Are you looking to boost the performance of your organization? If yes, then you should have to keep an eye out for bad management. Once you can spot it, you can replace it with good leadership. Bad managers need to be dealt with immediately, otherwise, the organization will never achieve its true performance potential. So how can you tell that you’re dealing with bad management? Here are 10 habits of bad management to look out for.
1. Bad Managers Are Always Cleaning Some Mess Even When It Doesn’t Exist
Whenever you hire a bad manager, they tend to make the claim that a huge mess was left behind by their predecessor. Well, this is just an excuse. The manager knows they’re going to have a hard time meeting the targets set for the department in the current year, so they make up stories to defer responsibility as far into the future as they can.
2. They Are Always Busy
Bad managers are always doing something. They are always taking care of some project or something else. In fact, the interesting thing is that, while they always seem to have so much on their plates, they never seem to have time for work that actually matters. They claim that the projects they are working on are crucial to the success of the organization, even though this is not demonstrably so. Again, this is just another excuse so they don’t have to take their time working to achieve the targets set for the department. They will work on your targets whenever they finish working on those other ‘important’ projects. However, don’t expect those projects to ever be finished.
3. They Are Obscure on Goals
Bad managers will come up with departmental goals that are obscure, loose, and very easy to achieve. This allows employees to slack off in their respective departments. Bad managers will hardly ever outdo themselves or get stellar results. They really don’t care about any of that anyway. They would rather keep the performance acceptably low than aim too high and fail, risking punishment in the process.
4. Bad Managers Don’t Like to Get Their Hands Dirty
Bad managers love to use KPIs (key performance indicators) because these make it possible for them to manage without having to get too close. This makes it easier for them to avoid getting involved in the day to day running of the department. That way, in case anything goes wrong in the department, they can easily lay the blame on someone else altogether.
5. They Blame Everyone But Themselves
Speaking of laying the blame on others, bad managers will always have an excuse ready for when they haven’t achieved the targets set for the department. They will blame the management reports because they’re not giving an accurate picture of the performance of the department. After all, their own reports show that the department has been performing quite well.
Bad managers will blame everyone on the external world. They will blame a dialling economy or the weather, or some other thing for the department not being able to achieve its targets. Don’t worry, they will do better next year when things are better. They will even blame their own colleagues, especially those who don’t know how to stand up for themselves. They will say that it’s their fault that the department didn’t do so well. The organization needs to fire that colleague and hire someone else if those targets are to be met. The one person a bad manager will never blame when things are going wrong is themselves.
6. Their Plans are Overelaborate
Whenever a bad manager is writing up a game plan, they know that the more complex and verbose the plan, the more impressed senior management will be. This is because it makes it look like they have a handle on everything and they’ve thought through it all.
Bad managers also know that a wordy plan allows you to bury all kinds of premises and special conditions, which will make it easy to defend oneself when the plan doesn’t work out and senior management complains later.
The other advantage of having a wordy plan is that employees will have a hard time understanding it. That way, it will take a long time before the department can start working on it. That might actually be forever, and the manager will be happier for it.
7. Bad Managers are Bad Communicators
Bad managers will gladly hold an open forum for the departmental employees to speak their minds, ask questions, and give suggestions about how they think things should be done. On the surface, this looks like something a good manager would do. However, bad managers only pretend to be listening to employees. They won’t act on anything the employees say or any feedback they give. A bad manager will stubbornly stick to their ideas and never change them for anyone. If the employees complain, the bad manager will say that they gave an open forum for everyone to speak and the failure is everyone’s fault.
8. Bad Managers Will Pander to Shareholders
Bad managers understand that the shareholders ultimately hold the purse strings. They will, therefore, do anything to satisfy them, even if it isn’t in the best long-term interests of the firm.
9. They Are Machiavellians
Bad managers borrow a lot of leaves from Machiavelli’s The Prince, using it to divide and conquer colleagues and bosses. They will sow discord and chaos in the office so that all the employees are too busy watching their backs, rather than working on meeting departmental goals.
10. They Have A Way Out
Whenever a bad manager senses that the organization is about to hold them accountable, they will simply jump ship and move on to another organization. A bad manager always has an exit strategy and fallback organization to go to when things go wrong.
Conclusion
If you want to catch a bad manager and get rid of them for the sake of your organization, these are some of the most crucial habits you should be looking out for. If you nip bad management in the bud early enough, you give your organization the opportunity to thrive and meet its true potential.
