Bad Management
The bad manager…
Is it sad to say that we’ve all had one? You know, that one person who fell into the position because even the devil needs a good day? The choice isn’t based on merit or even accomplishments. It’s just the laugh that the universe needs to make diamonds out of everyone forced to work under them.
Yeah, that’s the bad manager alright. The micro-manager who can’t help but to follow into the kitchen after you because they want the opportunity to tell you that the walk from your cubicle to the kitchen is a significant waste of company time [as if they aren’t right behind you]. The one who is CC’d on emails that come to you, but still feels the need to send you an additional email just to tell you to do the very thing that was already listed in the previous email!
How the micro-manager even has the time to micro-manage, re-do already done and understood work, and waste additional time running through their qualifications for the position when you simply asked them to pass the creamer, is beyond me. And yet, they “manage” (heh, “manage”… get it?).
Don’t get me started on the complex-cramer. This “manager” has years of made-up grievances to pay you back for tenfold (even though you’ve only known this person a month). No matter what you do right, they’ll find a way to explain that you’re wrong. And no, it has nothing to do with you, but everything to do with the version of you that they’ve conjured in their mind. You have no cure so you’d better hope for outside protection from higher [and better] powers that be.
Careful, because there are clear traits apparent in any bad manager and those are:
Catty/petty/vindictiveness
Inability to see their own faults/wrongs
Inability to admit that they need help
They’re in it for the power/title
They’re addicted to micromanaging
Completely lacking in self-awareness
Disrespectful
Lacking in common levels of common sense
Of course these traits appear to be ones that a leader should not embody. It is so easy for us to look at them and say, “If I were in a leadership position, I would never be this/that!”, but the reality is that a lot of people who embody these traits are being placed in more leadership positions than not in today’s workforce and they don’t even see these traits coming.
Now, I’ve certainly had my fair share of excellence when it came to management and I still sing their praises, but the tide totally turns when you’re stuck working for a terrible manager and have no way around it.
Like, the infamous I-can-manager. This “manager” can delegate the work and distribute it all day but can’t admit that they can’t do the work themselves. Nor can they actually do the work. Oh, but when someone more senior to them asks if they’ve done the work, their answer is always ‘yes’, but we all know this lie and can only sit back in silence.
The list of “Isms” with this type of “manager” are immeasurable.
Breathing Through Bad Management
I want to end on a good note and that’s to say that: one bad actor doesn’t stop a good show.
A good job can certainly be tainted by a terrible manager, but that does not mean that the whole well is poisoned.
Believe me, I understand the way that the work day drags on when you’re working with a difficult manager, but be empowered by knowing that their insecurities have nothing to do with you!
Breathe through it and carry on being the good employee that you are!
Best,
Bree 💝