January 16, 2007 at 9:11 am
Unfortunately, a lot of managers get into their positions through seniority. These people are usually not provided with any management training and when they were promoted, no one thought to consider their people skills before giving them the position. These promotions are often considered "rewards" for people who been with the company for a number of years.
Some of these stories are very familiar. At my last job, the CTO was my boss. Not only did this guy not have a technical background, he was a micro manager and did not allow people in the IT department to make any decisions on their own. One example involved the use of PDA's with e-mail accounts. The mail servers were configured to allow POP3 connections for anyone with a mailbox on the system, but the CTO decided that he wanted each user to submit a request to use his/her PDA with the corporate e-mail system and then have them wait for an official approval (this process could take many days). He was not very responsive to these or any other requests. Not only did this create a lot of work for the IT staff, it was unnecessary and most of the time the IT staff would just give out the POP3 address and send the users a link to the PDA provider's support page. This was done to save the user a lot of time and frustration.
There were many other tedious processes this guy created in order to micro-manage the entire department. I may have forgotten to mention that the CTO was a secondary role for this guy as he was performing project management for the company's line of business (healthcare consulting). The company needed to have a CTO on staff and they picked this guy because he knew the most IT lingo. I should also note that this gentleman works 80+ hours per week (mainly due to the micro-management tasks and telephone calls). In addition to the above, he was often verbally abusive to the IT staff and blamed others for his mistakes. He hardly ever documented anything via e-mail as he liked to verbally give all of his directives and assignments from a cellphone. Later, I suspected he did this to protect himself as he often made mistakes and forgot things he had told to people (the blame was placed elsewhere). When I gave my 2 weeks notice, he begged me to stay. After I refused a couple of counteroffers, he called the HR department and told them that I was a bad employee and he was eager for me to leave. He was doing some "damage control" since he knew I would inform HR of the problems in the department upon my departure (exit interview). Since our HR department was very new, they bought into his lies and deception. Several employees left the company because of this guy and the senior management staff knew why it was happening. They seemed to stick to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy because the guy delivered results.
I am very glad I left and have never looked back.
January 16, 2007 at 9:32 am
This article is nothing more than a re-hashing of old nostalgic experiences and personal grudges. Where is the analysis, where is the insight? What can we walk away with except that a bad manager is defined as someone who fires your friends and makes you follow rediculous rules, or is abusive?
A good article provides insight and wisdom, not horror stories and nostalga.
January 16, 2007 at 9:52 am
Employee investment is a two way street. You can't expect your employees to invest in you if you are not willing to invest in them. If you are not willing to invest in your employees you are better off sticking to contractors.
January 16, 2007 at 10:40 am
A good article, Janet! I've had bad managers, and good managers. I realize that I probably haven't has managers as bad as your ugly managers.
One comment; I think the influences that make for bad managers are hard to define. Yes, I agree that it does involved trust and respect, but I've a feeling that there is more. I've worked for a company in which some developers were offered management positions and they tried it for a while. However, they found that it was a no-win situation for them. They were encouraged to take up more responsibility than they were capable of, and punished because they couldn't complete all of the tasks in timeframe that they were given. Because of this they went back to being developers. I don't really know why things like that happened (it happened to them before I joined the company) but something odd is happening. I only hope that this is either an isolated incident or one that rarely occurs.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
January 16, 2007 at 11:13 am
I think is says a lot when the manager realizes his limitations and accepts them, gracefully, with his entire group. My manager will repeat, cheerfully, to anybody that asks that he hasn't programmed in 9 years and isn't about to start again now. But he stays abreast of technology and has spent enough time with the business to understand what is of value and what is not.
More importantly, he encourages those who work for him to explore technologies AND asks for and respects their opinions, and typically adopts them as the way things should go when presented to his superiors or our customers.
We could make a lot more and work in a better climate and have better perks and a whole litany of other things, but none of us will ever have a boss this good again.
Oh, and a little encouragement to him goes a long way. We let him know directly how we feel and how we appreciate his support, be it a project or a personal issue.
While a lot of managers shouldn't be one, we should also consider that some of us could be better employees, and what better way to do so that to let the good boss know you appreciate him...and not just on Boss' day.
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Buy the ticket, take the ride. -- Hunter S. Thompson
January 16, 2007 at 11:46 am
Janet, an excellent article that lets us compare our own experiences with yours, and come to our own conclusions about good management versus poor management. I've seen a bit of both in my career, and I must say there's been quite a bit of good correspondence on this thread.
I agree that yelling at an employee is never productive, yet that's how many managers were trained (and so trained others). It's also how many parents were trained, and thus train their children, so that "quality" can come from somewhere other than a managment training class!
I'm putting my vote on the side of building trust and respect between employees and managers, and it IS a two-way street. The company I work at holds classes for all new employees on "influencing skills" - a fancy name for teaching people to communicate with each other in a respectful manner. Some employees complain that it is "silly", but having gone thru a stressful two years, I can tell you it is one of the major reasons I still work for this company. After all, how many develoopers can say that when a VP accused them of being the "problem" when a client is unhappy, they were able to respond with the reasons why they were NOT the problem, and where the client service deterioration came into play? And still have their job, and the respect of that VP, the client managers, and their co-workers?
Respect is critical, and it builds trust. Communication is what lets you know it exists. If you've got a manager that doesn't practice these things, or who won't allow discussion (training) on how to reach a higher plane of teamwork, I'd say it's time to look for a new manager. There's just too much good information out there on how to manage effectively - and no excuses for managing poorly. But the same is true from the employee side - if you're not putting out 100% on the job, you're not respecting the company, your manager, or the people you work with. That's when it all lands in YOUR lap, and you need to decide whether it's time to change your attitude, or change your employer, because you're not doing anyone any favors at that point.
Steph Brown
January 16, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I agree that this is a lot of rehashing things but seriously you cannot truly measure a bad managers impact. It is too far reaching to be accurately calculated.
There is the effect of turnover because of poor management. I can tell you a fact that I was on a team of 15 people. In a year and a half that team lost 8 people out of that 15. (Five externally, One internally, two internally promoted to other teams) the result is that you have a turn over rate of about 35% with promotions and 24% without. The tenure of the people who left varied from 3 months to 12 years so it was across the board. Either way the money lost in recruiting and training them is gone.
There is also the loss of talent and business knowledge when a bad manager results in people leaving a company. As people leave so does the information they have to do their job well on a day in and day out. Then there is the measure of immediate productivity and the long-term productivity by not developing good candidates. There is also the bad will that gets created in the market place how a team or position is not desirable because of this boss. That in turn reduces your applicant pool, which in turn reduces the quality of that pool.
Bad management can be measured immediately in time lost and money however I believe the real loss is the long-term loss of people and knowledge. That is truly immeasurable.
January 16, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Amen, brother....
January 16, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Good management starts at the top. When a CEO who earns as much as 100 of his developers spends his days at the golf course, and lets his "Executive Assistant" run the company, everyone in the next level down gets the message that the company isn't important, and passes the message along to the next level, etc.
January 16, 2007 at 12:38 pm
That is a great cliché but it doesn't really address the bad management that can exist in a company. Every great company has bad managers but how long they are allowed to remain in the same position I bet varies. Good companies identify bad managers and work with them to improve. If they don't improve then they get fired. Companies that are reluctant to fire employees yet allow those employees to get complacent will not be as productive and profitable long-term. Companies need to listen to their employees about everything. Yes, you will have complainers but if a company can analyze sales minute by minute then they can analyze their employment structure. Most people want to make a difference in the place they work. Employers need to realize this and listen to their most valuable asset.
Just a note. The company I left had no way to rate a manager from the people that report to them. So there is no way to really identify and reward the good ones or identify and educate the bad ones. This company does a lot of things right however, without a way to identify good management from bad they will suffer in years to come.
January 16, 2007 at 12:38 pm
January 16, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I just recently left my job due to what I felt was a poor manager. When I came into the company, I believed very much in the idea that respect and trust should be given initially to a manager and that I had to earn that respect & trust from my superiors. And within 6 months, I really think I did that and often got praise from executives and other managers in different departments (thus making my manager and the director of our IT dept look good).
But another 6 months later, I started to lose respect and trust for my manager. Without going into details, it progressively got worse and in the end I left because I could no longer respect this manager (I didn't really get more money when I left either FWIW). So I agree with the assessment that trust & respect is the key to a good manager. I often worked directly with the director of the department and because of the trust/respect we had developed, there wasn't a thing I wouldn't do for him and the likewise was true (he even offered to pay for certification classes).
Before I left, I spoke to the director quite candidly about this manager. He knew my issues with that manager because of past situations that was brought to his attention by both myself and that manager. But the one thing I did say was that manager needed to take some management classes. He needed to learn not only how to manage a project but really to manage the people he has. I doubt my suggestion will matter but I had to say it because I believed in the company and the director. I also agree with whoever mentioned it but a review of management by their employees is also just as healthy as a yearly review by your manager. It gives both sides some feedback for things to continue doing well, improve in areas and other concerns that need to be voiced. If that company had that, I may still be there.
January 16, 2007 at 1:19 pm
new it would get into a saga of worst managers I have known .. As a manager it can be very difficult to get rid of poor staff ( who usually think they are great ) A good manager is unlikely to be your friend as are "nice" people likely to be most successful in business. There is a requirement to try to keep a distance perhaps, this is why people promoted from within a team to manage a team often don't actually do as well as if they had taken the role in a new company.
Knowing where you stand and honesty are very important .. oh I could go on and on.. post about the subject matter not your saga of good and bad, much more interesting
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January 16, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I disagree about managers being your friend. I am not looking for my manager to be my friend but if we communicate well then there is the potential for a friendship to foster. Good managers know how to communicate well with their employees. They let their employees know that they are all in the same boat and the manager is there to help them and remove hurdles. Honestly, in my experience my good managers were people I would run through walls for because I valued them as a manager, mentor and friend. Just my take.
I think the manager is not my friend comment is a co out statement.
January 16, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Good Article. We all have good and bad managers. I think what is most important is how to communicate with co-workers and managers and deal with various situations as they come up. A book I would recommend is "How to Say it at work" by Jack Griffin. In this book, the author communicates ways to deal with different types or management styles, words and phrases to use with co-workers, and how to use the correct verbiage to get your point across effectively.
In my experience, the way I communicate to my co-workers has helped my career greatly.
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