For the most part, people leave companies because of bad bosses and the feeling of a disconnect between their job description and the actual on-the-job experience.
I came across a very interesting infographic recently from the folks at BambooHR, a provider of HR software that shared the results from a survey of more than 1,000 people. Below is what they found out from survey respondents about made a boss a bad boss.
- Takes credit for your work
- Doesn’t empower you
- Doesn't care if you are overworked
- Doesn’t advocate for you regarding compensation
- Focuses on your weaknesses
- Hires or promotes the wrong people
- Micromanages
- Doesn’t support you in disputes with customers
- Doesn’t provide proper direction
- Doesn’t set clear expectations
That’s a list that I’m sure resonates with each of us in different ways. However, I think we all can agree that none of the characteristics on the list are something we want in our bosses — nor are they behaviors that we should exhibit if we are managing people.
The infographic boiled down the top five bad boss traits that were the primary reasons people gave for leaving a job. Those were:
- Management style
- Condescending attitude
- Mean/had a bad temper
- Poor interpersonal communication skills
- Harassed employees
More and more people are indicating that they are leaving jobs because of the behavior of their superiors. There is a lesson to be learned here. If you want to keep good people working for your company, you need to make sure you are monitoring the behavior and attitude of the people you have placed in management positions. You don't want to lose good people because of bad managers. Coach and train managers to try to eliminate the negative behaviors and help them focus on the things that will make them a great boss.
According to a report from Gallup, good bosses do the following things:
- Motivate and engage employees
- Are assertive in driving needed outcomes and removing obstacles
- Make decisions based on productivity
- Create a culture of accountability
- Build relationships that encourage trust and openness
Doesn’t that sound like someone we all would like to work for?
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Jane Clark focuses on managing the member services operation at NationaLease as vice president of member services. She works to strength member relationships, reduce member costs, and improve collaboration within the NationaLease supporting groups.
