The undisputed number one reason employees hate their jobs is, without a shadow of a doubt, bad management. Nobody wants to work for a dumb boss and as we all know, ‘people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers’. So as we strive to achieve excellent employee engagement in our workplaces, we have to ask ourselves, what are they doing wrong?
If you think you might be a dumb boss, or if you think you work for one, take a look at HR Mornings article on the 5 Traits of Really Dumb Managers. Amongst the tell tale signs are those managers who like to make their employees feel they are always on the brink of getting fired. Unless you happen to work for Alan Sugar, there is nothing productive about making employees feel insecure and even then I’m sure Amscorp would have something to say if he started trying to sack employees on a daily basis.
The article also cites managers who:
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like doing secret favours for favourite employees
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take credit for others' success and blame others when things don’t go to plan
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has been so sold on the idea of their project that they refuse to admit when it’s all going pear shaped
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is a micromanager
If you see your boss (or even yourself) in some of these traits, then there’s no need to start clearing out your desk immediately. One things that is true for the majority of bad managers is that their heart is in the right place. Just because nobody has shown them a way to be better doesn’t mean that they aren’t willing to make a change. So how do you start?
The first step to improving a dumb boss is to start breeding some honest and trust in the workplace. This is not easy to do, especially if said dumb boss is less than receptive to bad feedback, but everyone needs to know others' opinions at some point and it’s the best way to progress and improve. 360 Degree Feedback is a good opportunity, not to get all your grievances off your chest, but to give your boss some useful information and help on how to improve. There are some free guides which will help you to give feedback, both good and bad, available at www.tracksurveys.co.uk and a list of 10 ways to deal with a bad boss here.