Does Your Boss Show These Four Signs?

You may be frustrated with the way your boss is acting, and it's getting in the way of you doing your job. But how do you know if he's exhibiting signs of bad leadership or just having a series of bad days? If the behavior of your boss is affecting you in a negative way and you're questioning his management style, consider these four signs that will tell you if he's a bad leader.

The Corporate Ladder Takes Up All His Time

You can't fault someone for wanting to climb the corporate ladder and excel in his career, but managers who have their eye on that prize and nothing else are not giving their employees enough consideration, and as a result, they're doing the company a disservice with their bad leadership. On the other hand, the best managers don't spend all their time trying to climb the corporate ladder and step on others along the way; instead, they think about their employees and what their employees need to make the workplace environment more productive and satisfactory.

He Avoids Transparent Communication

Another sign of bad leadership is when your manager doesn't communicate enough with his employees. Good managers have an open-door policy and encourage interaction and dialogue with their subordinates. They explain their decisions, and if a mandate comes from the top down, they do their best to make it palatable to their workers, especially if it's not received well. Good leaders also provide constructive, rather than negative, feedback so that employees can improve their work performance. If your manager is quick to point out the negatives and rarely gives out the accolades, it's likely he's modeling bad leadership.

He Shirks Responsibility

If your manager won't take responsibility for his actions and passes the buck on to others when things go wrong, his bad leadership is rearing its ugly head. These bad leaders do their best to deflect negative attention since it affects them personally and their quest to climb the corporate ladder. A good leader admits when he is wrong and doesn't try to throw his employees under the bus when things aren't going according to plan. He also recognizes that mistakes are an opportunity for learning and improving internal and external processes.

He Has No Scruples

Bad leaders also take the credit for work they had no part in doing. It's one thing to say, "I had a great team working for me, and they were able to get our sales numbers up by 25 percent," and quite another to say, "Because of my ideas for increasing sales, the numbers in my department increased by 25 percent." If your manager is arrogant, has a high opinion of himself and treats others as his minions, the workplace is not going to be a pleasant place to spend time. You want a manager who can empathize with his workers and celebrates their successes; he succeeds when they succeed. Good managers should always have people working for them who are better than themselves.

Bad leadership affects a company at every level. Review these four signs of a negative leader to determine if you need to find another job or adapt the way you function in an environment with a bad leader.

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