Top 10 Ways to Be a Horrible Manager

I have had a lot of horrible managers in my work career so far (thankfully the one I have now is great), and I am sure all of us can relate! (Did I mention the one I have now is great?) I have always wondered why some managers can be amazing (like my current manager), while others can be down right awful. Thankfully for us all, Randstad USA has released their 2008 World of Work survey to shed some light on the ways a manager can be at their best and worst.

One part of the aforementioned study by Randstad USA focused on the gaps between employees’ views of the ideal employer versus their current company. The top 10 of those “gaps” regarding the employees’ views of the way they are managed at their current company (all having over 50 percent of the ideal workplace importance rating for the employees interviewed) is listed below as my list of the “Top 10 Ways to Be a Horrible Manager:”

1. Don’t recognize the value each of your employees brings to the organization. In the survey, 67 percent of employees said an ideal employer would recognize the value they bring, while only 29 percent said this trait describes their company well, leaving a 38 point reality gap.
2. Don’t care about your employees as much as you care about the customers. Survey says—66 percent of employees believe their employer should care about them as much as they care about their customers, but only 26 percent of those employees said this happened at their company, leaving a 40 point reality gap.
3. Don’t provide a workplace that reflects your respect for your employees. According to those surveyed for this study, 61 percent report they feel the ideal company would provide a workplace that reflects its respect for the employee and their co-workers while 28 percent report this is actually the case in their company, leaving a 33 point reality gap.
4. Don’t serve the company, serve yourself. Fifty-eight percent of the survey responders said the ideal company has an active leadership who serves the company (not themselves), while only 27 percent say their company’s leadership meets this criteria, which is a 31 point reality gap.
5. Don’t encourage your employees to continually develop their skill set. While 56 percent of those surveyed said the ideal employer would encourage them to continually develop their skill sets, only 29 percent reported this happens at their current workplace. That is a 27 point reality gap.
6. Don’t seek your employees’ honest input on business issues. Fifty-five percent of the survey responders said the ideal employer wants their honest input on business issues, while 26 percent of those surveyed said their current employer has this desire. That leaves a 29 point reality gap.
7. Don’t focus on your employees’ strengths more than you focus on their weaknesses. According to the survey, 54 percent of employees said the ideal employer would focus more on their strengths than on their weaknesses, while only 27 percent reported their current employers did this, leaving a 27 point reality gap.
8. Don’t encourage your employees to be innovative thinkers. Of those surveyed in this study, 53 percent believe that the ideal employer would encourage them to be innovative thinkers, while 28 percent said this actually happens in their current company, which leaves a 25 point reality gap.
9. Don’t have clearly defined advancement opportunities. Fifty-two percent of employees think an ideal employer has clearly defined advancement opportunities, while only 21 percent of their current employers do, leaving a 31 point reality gap.
10. Don’t encourage a collaborative work environment. More than half of the participants in this survey (51 percent) said the ideal employer would encourage a collaborative work environment, yet only 29 percent of their current companies encourage such an environment, which leaves a 22 point reality gap.

How to Be an Amazing Manager

If you saw yourself in any of these ways to be a horrible manager, there is still hope for you to become an amazing manager! Simply begin on a track toward what most employees view to be the ideal employer, and you will start to make a positive impact on your teams’ work environment. Good luck, and remember our mantra, W.W.S.H.R.D.? (“What Would Strategic HR Do?”). They would hire amazing managers and do everything they could do to turn horrible managers into amazing ones!

I have had a lot of horrible managers in my work career so far (thankfully the one I have now is great), and I am sure all of us can relate!