Joseph Folkman and Jack Zenger analyzed the behavior of 30,000 managers and came up with a list of traits of bad bosses. Following is the list:
- The rude behavior we associate with vile humans
- To fix this problem, learn to see every person as an equal human being who has worth and could be a very valuable member of the organization if you only provide the right environment for him to excel.
- Failure to inspire
- To fix this problem, learn to be clear and truthful. Learn to tell stories. Clarify your vision on paper before you communicate it to anyone.
- Acceptance of mediocre results
- If a leader accepts mediocre results, then those results will continue. The leader needs to reject mediocre results, find out the root cause of the results, and then address the issues. An organization cannot grow with mediocre results.
- Lack of clear vision and direction
- Don’t you just hate it when someone expects you to do something without telling you what they want and how to do it. This is why clarity of vision and direction is important. It might be clear in the leader’s mind but it must be clear for the team, otherwise the team cannot achieve the vision.
- Inability to collaborate
- A leader can only succeed through others. This means collaboration is key.
- Failure to walk the talk
- Trust in a leader is critical to the success of any organization. The easiest way for a leader to lose trust is to not walk the talk. In 2010, Athabasca University board asked the union to take a 2 week furlough because of budgetary problems. Union agreed. Then the board distributed the amount saved from the furlough among themselves as bonuses. Immediately, the board lost all credibility and it became very difficult for them to achieve any goal.
- Failure to improve and learn from mistakes
- The path to success includes many mistakes and setbacks. You have to learn from those mistakes to move forward. Failure to learn and improve means that the organization will be stuck at the same place eternally.
- Failure to lead change
- You cannot keep repeating the same steps and expect different results. To get better results, the steps need to be changed. Therefore change is key to success and a leader’s ability to lead change effectively is critical to an organization’s progress.
- Failure to invest in the team
- Unfortunately, many organizations consider people to be disposable commodities. This might be profitable in the short-term but leads to long-term detrimental consequences. An organization succeeds through by apply the collective abilities of its to solve problems and run the daily operations. An investment in the team grows their abilities, which leads to better long-term results.
- Poor interpersonal skills
- Communication is the most important skill a leader can have. Poor interpersonal skills are a dead weight on the organization.
- Bad judgement and poor decisions
- Bad judgement and poor decisions are a symptom of lack of knowledge and skills. Improve your skillset and gain the necessary knowledge to resolve this problem.