9 Signs That You Have A Bad Manager

Our work-life forms an integral part of our life experience. If the occurrences are unpleasant to us, we tag them as bad. At some point in our professional lives, we all might have come across a manager that has left us frustrated, unhappy, demotivated, and weary. These are all some of the classic signs of a bad manager.

A manager has a huge part to play in the overall productivity and performance of a team. Their capability to manage employees will define the success of the organization. They can significantly influence someone’s employee experience, job satisfaction, and performance.

As an HR, you must understand the negative impact that incompetent supervisors can have on the workforce. You need to figure out the early indicators and discuss the difficulties out with the concerned person. This article will mainly focus on the signs of having a bad manager in the workplace.

9 Signs of a Bad Manager That You Need To Lookout For

1. Does not give recognition

Acknowledging and recognizing an employee’s hard work is crucial to retain their morale and productivity levels. Giving them the appreciation they deserve is imperative to increase employee engagement.

However, a poor manager will overlook the achievements of an individual and not provide timely recognition. It will gravely affect the motivation of the employees and will reflect in their job satisfaction. Eventually, their motivation to do great work will diminish as they are less likely to be valued in the organization.

Recommended: Vantage Rewards and Recognition

2. Takes Credit

A great manager properly delegates the work and guides the team during difficult times. They do not leave their employees in the trench and also give due credit to others.

A bad manager takes all the credit for the team members’ achievement. Subsequently, they blame the team for failures and hold them accountable for any shortcomings. It deters the employees’ trust in the workplace and confidence while making it hard to collaborate in the near future.

3. Micromanages the Employees

Micromanagement is a management style in which a manager overlooks every minute aspect of the workflow. Such management styles make the workforce feel disengaged and dissatisfied at their workplace. It is one of the prime reasons that result in high attrition rates and degrade the company culture.

A manager that believes in micromanaging will not be transparent with their team members and over-assign work. They will delegate tasks that they feel are right for the team without asking for any feedback. Thus, resulting in workplace coercion and hampering innovation and autonomy.

There will be no room for mutual respect, and the opinions of others are not valued. It limits the employees’ growth, resulting in decreased job satisfaction and an increase in a toxic workplace.

4. Lacks Trust

A good manager believes in their team members and trusts their abilities to achieve the goals and targets. They will encourage the team to come up with innovative ideas and will respect their opinions.

However, a manager who lacks trust in their employees will never be a good leader. Every team member has to check-in or get approvals before uptaking any kind of task. It is mainly because the manager wants to control every aspect of the teams’ actions, thus resulting in toxicity. That will raise questions on employees’ ability to get a job done, resulting in a considerable productivity loss.

5. Plays the Bias Game

When managers are biased and pick their favorite employees, it becomes hard to thrive in such an environment. It might be because they can relate to the same topics of interest or similar cultural background. Whatever be the reason, it is unprofessional and nullifies work ethics.

A biased manager tends to promote their favorite employees’ work more, give weightage to their opinions over other team members, and provide full assistance.

When such situations arise, the other employees notice it and can get easily demotivated and disengaged. It is detrimental to team cohesion and performance in the long term.

6. Does not provide clear Directions and Feedback

For a manager to lead a team efficiently, they must provide clear direction on what needs to be done and guide them to achieve the long-term goals. To further make them more proficient in their job, it is pivotal to provide necessary feedback on their performance to understand their weaknesses and work on them to improve themselves.

However, it’s a different case with poor managers. They do not assign the tasks; instead, they demand and pressure the employees to complete their job.

On top of that, they do not provide the necessary feedback and blame the employees if something goes wrong. It can harm employees’ morale, hinder their performance, and there will be a significant drop in their confidence.

7. No Accountability

As a manager, the roles and responsibilities increase with time. They have to delegate(not dictate) the tasks and supervise while giving the employees the freedom to be efficient.

However, bad managers lack that quality. Instead, they are bad at being accountable for their actions. They frequently talk big but do not take the measures to accomplish their words. They try to pass on their responsibilities to others and contribute less.

It can negatively impact the employees as they won’t be able to count on their manager. The employees will have an escalated burnout levels as the work pressure will increase, leading to a drop in performance, morale, and productivity.

8. Lack of Leadership Qualities

Leadership is about inspiring others to act, believe, and work positively to accomplish the goals and objectives for the greater good. It is not an easy task. One must possess the necessary leadership skills and qualities to become a great leader.

Managers who lack certain qualities will also be bad leaders. They do not show compassion, empathy, active listening skills, problem-solving skills, and terrible decision-makers.

The employees will not have an inspirational figure to look upto, which can quickly derail them from their goals. Employees will be disengaged and demotivated that will pose a significant roadblock for the organization in the long run.

Read more: 25 Leadership Qualities That Will Make You A Good Leader

9. Do not Encourage Innovation

An organization cannot sustain its business if it’s not innovative or does not acknowledge creative ideas. To be relevant in the business world, organizations must adapt to the present trends and changes. This proves why innovation and creativity must be promoted.

As a manager, one needs to take advantage of the employees’ creative inputs. If a manager does not understand the importance of creating a culture of innovation, it is not a good sign.

Ensuring that you want to hear your employees out is a great way to encourage innovation in the workplace. Brainstorming with the team or keeping dedicated meetings to serve its purpose must be taken seriously.

Learn More: Techniques To Develop An Innovation Culture

End Note!

The existence of bad managers diminishes the employees’ ability to think clearly and increases burnout levels. In the long run, it will harm the organizational culture and give rise to workplace toxicity. HRs and the higher management need to take prompt action and train the bad managers to improve themselves and become better leaders. In the worst-case scenario, you might have to let go of managers that harm the company values for the organization’s betterment.

Mrinmoy Rabha is a content writer and digital marketer at Vantage Circle. He is an avid follower of football and passionate about singing. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com