All Articles Tagged "bad bosses"
10 Things Bad Bosses Say
(Businessweek) — If you don’t want this job, I’ll find someone who does. Great leaders understand that the transaction defining the employer-employee relationship—the fact that an employer pays you in cash while you cough up your value in sweat and brainwork—is the least important part of your professional relationship. Good managers realize that to get and keep great people, they have to move past the dollars-and-cents transaction and let people own their jobs. Good leaders give people latitude and let them know that their contributions have value. Lousy managers, on the other hand, love to remind employees that it’s all about the transaction: “You work for me.” They never fail to remind team members that someone else would take the job if you ever got sick of it or let the lousy manager down in some way.
What to Do About a Bad Boss
(Wall Street Journal) — While looking for another job may turn out to be your best option, don’t start your search just yet. A job you really like and coworkers with whom you get along are benefits you don’t want to lose in the current economy. What a disappointment if you leave your current job, only to find yourself in a new job with a whole new set of problems. So, try to resolve your issues first. If you aren’t happy with your boss, you’ll want to determine why you feel that way and then investigate and understand the root causes, says Gaylan Nielson, CEO of The Work Itself Group and co-author of Fake Work: Why People are Working Harder but Accomplishing Less. Then, take the initiative with your boss and try to resolve the issues you have with him. Start by making a list of the essentials you need in order to be effective and happy at your job. Next, set up a meeting with him. The meeting can serve as an opportunity to bridge the gap between your needs and those of your boss. Mr. Nielson suggests discussing the company, the group, and the team strategies and priorities along with your boss’s priorities and how you can best support them.
Are You a Bad Boss?
(New York Times) — When the number of employees Matt Kaplan managed at a lab at the University of Arizona in Tucson mushroomed from six to 30, the school called in a management coach to make sure he was prepared. What he learned surprised him–his employees thought he was distant and didn’t trust their work. ”The biggest challenge for me was realizing I couldn’t do everything myself,” he says. “I had to learn to trust my team, which was a gradual process.” Experts say many bosses are similarly clueless about their appearance to employees. Here are five signals you may be one of them.
1. Most of your emails are one-word long: It may be efficient, but many bosses don’t realize how curt a one-word email—even a simple “yes” or “no”—can be, says Barbara Pachter, a management coach and author of several workplace etiquette books. She calls it the “BlackBerry effect.” ”Managers have a tendency to be abrupt, especially when they’re answering emails on the go,” Ms. Pachter says. “It comes off as an invitation for conflict. A simple addition of ‘thanks’ goes a long way.” Some managers craft even shorter emails. When Christina Marcus emailed an idea for a project to a former boss, he responded “Y.” Thinking he was questioning her idea, she spent 20 minutes crafting a response. Turns out, the “Y” meant “yes,” not “why.” ” Ms. Marcus eventually left the firm.
