This is a guest post from Pastor Ron Edmondson. He blogs regularly on leadership and the Church at RonEdmondson.com. Check it out!
I was reflecting recently on bad bosses I have either had personally or that were in an organization in which I worked. Sadly in years past I may have played some of these roles as a boss. See if you identify with any of these:
The Bully Boss: This boss beats production out of employees. Employees feel intimidated, which causes them to perform at less than capable performance levels.
The Passive Boss: This boss refuses to lead employees, will not confront problems, and allows dissension among employees. Employees run the show and politics destroys progress.
The Fence Leaner Boss: This boss always sees the grass as greener in another position in the organization or in another organization. Employees feel abandoned without a voice in the organization and begin to look for their own greener grass.
The My Life Is A Mess Boss: This boss has a messed-up personal life and brings it into the office. Employees are caught in a sea of drama, which keeps the organization in turmoil.
The Too Good For You Boss. This boss is unapproachable and never invests in employees who therefore feel unappreciated.
The Scared of Competition Boss. This boss is afraid employees will outperform him or her and so employees are given few responsibilities and the boss micro-manages all work. The best employees feel underutilized and eventually leave the organization in search of more opportunities.
The Never Satisfied Boss: This boss is overly critical and hard to please. Employees wear out trying to make the boss happy and never feel a sense of accomplishment.
The Incompetent Boss: This boss hides behind his or her lack of qualification. Employees suffer personally from a boss who cannot lead them.
The Aimless Boss: This boss has no expectations for the organization. Goals and objectives are never obtained and employees are left without direction.
What’s crazy is that I learned valuable leadership principles from each of these bad bosses, if nothing more than what not to do as a boss.
Feel free to add number 10. Have you ever had a bad boss? (If one of my employees past or present decides to do this, please change the names to protect the guilty.) Have you been a bad boss?
10. Any hybrid combo of the above 9 ;-)
Comment by cynthia - Feb 08, 2010 @ 01:20 PM
I worked for the Messiah Boss. This boss believes that s/he is the only person in the organization who is capable of fulfilling the organizational goals. As a result, s/he micromanages employees, often correcting everything they’re doing. Creates a culture of distrust and apathy (since employees know that their skill sets and work are consistently disregarded).
Comment by JR. Forasteros - Feb 08, 2010 @ 01:22 PM
Excellent thoughts. I have found it easy to identify the “bad bosses” but at times it is more difficult to identify the “good bosses” and their characteristics. It would interesting to create a list of the types of good bosses and compare those characteristics with this list.
Comment by paul - Feb 08, 2010 @ 01:38 PM
10. The Age-ist Boss: This boss thinks that employees that are in their 20’s have nothing to contribute because they are too young. Younger employees feel marginalized and usually take their good ideas to other companies where they are appreciated.
Comment by austinklee - Feb 08, 2010 @ 02:05 PM
I’ll get things started..
A Few Good Boss Types
1) The Listening Boss
2) The Future Thinking Boss
3) The Colaborative Boss
4) The Encouraging Boss
5) The Motivating Boss
6) The Humorous Boss
Add a few more and I will try to elaborate on each one in my next blog.
Comment by paul - Feb 08, 2010 @ 05:43 PM
The Empowering Boss (aka the Leader/Champion Boss)
Comment by Cynthia - Feb 08, 2010 @ 06:28 PM
I love the Good Boss Type idea. Paul.
The Wisdom Boss - I have worked for some that you just feel privileged to learn from.
The Connector Boss - The boss that connects team members to opportunities for their own personal growth and development.
You have 9…
Comment by Ron Edmondson - Feb 08, 2010 @ 10:05 PM
Paul - I agree the good boss idea is a great one.
Did anyone see the new show Undercover Boss? I thought it was going to be lame but the CEO of a major corporation goes undercover and spends a week working in entry-level positions within their own organization. The head of Waste Management was on Sunday night. It was awesome. He saw how his policies were actually impacting the people on the front lines.
Add to your list: Empathetic Boss - this takes collaboration one step further where they actually see solution options from various perspectives and count the costs and impact made by high-level decisions.
Thanks!
Comment by Brad - Feb 09, 2010 @ 01:37 PM
The Baby Boomer generation is the generation that most of us have as parents. These parents told us that we can do anything if we put our mind to it. They told us to shoot for the stars.
These are the same people we work for…mostly. Apparently what is good for their kids is not good in the workplace. This is where the breakdown occurs. They tell their children one thing and tell their same aged employees that they need to keep quiet until they get a little more experience.
Millennials as we are called can thrive in a place where our enthusiasm is rewarded and channeled into productive activities. Identifying our strengths and allowing us to utilize them at work is a great way to keep us engaged and for us to think you are a great boss.
Mostly, Millennials thrive in a collaborative environment with a loose structure. This doesn’t mean we don’t respect authority, we just want the same respect in return.
My way or the highway isn’t a saying we enjoy hearing.
So, if you want to cultivate a workplace that Millennials enjoy make it interactive, make our work relevant to our strengths, and don’t discount us because we are young. Remember, your peers (our parents) and you told us that we can do anything if we put our mind too it.
So, give us something to work toward.
Comment by austinklee - Feb 09, 2010 @ 01:54 PM
With the encouragement of Jesse, Cynthia, Ron and Brad I posted a “9 Good Boss Types” on my blog at http://www.paulzeek.typepad.com.
I would add to comments by austinklee. We should never discount those who are young (sort of sounds biblical). Also, the idea of making the workplace interactive, collaborative, enthusiastic and relevant casue almost all generations to thrive, not just Millennials.
Comment by paul - Feb 09, 2010 @ 02:30 PM
It is Biblical!!
1 Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
Comment by austinklee - Feb 09, 2010 @ 03:11 PM
@ austinklee - Exactly my point. Understanding and validating generational and cultural issues is very Biblical and should by applied by all leaders.
Comment by paul - Feb 10, 2010 @ 05:07 PM
I prayed for a good boss—after working for a terrible, Devil Wears Lands End boss. I also promised myself that if I ever had people working for me, I’d build them up & model empathy/interest/mentoring.
Management underestimates 3-person lunches. The boss takes 2 people out for burgers on a regular, ongoing basis, without fail. Eventually every member of the team has some personal time with the boss, with one fellow colleague present, but not the whole group. Awkward at first? Eventually it isn’t. Ultimately, communication patterns improve at the office itself, miles and weeks away from those lunches.
Comment by Eileen - Feb 11, 2010 @ 09:42 AM
@austinklee
You sound like a person who has high expectations and has clearly chosen to “shoot for the stars.” I love that you use scripture to lead your thoughts and you have a desire to bring others along with you. That being said I thought perhaps you would be open to the darker side of my thoughts on this subject.
If you will turn back a page in your text you’ll find 1 Tim 3:10 that says “They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons” and Proverbs 16:31 that teaches “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.” (The whole chapter will support my rant.)
I work as a mid-lower manager in a bank in the mid-west. In past years I’ve hired probably thirty Millennials. Some of moved on, some have moved up, and some have stayed right where they started. The ones that have moved up share a common theme. There parents taught them that if you work hard, you can do anything you set your mind to. Some of them presented bad ideas, but instead of going back to facebook and whining about there unsympathetic boss they asked why. (Often your boss can tell you the date that your “original” idea failed the first time and why. (They were there when it happened.) They all showed up on time and ready to work on what I hired them to work at doing. (Even though they had a degree from a college just like millions of other Millennials they graduated with and had far better things they were “qualified” to be working on. They understood that “tested” could last longer than six months and they chose to stay even at the expense of a promised “collaborative environment” from a competitor down the street.
I realize that as the supervisor it’s my job to focus on our young people’s career path and make sure all their dreams come true. It’s just I have these other people who think that since they pay me to accomplish their goals that I should spend a majority of my time focused on them.
Narcissism is a powerful religion that seems to haunt our society. It starts with children being taught that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to with little or no effort, a no child left behind mentality that teaches they don’t have to be particularly gifted because they are going to be graded at there level anyway, and end’s with a discontent inexperienced workforce that believe they are far more valuable than they are. Its true Narcissists grow older, but they rarely grow up.
I will keep telling my children that if they work hard, they can accomplish anything they set their mind to. It’s true for them and it seems to already be true for you.
Comment by jasonashford - Feb 11, 2010 @ 12:48 PM
My favorite boss dichotomy is this one:
The “takes himself way too seriously” boss
VS.
The “every thing’s a joke or funny story” boss
of course, neither of those are positives…
Comment by Jeff - Feb 11, 2010 @ 02:03 PM