The Most Common Mistakes that Bad Managers Make

Startup and expansion stage companies are full of great things. They often boast innovative minds, unique ideas, fearless leaders, and an unmatched passion for their product and industry.

 

On the flip side, those companies are often populated with younger, inexperienced managers and executives that are usually in their first go-round as bosses. They tend to have relatively little experience managing people and that inexperience can manifest itself in some fairly significant managerial missteps. If those mistakes are committed often and without any effort to address them, inexperienced managers run the risk of becoming bad ones pretty quickly.

So, whether you’re new to management or a veteran executive, it’s time for some introspection.

A few years ago, communications consultant and management specialist Cyndi Maxey developed a great list of the 10 things that all bad managers do. Here they are, along with my thoughts on how they apply to younger startup or expansion stage companies.

1. Embarrass employees in public.

Public humiliation is outdated, archaic, and authoritarian  — none of which make embarrassing employees in front of their colleagues a good idea.

2. Don’t follow up on employee ideas.

With expansion stage technology companies in particular, innovation and creativity are key. If you frequently ignore your employees’ input, they’ll feel no motivation to contribute to the greater good and that innovative spirit will be crushed.

3. Withhold praise.

Compensation can only motivate people to a certain level. If managers refuse to praise the hard work of their employees, it will result in decreased productivity and workplace enthusiasm.

4. Ignore professional growth needs.

If team members want to take action to better themselves as professionals, it’s the managers job to support and applaud them. Bad managers often fail to do that, believing that these professional development opportunities take away from the employees time at work.

5. Demand unrealistic rules of order.

When employees sign on to work for a startup or expansion stage company, they do so knowing that it will be exciting and stressful. Bad managers make the workplace feel like a prison, rather than a place where employees are encouraged to develop friendships and work together to solve challenging problems.

6. Are vague and indirect.

It is absolutely essential in smaller companies that managers establish clear expectations and goals for every employee. Bad managers tend to be vague or cloudy about those expectations, ultimately resulting in high team turnover.

7. Show you don’t care.

Bosses drive their employees to be as productive and efficient as possible. Bad bosses expect those things, but without any regard to what may be going on in an employee’s personal life (death in the family, illness, etc.).

8. Be all-knowing all the time.

No one likes a know-it-all and a micromanager. Tread down that path too often, says Harvard Business Review contributor Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay, and managers are bound to suffer from disengaged employees.

9. Ignore individual differences.

Fairness and consistency is one thing. A complete disregard for cultural, religious, ethnic, or behavioral differences is another. Bad managers tend to possess the latter quality.

10. Never say you’re sorry or wrong.

No one is perfect, including managers and executives. Bad managers, however, refuse to acknowledge their own missteps. That stubbornness creates a lot of ill will among employees, especially if the manager is a frequent violator of the first (embarrass employees in public) and eighth (be all-knowing all the time) items on this list.

Those 10 management flaws are anchored in actual workplace experiences that Maxey culled from her years of working with small and large corporations. While reading through it, if you noticed that you’re a violator of one (or more) of those things, it’s important that you work to change your behavior.

On the other hand, if you’re an employee suffering from the tyrannical approach of a bad boss, don’t fret. It may seem like no one appreciates the hard work you’re doing, but that’s not usually the case. And, even if it is, there are still some productive steps you can take while you’re waiting for a good excuse to get out of there.

Fortune Magazine contributor Anne Fisher suggests trying these four techniques (which she pulls from the book Working for You Isn’t Working For Me: The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Boss by Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster) if you’re dealing with what a “Chronic Critic”:

• Aim for small wins. Research a new idea, take initiative on a new project, or, maybe, update your resume.
• Find ways to be useful outside of your department. Getting noticed outside of your manager’s reign may lead to an opportunity somewhere else in-house.
• Write down your successes. Just because your boss refuses to acknowledge your accomplishments doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Write your successes down as a reminder that you’re making a significant contribution.
• Spend time with people who support you. In the grand scheme, a bad boss doesn’t matter. Spending time with your kids, spouse, family, or friends is a great reminder of that.

Bosses, take notice of that advice. If you don’t pay attention to the morale of your people, you might lose them altogether. In fact, according to management researcher Chandra Louise, 80 percent of the employees who quit their jobs identify problems with their bosses as their main reason for leaving.

That’s not good for the company and it’s certainly not good for the manager in charge of those departing team members. Ater all, what good is a boss if they have no one to manage?