Blog / How to manage a poor manager

How to manage a poor manager

29 Mar 2022

There’s nothing worse for any business than having a bad manager in place.

It’s easily done.

You promote somebody because they have done a good job up until that point, seem to have all the qualities you are looking for and are keen and ambitious. Or you bring in an outsider based on their CV and the way they performed in interview.

But then things start to go off the rails. It might be that your new manager is not communicating properly, is suffering with the pressure of the new role or has failed to earn the trust of his team. Whatever, the result is a dip in morale and productivity and staff turnover starts to rise.

Now is the time to act.

But how can you turn the situation around?

The first step is to identify what the problem is.

Generally, there are four types of poor manager – and knowing which you are dealing with is key to trying to fix the problem.

The first is someone who is just not very good at the job; they don’t take decisions, are unmotivated themselves, lazy or lack any huge drive. Sometimes, staff will happily work with such a person if it means their own lives are easier, but often the incompetence of a boss can fuel discontent among the workforce who see their own hard work amounting to little.

Here, training, personal development and mentoring can often help turn poor performance around if the situation is spotted quickly and action taken accordingly. Of course, it might be that a recruit is simply not cut out for the role you have given them, in which case having an honest conversation about the options available is a sensible starting point.

At the other end of the scale is the bully – the manager who uses anger or fear as their predominant weapon. We all know this type of manager and the harm they can very quickly do within a workspace.

Again, quick, decisive action is necessary. Leave the bully in place too long and they will quickly have a hugely corrosive impact on your organisation – and a potentially costly one should their behaviour lead to formal complaints and possible tribunals.

Deal with a bully professionally and appropriately. You might not be able to control the way in which they act, but you can control your own emotions and response. Keep calm, listen to all the evidence and act accordingly.

Here, it’s vital to take any complaints from staff seriously and not seek to lessen or undermine them. Show that you take the matter seriously and that you will deal with it appropriately, and you will gain some control over the situation.

Make sure you have an anti-bullying policy in place which gives you a structure to manage the situation and be seen to be enforcing it. Not only does this give staff the confidence to report any issues, it gives the bully considerably less space in which to operate.

The third type of bad manager is the one who sees the role as all about self-promotion. A lack of empathy with colleagues and an excessive self-orientation – in which colleagues are seen as competitors and the job is all about pleasing the next level of management – rarely produces results.

We’ve all dealt with this type of manager at one time or another and it can be tiring and de-motivating. If you have one on your management team consider some professional development to show them the error of their ways.

Show them what success looks like – and that it is far more than simple outputs. Outcomes such as increased staff retention, better morale, reduced stress and higher productivity are all good for the company – and for the manager who achieves them.

Finally, there is the micromanager – the boss who has to know every detail of everything. These can very quickly demotivate a team, who are made to feel inadequate and untrusted and who fail to share responsibility meaning their colleagues get little chance to develop professionally themselves or learn new skills.

A good structure of professional development in the company can help here, as well as a regular and honest appraisal system. It’s important to get feedback from all levels of the business to see where improvements can be made, and helping managers recognise their own faults is as important as developing those on the ground floor.

The results of employing poor managers are all too obvious, including low morale, high staff turnover, increased absenteeism and sickness, reduced productivity and a poor reputation which impacts on future recruitment.

The results of recognising and dealing with poor managers – and being seen to do so – can be just the opposite.