Leigh Buchanan: Signs of a Bad Boss

I've mentioned Leigh Buchanan here a couple of times, a former editor from the Harvard Business Review who now writes for INC Magazine.  Leigh did an early story on The No Asshole Rule called "The Bully Rulebook" and more recently did a great story called "Paradise the Hard Way" on the resilient and relentless two families that built and now run a wonderful small eco-resort in Panama called Tranquilo Bay.  I ran into some great ideas in a New York Times article published early this year that quoted Leigh and other management experts on the differences between good and bad bosses.  There are a lot of good ideas in this story, but I especially like Leigh's indicators of a bad boss -- signs that his or her people will go to great lengths to avoid contact!  As Leigh put it:

"You never see people walk by. Employees would rather circumnavigate the entire office to get to the coffee machine or bathroom than take the shortcut past your door and risk being invited in.”

And Leigh added a second sign:

Employees do not volunteer for the boss’s pet projects. It could be because the idea is bad, and they are afraid to say that. Or the idea may be good, but they are petrified of what will happen if they let the boss down. Or since it is the boss’s pet project, he will probably work on it as well. “Which means more time spent ...gulp ...with you.”

I like these because they are subtle and creative.  If you know of any other subtle signs of a bad -- or good -- boss, please share!

P.S. Also see Leigh's related INC story.

Comments

[RUBBA]

"The Blackberry Manager". They forward e-mail back and forth, all day long from meetings, a car, some dopey seminar, or on vacation all under the guise of "working". For example,
The CFO Blackberry's his Manager a question. The Manager Blackberry's the staff to answer the question. The staff answers and the Manager Blackberry's the CFO back. But, to appear smart, the manager first edits out the name of the person who actually did the work to find the answer.

[Alex]

Now lets view it from evidence based management perspective:
Evidence 1:
You never see people walk by. "Employees would rather circumnavigate the entire office to get to the coffee machine or bathroom than take the shortcut past your door and risk being invited in"
Conclusion:
Not enough to say you are bad boss.
Employee may be afraid to be asked about project that was assigned to him did not start yet.(for example)

Evidence 2:
Employees do not volunteer for the boss’s pet projects. It could be because the idea is bad, and they are afraid to say that. Or the idea may be good, but they are petrified of what will happen if they let the boss down. Or since it is the boss’s pet project, he will probably work on it as well. “Which means more time spent ...gulp ...with you

Conclusion:
Not enough to say you are bad boss.
Employees can be no active enough.

Evidence 3
I've heard of people taking the stairs instead of the elevator if they happen to be leaving the office at the same time as their boss.

It helps to avoid that weird awkwardness of coming up with small talk for 30 seconds with a person you really don't like

Conclusion:
Not enough to say you are bad boss.
Same as one or maybe he is claustrophobic :)

Evidence 4:
My all time favorite is, you might be a bad boss if you choose to sit in your office on a conference call when 4 other employees are sitting in the conference room not more than 20 feet away on the same call. Nothing speaks louder that you don't want to be around us than that.
Conclusion: Now if you add all 4 -you have enough data to say you are bad boss

[Kathy]

You might be a bad boss if no one brings their child in the office on Bring Your Child to Work Day. This is so sad on so many levels. Small privately run businesses break lots of rules.

You might be a bad boss if after the office Pollyanna name pull the person who got your name is trying to trade it for someone else's name and no one will trade, not even brown nose Bill. This was too funny and so true.

You might be a bad boss if you practice management by walking around, by walking from your car to your office and back to your car each day. Nothing says I hate to make small talk with employees more than that one.

My all time favorite is, you might be a bad boss if you choose to sit in your office on a conference call when 4 other employees are sitting in the conference room not more than 20 feet away on the same call. Nothing speaks louder that you don't want to be around us than that.

[Vincent]

Here's the 60 Minutes story about the inner circle of the Obama campaign and its management. You hear a lot of the things about "being a good boss" in there.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/9/214644/606

[Jan]

How to kill creativity. 10 tips to Managers
--------------------------------

1. Say: "We have tried that before and it didn't work."
2. After your employee has made his/her suggestion, start talking about something else or just stare at him/her without saying a word.
3. If anyone suggest something, give the task back to them. Say: "That's a good idea. I want you to do it. Unfortunately we have no resources so I can't give you any help on this." The rest of the team will not come up with any more suggestions after that.
4. Repeat what they just said and put a question mark at the end. They will understand how stupid it was.
5. Give them the silent treatment.
6. Ignore them.
7. Remind them to file worked hours. Only.
8. Talk about the absurdly expensive Knowledge Management system that took more than a year to implement, and make them feel guilty that they haven't contributed to it enough.
9. Show that you don't trust them. Always check up on what they tell you. It's more efficient if they know that you do this.
10. Give them the silent treatment – again. And just in case: ignore them.

[Brennan]

I've heard of people taking the stairs instead of the elevator if they happen to be leaving the office at the same time as their boss.

It helps to avoid that weird awkwardness of coming up with small talk for 30 seconds with a person you really don't like.

[Pete Abilla]

How about this -- this is not a generalization:

In most Asian cultures, being overly-polite and overly-courteous is a subtle sign of a relationship that isn't healthy, but the overly-polite person doesn't have the will or courage or it is not culturally accepted to behave as she/he truly feels.

This is tough to quantify, but is a qualitative behavior that is unique and factual.

[Allison O'Neill]

I've got 55 examples off good and bad boss stories in my book "The Boss Benchmark". I wrote it after seeing inside many workplaces while running my staff survey company. A subtle sign of a good boss is one who isnt 'too good' to put out the office rubbish bag. A not so subtle sign of a bad boss is one who STILL insists on being called "Mr Smith" - being a cut above the staff.
www.thebossbenchmark.blogspot.com
www.nicheforecasting.co.nz