Seven important messages for bad managers

Paul Aladenika
5 min readNov 9, 2024

--

Image courtesy of Microsoft Co-pilot

This is the first in a two-part blog focusing on bad management. The second blog will describe ‘seven things that you can learn from a bad manager’.

Management is a critical business function. The best managers can design systems, process and structures that enhance organisational dynamics. They can also plan strategy, mitigate risk and utilise resources in ways that maximise business efficiency and effectiveness. Sadly, at some point in the average person’s working life, they are likely to encounter bad management. For the less fortunate, it will not just be one bad manager but several. Some may be directly managed by one of these individuals or know someone who has. Either way, the experiences tend to be the same.

Notwithstanding, the anguish that bad management can cause, the focus of this blog aren’t the victims, but rather the perpetrators. The aim is to address those who have unwittingly stumbled into this practice by mimicking the behaviour of others, those who may be completely unaware of their shortcomings as well as those under the misapprehension that it doesn’t really matter.

Set out below are seven important messages for bad managers.

1. Bad management may have a high ceiling but it has no floor

There is no doubt that bad managers can and do ascend the dizzy heights and I have personally seen some do just that. However, when drawing a distinction between good and bad managers, I would liken it to the difference between two highwire performers. One who walks a tightrope with a safety net [the good] and the other who does so without one [the bad]. In the face of crises and traumas, one of these cohorts is more likely to survive than the other. So, here’s the message: when it matters most, good managers can almost always count on others, whilst bad managers must rely on themselves.

2. People see you even when you think they don’t

At its heart, bad management is a kind of confidence trick and deception. No bad manager will readily acknowledge themselves as such. Quite the opposite, they are more likely to deflect or blame their flaws and deficiencies on those around them. Yet, no matter how carefully concealed, a counterfeit may be, it is still a counterfeit. Even to the undiscerning eye, when contrasted with good management, the fake can easily be detected. No amount of packaging or projection can prevent that. Here’s the message: people who try to deceive others, are only deceiving themselves.

3. The affirmation you seek will only come from other bad managers

It is interesting how bad managers often crave the affirmation of good managers. However, those with solid reputations are highly unlikely ever to soil themselves by affirming the conduct of the incompetent [even if they are subordinate to those engaged in bad behaviour]. Therefore, in their quest for recognition, bad managers will turn to the only place where comfort and solace can be found — the welcoming arms of other bad managers. Here’s the message: being told by someone who behaves like a psychopath, that you also behave like a psychopath, is nothing to be proud of.

4. Being a bad manager is easier than you think

Unlike good managers who are committed to improvement and open to correction; bad management is the ultimate act of self-service. These individuals only ever look inwards, care only for their convenience and are entirely self-absorbed. For the bad manager, at best they are indifferent to how others experience or perceive them and at worst, see it as a badge of honour. Through bad management, behaviours that are simple to embrace, form habits that are difficult to break. So, here’s the message: becoming a bad manager is easy, but once you become one, it is even easier to remain one.

5. You cannot improve what you choose to ignore

From time to time, even the best managers miss things and need to be corrected. Therefore, by itself error or even the frequency of error are not necessarily signs of bad management per se. The distinguishing feature of bad managers is their lack of openness and willingness to course correct. Once presented with the facts and constructive challenge, a bad manager is more inclined to hear than listen, look than see. The seeds of learning never go far beneath the surface, and they quickly revert to old behaviours soon thereafter. Here’s the message: whilst the things you improve will only get better, those you ignore can only get worse.

6. News travels fast

It is somewhat surprising how bad managers believe that tomorrow will never come. Perhaps it is because the absence of challenge can create a comfort zone and false sense of security. This exercise in self-deception and delusion, only serves to underline how far its practitioners can become detached from reality. Make no mistake, notoriety can create a wasteland — scorching the earth behind as well as in front. Across this landscape, the victims of bad management are only too willing to tell their stories and sound the alarm. So, here’s the message: the only thing that travels as fast as a good reputation, is a bad one.

7. The damage to reputation and legacy is often irreparable

I remember a particularly awful manager whom, after a reign of terror, was eventually relieved of their position. In the weeks leading to their departure, I found it fascinating how concerned they were to salvage their tattered legacy. Almost as if the organisation would somehow have no memory of their malevolent tenure. This is the short-sightedness of bad managers; because they may not care what you think of them in the present, but they are obsessed with how you reflect on their past. Here’s the message: strive to be the manager that you wish you were, so you won’t regret the one you chose to be.

In conclusion, it goes without saying that bad management is an exercise in subtraction. It takes away from and adds nothing to the effective functioning of an organisation. The harm wrought by bad managers can be measured in wasted effort, lost productivity and reduced profits. Left unchecked, it becomes a malignant cancer, weakening critical structures, draining limited resources and stunting organisational growth. In the second and final blog, I will address ‘seven things that you can learn from a bad manager’.

Paul Aladenika is host of the 11th Thing Podcast

--

--

Paul Aladenika
Paul Aladenika

Written by Paul Aladenika

Believer, TEDx speaker, host of The 11th Thing Podcast, blogger, mentor, student of leadership, social economist & thinker. Creator of www.believernomics.com .

Responses (2)