The hollywood movie “Horrible Bosses” is a typical hypothetical scenario of the topic we’re writing about: Horrible Bosses. Even If you have an excellent boss, chances are there’s at least one leader in your employment history who really did frustrate you — like the name suggests. That awkward moment when your boss is that stereotypical autocrat who always feel that whatever he or she says is absolutely right. According to research, the most incompetent of bosses all share one thing in common.
Related media: Bosses Vs Leaders — Which Are You?
Horrible Bosses
Of all your bosses, who will you rate as the best. You’ve probably had quite a number of terrible bosses in a variety of traits. We’ve all been there. But not to brag, here at The Factionary, our leaders are highly competent on the job, obviously. Over the years, researchers have been studying a thing they call “managerial derailment” — a pretty fancy term for the dark side of management, also known as (you guessed it) horrible bossing.
According to the Harvard Business Review, the traits that make bad managers so-called “horrible bosses” fall into three categories:
#1. Moving-away behaviors: These actions create distance between leaders and the workers beneath them, which leads to a lack of communication and skepticism that erases trust.
#2. Moving-against behaviors: These actions completely overpower people and may even involve manipulation. Obviously, nobody likes that.
#3. Moving-toward behaviors: These actions make a leader too agreeable and into being a people-pleaser, which will make them reluctant to take chances or stand up for their team.
What Makes A “Good Or Bad” Boss?
If you’ve ever had a nosy boss always peeping into your affairs, you probably wanted to scream, “Why don’t you leave me alone?!” Well, you better watch your manners as well. Of all the categories of horrible bosses aforementioned, there’s one peculiar trait that tops the worst of the worst; and that might be the one you least expected. The nitpick boss who’s always lurking around your affairs isn’t that much of a horrible boss.
An absent boss is your worst horrible boss scenario. This kind of boss is the one absent at work, absent from supervising your affairs, and basically let’s you do whatever you want. But, wait a second; that doesn’t sound that awful. It seems that’s what you’re expecting of your boss, right? This dream boss would more likely be a nightmare in reality. We’d explain.
In a 2015 survey, researchers identified nine traits that employees complained about the most from their leaders, eight of which were absent behaviors. In a survey of 1,000 workers, a whopping 63 percent of them said, “not recognizing employee achievements” troubled them the most. It seems, apparently, like employees do care about what their bosses don’t do over what they do. And according to a 2014 study, being ignored by your boss is even more alienating than being treated like crap. At least, they acknowledge your presence, right?
Be A Leader, Not A Boss
According to the Harvard Business Review, here are a few tips on how to avoid being the bad boss:
Notice and acknowledge your employees’ efforts, engage in daily interactions, give them public recognition, proactively ask for their feedback, and don’t wait for a performance and assessment team to evaluate your employees on how they are doing. Always being interactive with your employees will make them feel like they really have a leader and not a boss. Counterintuitively, it seems like letting your employees do whatever they want might make you the favorite boss, but the frequently interactive boss is the best leader.
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Written by: Nana Kwadwo, Fri, May 10, 2019.
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