How to Survive a Bad Boss

Lam1969 writes "Computerworld has a three-page spread on how to deal with bad bosses. A common type is "the overgrown technologist who gets rewarded for brilliant technical work by being promoted to a position for which he's not qualified." Another type reported by a reader is the boss who's in over their head. The article says some bosses can be "fixed," but at other times it's better to hunker down or cover your ass so the bad boss can find other targets."

Comments

In Summary

[biocute]

The article seems to imply that most bosses don't change, yet it's suggesting workers to change job.

I believe a common scenario is some people have bad boss, and they just live with it and see who retires first.

Re:In Summary

[misleb]

I hate to be the one to suggest it, but perhaps you were more "senior" than "talent." I mean, if he was getting the numbers, maybe he was doing something right. Unless, of course. he was simply pushing you too hard and causing people to burn out. I'm not sure what you meant by "stepped on."

-matthew

RE Bad Boss

[Alex P Keaton in da]

A main problem I have seen with hiring from within is that many people who are VERY good at their jobs and have a lot of skills have no management skills.
Like it or not you can be the best (fill in the blank: engineer, developer etc) and still be an awful manager...
On a related note, in one of my first jobs, I was yelled at for not stapling reports with the staple at a 45 degree angle to the side of the sheets.

Re:RE Bad Boss

[el americano]

Yelling at your employees is generally bad management. For staples, I think even a "talking to" would be too much. They should just ask him to do it over if it's important to them. They could follow up if he still doesn't get the message.

You're obviously not a manager. It is hard for us to find employees. So, a manager who runs people off because of their stapling technique will dealing with the much more serious problem of new employees who don't know the job yet. Hmmm... which one is going to affect Q1 results? The guy who doesn't staple reports to your preference or the guy who's not up to speed and can't give the report on time?

TFA is about people with no interpersonal skills who shouldn't be managers. In other words... it's about you.

Re:RE Bad Boss

[KermodeBear]

Every month or so, my managers ask me if I would be interested in a Team Lead position as well, and every time I turn it down. The reason they want me to lead a group of programmers on projects? Because I'm good at writing code.

What they fail to see is what I see every day: I do not work well with others. I hate being interrupted with phone calls, emails, people dropping by, and I don't like being responsible for what other people do. I generally don't like people at all, to tell you the truth. They're annoying. I'm also very disorganized, and my train of thought can be very difficult for other people to follow - excessive free association combined with inability to express ideas in an easy to follow format, at least when speaking.

To be an effective manager/leader, you need to be able to deal with people and you need to be organized. For some reason, they see Programming Manager as the Next Step above writing code, when, in fact, they should be looking at people in project management. They have the skills necessary and the experience.

I've told my management this many times; Yes, thank you, I appreciate the fact that you think so highly of me, but I would be a complete disaster. Here is why... Here are some other people who might be better suited...

But, they never seem to listen. I don't want to become one of those people who exemplify the Peter Principle. I don't want to make an ass out of myself. I don't want to screw over my fellow coders (They may be annoying but they're nice people).

Ideas? I don't want to be rude about it, but I do want to get it through their thick Pointy Haired Skulls that I Would Be A Crappy Manager.

Re:RE Bad Boss

[Mateito]

A main problem I have seen with hiring from within is that many people who are VERY good at their jobs and have a lot of skills have no management skills.

Spot on. People who want to be good managers will be good managers, and as we all know, there is a severe shortage of good managers in IT.

Management can be learnt. Sure, some personalities are more suited to it than others, and some people have a more natural flair for management, but in the end, its a set of skills. The biggest point is "do you want to be a manager?" If the answer is no, then its not a promotion.

Companies need to find other ways to reward talented employees than "promotion" to management. If I have a top developer that I don't want to lose, why put them in a role where they aren't developing?

I'm lucky - I've worked for companies that "get it", but there seem to be plenty that don't.

Re:RE Bad Boss

[Grishnakh]

So you want to put introverted people who hate dealing with other people in charge? What kind of sense does that make?

If you want to hire a manager, get someone who has a management degree. There's whole colleges for exactly that, where they teach people how to be managers. Sure, they're not technically competent, but a good manager doesn't need to be since he won't be doing any technical work; he can learn what he needs on the job from his technical employees, and defer to them whenever there's a question. Part of the problem with technical people being promoted into management is that they think they're still technically competent, even though they're really not, so they make bad decisions. A pure management person wouldn't have this problem, would realize he's not technically competent, and would involve his employees on technical issues.

Works for large companies...

[Anonymous Coward]

...but unfortunately, in my experience, it's the small businesses that have the worst bosses, and in that case, there's no getting away from them because they own the company and the number of alternative targets for them is limited.

It's all very well saying "focus on the work", but the whole problem with bad bosses is they won't let you do that, whether it's by micromanaging you, constantly interrupting you, forcing you to change technical decisions, or just plain giving you the wrong work to do. I'd rather have a boss call me names every lunch break than a boss who seems friendly but fucks things up when I'm trying to work.

A bad boss...

[BigZaphod]

I think the best way to survive a bad boss is to get a new job. Life seems too short to spend it under the thumb of an incompetent ruler - that is, assuming you care about getting stuff done and being productive.

Re:A bad boss...

[Fortran IV]

My fundamental belief for years is that anybody who actually wants a position of authority probably shouldn't be trusted with it.

The answer is simple

[macdaddy]

Quit. Seriously. The answer is to quit. A bad boss makes for a horrible working environment. Horrible working environments are detrimental to your health. Your working environment will affect your mental health and that's not somethin you can leave at the office when you go home at not. Your home and love life will suffer just as much as your health. Take it from me; I've been there.

Just last week I was diagnosed with two partially-healed ulcers. A stomach problem over the holidays (read: bleeding) prompted me to go to the doctor. I'd been putting it off for 2 years after parting ways with a particularly nasty job that had an overabundance of office politics. My working life since then has been peaches and cream compared to what it was back then. I now have the best job I've ever had. Yet I still have two ulcers that have not yet healed themselves.

Bad bosses cause bad working environments. You do not want to be around either. Move up or move out. It's that simple. The job market is better than you think.

Re:The answer is simple

[1u3hr]

I disagree. Bosses are clueless that they are assholes and need to be told. Try that first..:)

Doesn't work. No one believes they are an asshole. If you want to make an impact before you leave, you need to tell others, preferably his peers or bosses. But the asshole in question then will try to smear you in defence. Best of all is to get some documtented proof of unsavoury, preferably illegal, practices and distribute that to the relevant authorities. But you may still have to overcome the "disgruntled employee" label.

I've read a few analyses of abusive bosses, describng them as clinical psychpaths. You don't have to be a serial killer to be a psychopath -- a total lack of empathy, narcissism amd a capacity to rationalise every failing as the result of a conspiracy against him are good markers. Once you realise what you're dealing with you know that sweet reason has no chance of success. Many organisations actually reward psychopathic behaviour, not least the military.

Work for small companies...

[zx75]

...in my experience, I've only ever had trouble with bosses in large companies. Be it absentee bosses who would rather leave you to your own devices without any sort of direction, or micromanagers who prefer to "drop-by" 20 times a day.

Generally at small companies you can be on much better terms with everyone, be friendly with everyone you work with and you can resolve issues instead of ignoring them or hiding from them like this article suggests. I've worked for a number of small companies, and have been fortunate that each of them has been a wonderful experience, and the people I worked with have all been team-focused and aware that if a team isn't working well together, that's going to be a great hinderance to the success of the business.

On the other hand, there's always a feeling of inertia around large companies. That your co-workers are just the people you run into at work and shouldn't be anything else. A bad boss can get away with how they are because they only worry about how their superiors see them, and then could always fire you on a whim if they wanted should they feel threatened.

Apt Aphorism

[MBCook]

"Everyone gets promoted to the level of their incompetence."

-- Lawrence Peters

I Am A Horrible Boss

[Anonymous Coward]

That's right, I said it.

Technically, I'm gifted. I can analyse a situation and come up with a solution almost immediately, often without a full grasp of how I arrived at the answer. That is where the problem lies. I don't have the patience to explain things to people, and I get frustrated when they don't "get it" as quickly as I do.

I don't want to be the boss, but my bosses keep trying to put people under me. Just let me work, pay me, and I'll make sure your network is safe and secure, and runs 24/7. Just don't give me direct reports. It just makes them miserable, and me a nervous wreck. Don't blame me when they quit six months from now because I'm a bad boss, because I told you up front that I was.

Quit trying to promote me. I know you want to retain me, but why not just remove the arbitrary salary caps per job classification and give me the salary I deserve without having to tie it to "management". Keeping the auditors happy is justification enough for the 10% raise you gave me this year. Sarbanes Oxley and GBLA is a bitch, and I manage the IT side of it for you. You've never once had a bad audit. Isn't that alone worth paying me what it takes to keep me without saddling me with arbitrating personality conflicts, managing vacation schedules, keeping track of overtime, and all the other petty bullshit that goes along with having "underlings"?

Don't you get it?

Re:I Am A Horrible Boss

[Kevin Stevens]

This seems to be a very common problem in technical departments of non-technical companies. Getting into management is the only way up the ladder, and there are no ways to make a comfortable salary without managing people or projects. If you are techie you are deemed less valuable than a manager. This problem was first* outlined in the Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks in the mid 1970's folks! Yet managers still don't get it. My manager doesn't get it. I have a coworker that is awesome technically that is experiencing the same problem. He has asked to take on an architect type role in the team, and my manager has told him repeatedly that being a developer is a dead-end. He was even penalized in his last review for it and labeled as "uncooperative to management" because of it.

I think this mindset is caused by the fact that the people in charge- aka the management- did not see spending their life dealing directly with technology as rewarding and fulfilling and from their first day on the job had an eye on the corner office. Technology companies have a better understanding of technologists and accordingly have much better promotion paths for those not wanting to manage people.

*Well maybe only first in the sense that the Model-T was the first car, but close enough.

Re:I Am A Horrible Boss

[Nataku564]

Program vcr -> read manual.

While there are manuals for managing people, none of them can really help you get over the fact that you just may not know how to work with people well. IT peoples aren't exactly known for their great socializing skills. I know I could do it, but I also know several people in the industry that would not make good managers. They are very introverted, and don't like talking to people. While they could go through the motions, that doesn't mean they would be very good at it.

I find that people do the best at their jobs when they actually like what they are doing.

Linin' Large!

[Saeed al-Sahaf]

Quit. Seriously. The answer is to quit.

Yes, of course, because we're all foot-lose and fancy-free, we all work because if we didn't we'd all just sleep all day, and jobs just come along! But seriously, for the vast majority of people out there, this is not really a realistic option. Usually, personal situations like family with children prevent it, but there could be many other things. Economically, most people today live a few paychecks away from living on the street, and might as well be indentured servants. This is why it simply is not uncommon for people in our society to snap and kill a few people on the way out the door. Bad bosses should not be the problem of the worked bee; it should be management's problem, that's why the "professionals" in Human Resources make the big bucks, right?

Re:I say, keep trying

[mswope]

Nah. Make sure you do your best and if your best isn't what's needed, go elsewhere. You can keep trying, but after a while that foolish feeling inside you is your subconscious trying to tell you to get real. "Remember that you're smarter than he is, and that only by persevering can you defeat all the bosses and rescue the princess, or whatever. But if you quit playing, then he's won." If you don't realize that there's a bigger game called "your life" outside your boss's world, you've already lost.

DING DING DING! Someone give them a cookie!

[thecampbeln]

You are so very right! My father is a financial moron (case in point: he used his expense account check, meant to pay off his ~19% credit card bill, to pay off his ~8% car loan). I have learned many things from his exquisitely bad examples, and this is one of the major ones. My wife and I have a paid off house (last payment was made on my 27th birthday), all of our cars are paid off, credit cards are paid in full at the end of every month.

Sure, we could "afford" the huge house, BMW, boat, hot tub, vacation property... but I'd much rather have my freedom (besides, we're saving up to get those things). Should the time ever arise, I could tell my work to shove it and not even have to think twice about it. My wife could do the same thing on the same day and not even have to think twice about it. Absolute worst case, welfare would more then cover all of our day-to-day costs (thanks to no house payment, no debts).

And we are nothing special. We are not from old money (though we both have 4 year degrees and good paying jobs), we've earned all of this ourselves. We simply realize that "It's only $5 for a Starbucks" can quickly add up to THOUSANDS of dollars a year (hell, just ask Starbucks! There's a reason they can afford to put one on every corner...). We feel that sort of discretionary income is best applied to home loans or car loans or savings accounts. Course, you could say "But you need to LIVE!" and we do! We've been on 4 overseas, and 3 domestic vacations in the last year. How!? No house payment, my friend. No car payment, just the credit card (which is mostly extraneous bullshit that could be dropped in hard times) and home owners-related bills.

For the love of [insert deity of preference here]... you spend at least 1/3 of every week day in your job. If you hate it, then the second you wake up, you are loathing having to go into that place again. When you get home, you are loathing that you have to go into that place again tomorrow. Come Friday afternoon, you are loathing that you have to go into that place again come Monday.

Gee-whiz... do you think that affects the rest of your life in any measurable way? Does the fact that your driving your new BMW to that place make it more palatable? Does your huge house with the huge screen TV make it easier to commence with the daily loathing in the mornings/afternoons/weekends? We'll get all of those things in due time, and when we have them, they will not be trapping us into a life filled with many material things and nothing much else. We will own them, they will not own us!