The Tell-Tale Signs Of A Bad Boss
2 July 2021
Let’s face it; we have all seen and experienced bad bosses. There are the ones that bully, the ones that only care about themselves and their own career, the cowards that hide behind others or the ones that drive you mad by trying to tell you how to do your job in the minutest level of detail. Seeing bad bosses in action can be hilarious but if you are on the receiving end of a bad boss it is usually no laughing matter. Bad bosses cause so much unnecessary stress in the work place and are a major cause of reduced productivity and performance.
The thing is that we are often not fully aware why we get stressed by our bosses, they just make us feel uncomfortable or in the worst case completely stressed out. I work with so many different companies all over the world, across all industries and sectors and believe I can tell whether someone is a good boss or not within seconds of meeting them and their team. You can just tell by what they say, how they say it and how they and their team behave. Here are my top ten tell-tale signs of a bad boss:
The Ego-Tripper
a boss that is arrogant, shows off at any opportunity and is in constant need of boosting his or her ego
The Coward
a boss that takes on no accountability and often hides behind others
The Micromanager
a boss that believes he knows how others should do their job, who can’t trust people to just get on with their job and instead micro-manages everything they do
The Incapable
a boss that has been promoted beyond his or her capabilities, has no clue how to do the job and has lost all respect of subordinates and co-workers
The Over-friendly Mate
a boss that inappropriately wants to be your best mate or nearest friend
The Bad Communicator
a boss that is unable to communicate anything effectively, be it the corporate strategy or individual performance feedback
The Plagiariser
a boss that takes credit for other people’s work or ideas and passes it off as his own (especially to his or her boss)
The Negative
a boss that just can’t say anything positive and instead turns everything into doom-and-gloom
The Ego-Centric
a boss that doesn’t care about the people who work for him and is not interested in helping, coaching and developing anyone else but himself
The Criticiser
a boss that is quick to critisise mistakes others make and is unable to provide constructive feedback
For me, each of the above are clear signs of a bad manager and when you get a boss with one or maybe two of the signs then you can usually manage around them (not ideal but doable). Really problematic is when you end up with a boss that shows several of them at the same time, in which case I can only wish you good luck!
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Bernard Marr is a world-renowned futurist, influencer and thought leader in the fields of business and technology, with a passion for using technology for the good of humanity.
He is a best-selling author of over 20 books, writes a regular column for Forbes and advises and coaches many of the world’s best-known organisations.
He has a combined following of 4 million people across his social media channels and newsletters and was ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top 5 business influencers in the world.
Bernard’s latest book is ‘Generative AI in Practice’.
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