negative impact of digital communication on business both internally and externally. While digital methods themselves are bedrngnis detrimental in fact, many devices help us boost productivity, increase and inspire creativity it is our intensifying relationship with the digital environment that leads to unhealthy habits that not only distract us from the present, but also negatively impact communication effectiveness.GomanIn the midst of a digital age, I believe that face-to-face is still the most productive and powerful communication medium. An in-person meeting offers the best opportunity to engage others with empathy and impact. It builds and supports positive professional connections that we cant replicate in a virtual environm ent. Would you agree?KellererConnection is critical to building business relationships. Anyone working in sales knows that personal interactions yield better results. According to Harvard research, face-to-face requests were 34 times more likely to garner positive responses than emails. Communication in sales is complicated. It requires courtesies and listening skills that are simply not possible on digital platforms.Interpersonal communication is also vital for a business to function internally. While sending emails is efficient and fast, face-to-face communication drives productivity. In a recent survey, 67% of senior executives and managers said their organizations productivity would increase if superiors communicated face-to-face more often.GomanIn my research on the impact of body language on leadership effectiveness Ive seen the same dynamic. In face-to-face meetings our brains process the continual cascade of nonverbal cues that we use as the basis for building trust and prof essional intimacy. As a communication medium, face-to-face interaction is information-rich. People are vokalisting the meaning of what you say only partially from the words you use. They get most of your message (andallof the emotional nuance behind the words) from vocal tone, pacing, facial expressions and body language. And, consciously or unconsciously, you are processing the instantaneous nonverbal responses of others to help gauge how well your ideas are being accepted.KellererWhile digital communication is often the most convenient method, face-to-face interaction is still by far the most powerful way to achieve business goals. Having a personal connection builds trust and minimizes misinterpretation and misunderstanding. With no physical cues, facial expressions/gestures, or the ability to retract immediately, the risk of disconnection, miscommunication, and conflict is heightened.GomanHuman beings are born with the innate capability to send and interpret nonverbal signals. I n fact, our brains need and expect these more primitive and significant channels of information. When we are denied these interpersonal cues, the brain struggles and communication suffers. In addition, people remember much more of what they see than what they hear which is one reason why you tend to be more persuasive when you are both seen and heard.In addition to eye contact, gestures, facial expressions and body postures, another powerful nonverbal component (and one that comes solely in face-to-face encounters) istouch. We are programmed to feel closer to someone whos touched us. For example, a study on handshakes by the Income Center for Trade Shows showed that people are twice as likely to remember you if you shake hands with them.KellererBusiness leaders must create environments in which digital communication is used strategically and personal communication is practiced and prioritized. Technology is a necessary part of business today but incorporating the human touch is wha t will give businesses the competitive edge in the digital marketplace.GomanAgreedCarol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D., is an international keynote speaker and leadership presence coach. Shes the author of The Silent Language of Leaders How Body Language Can Help or Hurt How You Lead and creator of LinkedInLearnings video series Body Language for Leaders. For more information, visitCarolKinseyGoman.com.