You Are a Terrible Boss!
Below please find just 10 of the many ways you can be a bad boss to someone, in no particular order (and again, these are just a sampling that occurred to me today in my very bad mood.)
- You are unhappy with an employee, but s/he has no idea.
- You have expectations that are not being met, nor are they being communicated.
- ANYONE you work with is afraid of you.
- Anyone in a key role with your company has no idea what your one-year, five-year or 10-year goals are for your company.
- You do not conduct regular performance reviews with your direct reports, nor do your managers with theirs.
- You have not met with or spoken to a customer in the last 12 months.
- You have invested zero time, energy or money in developing someone on your team.
- You have added someone to your staff in the last six months, with no clear development path, metrics for performance, or clearly articulated expectations and resources for help.
- You want to fire someone, but just can’t bring yourself to do it.
- You DO fire someone, and they had NO IDEA it was coming, because you never addressed one single area in which they needed to improve or where you felt they were not successful.
I hope, folks that you see where I am going with all of this. Too many times—and even recently—I have seen some of, most, or even all of these behaviors being exhibited by owners and VP-Level people. So, please reflect and dip deep into your well of self awareness. I sincerely hope that you can say none of the above are true for you, and if so GREAT! But if not, it’s never too late to right the ship. Get help if you need it, but please, make it a goal not to be a terrible boss. It matters to the health and success of your company, as well as your well-being as a human.
- Categories:
- Business Management - Marketing/Sales
Blogger, author, consultant, coach and all around evangelist for the graphic arts industry, Kelly sold digital printing for 15 years so she understands the challenges, frustrations and pitfalls of building a successful sales practice. Her mission is to help printers of all sizes sell more stuff. Kelly's areas of focus include sales and marketing coaching, enabling clients to find engagement strategies that work for them and mentoring the next generation of sales superstars.
Kelly graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Political Science and, among other notable accomplishments, co-founded the Windy City Rollers, a professional women's roller derby league. She is also the mother of two sets of twins under the age of ten, so she fears nothing.
