Ten in NoJoMo 2015

What are some qualities of bad bosses? What would you not do if you were supervising others? (No, I won’t aks for you to make your worst bosses, but you can write about why they sucked.)

Worst Qualities:
1. Lack of sympathy comes immediately to mind. I understand that my situation is odd for many people. Hell, it’s odd for me! I don’t expect empathy; quit trying. Your situation is likely nothing at all like mine, so you have no idea. To quote Coach Mora, “you think you know, but you don’t know.” And I hope you never will I’m not being unreliable on purpose. If I need extra time off, or am having trouble doing something, I’m getting better at admitting it.
2. Unwillingness to take a wholistic appropach The little things do matter, but they’re ultimely less important than the whole. Something that is utterly bad might have all those little things that you think are important. Does it really do the job? Sticking with the football comparison, George Allen used to talk about Sonny Jurgensen’s passes versus Billy Kilmer’s; he thought they won more games with Kilmer under center. This was one of the big things I ran into with one job; having a perfectly-startched shirt was more important than putting out a good, correct product.
3. Abusing your subordinates in front of others to make yourself seem competent. Yelling at someone just makes you an asshole, unless there’s something life-or-death at stake. Very little of the work I do rises to that level. If I screw soemthing up, which I do more often than I’d like, take me aside, and say it in private. The same goes for written evaluations; if you dish it out, be prepared for me to disagree. If you do not afford me that opportunity, I’m going to snark about it when I’m forced to sign something “accepting” it. No, I don’t accept it, and I can tell you you’re why you’re wrong if you give me the opportunity.
4. Unwillingness to attribute anything. A “meeting” without an agenda, an attandence sheet, or minutes didn’t happen.
5. Unwillingness to own up to your own mistakes. You screw up. I’ve already told you that I do, too. I don’t harp on your mistakes, and am willing to move on if you own up to your own shortcomings. Listen, I’m not a Red Sox fan, and you’re not Bill Buckner.
6. Being dishonest about compensation. I do realize that I’m in the current position I’m in because I pissed off someone who’s now in Federal Pound-Me-In-The-Ass prison. I may be younger than you; I’m not a rookie.
7. Putting your own need for a quick buck ahead of the customer’s needs, and demands. If the customer doesn’t understand what he actually needs, do the damn research, and convince him. If you, and your employees aren’t 100% sold on your individual solution, it’s probably not the right solution.

I’m sure I could go on and on with those, but I’m tired today.

So, what would I do if I was supervising people.

1. Offer suggestions instead of bark orders. If I can explain why/how doing something differently might be better, I think I’m more likely to get cooperation.
2. Figure out what someone really cares about in his work, and let him concentrate on that.
3. Understand the bigger picture. One of the bits in Office Space was the new motto, “is this good for the company?” No, is this good for the customer, first. Second, is this good for the quality of the work? Maybe something’s different than what you’re accustomed to; maybe there’s a reason why what your’e accustomed to has fallen out of favor?

Much like the bad thngs, I could go on and on about the things I’d do. That said, my dinner is getting cold.

Last updated November 11, 2015