12 Ways That Will Turn Good Employees Into Terrible Managers

According to a survey, about half of 7,200 people say that they had left a job at some point "to get away from their manager." How does this happen? Do evil companies go out of their way to promote and hire bad bosses to punish their employees? Of course not, at least, not intentionally.

There are a few factors that contribute to this over-abundance of terrible managers. Organisations do likely play a significant part, and here's how:

 

1. Promotion practices. 

It seems that organisations never learn. No matter how much they're warned, they still promote their top performers, despite their leadership potential or desire to manage people. They often overlook "rough edges" at the expense of brilliant technical skills.

 

2. No succession planning and leadership development.

Without qualified internal candidates in the pipeline, they over-promote or make risky, desperate external hires.

Being a boss can be very challenging, and not everyone is up for it.

3. Incompetent selection practices. 

When companies do need to hire externally, they don't take the time to interview and assess candidates thoroughly. 

 

4. Bad role models.

While everyone certainly can learn valuable leadership lessons from terrible bosses, new managers usually learn the wrong lessons.

 

5. Lack of management training. 

Companies throw new managers into new roles and expect them to cope. Wouldn't it be better if these managers were given training first?

 

6. Bad employees. 

Managing poor performers, untrustworthy employees, and lazy employees can turn a manager into a micromanager. They will develop trust issues and start to doubt themselves.

 

7. Bureaucratic HR policies. 

When HR makes it hard to discipline or dismiss an employee; managers give up. These managers instead work around the poor performer, often at the expense of the rest of the team.

A boss needs to learn to control their temper.

8. Rewarding results over behaviours. 

Promoting or paying big bonuses to managers that deliver the numbers but possess poor attitude.

 

9. Managing is difficult! 

Managers often found themselves between a rock and a hard place. They have to make choices that will upset someone. 

 

10. It's hard to step down. 

Companies usually pay managers more and provide them with perks. Even when a manager is terrible at their job, it is rare for them to admit it and be willing to step into a non-managerial position.

 

11. It's not easy to fire bad managers. 

Bad managers often learn how to manage up. Employees are not willing to speak up, and when they do, complaints are ignored. HR and upper management often side with the manager. When a manager finally does get fired, it's usually for lack of results or serious offence, not because of poor management skills.

 

12. Dysfunctional organisations systems and processes.

HR isn't the only function that designs processes that produce the wrong behaviours. Budgeting practices often encourage managers to spend money they shouldn't, or their budgets will be cut the next year. Rules and policies become so tricky that managers learn to ignore rules and make up their own, which gets them into trouble.

 

There is no excuse for being a poor manager. Great leaders overcome these organisational barriers.

Still, organisations would be better preparing, selecting, developing, and rewarding managers for leadership skills and behaviours, instead of making it so hard for them. If they did, employees would be more engaged, and performance would skyrocket. 

 

Would you like to learn more about AJobThing?

Source: About.com

Related articles

Why People-Pleasers Should Learn to Say "No"
How to Manage a Redundancy Process for Just One Employee
How Do You Deal With Annoying People at Work?