It is possible that my experience is not the usual thing. I have worked for many different managers, both my direct supervisor and the levels above. My line of work has long featured frequent changes in management. I've worked for several remarkably good ones, and a lot of managers who were doing their best with what they had.
The two ends of the bell curve stand out, the great and the abysmal. The great ones were often inspiring leaders -- but even more often, they were men (and a few women) who would roll up their sleeves and do the work, whatever it was. Everyone else would pitch in because, really, what else can you do? There's the boss, hard at work, and what kind of a heel doesn't want to help out?
The bad managers relied on bluster and bombast, on micromanaging the easy parts and leaving the conundrums for the "little people" to work out. They were quick to blame their staff for failures, and quick to take credit for successes. They rarely got their hands dirty. And they could go on in this way for a long time. But it never lasted. They'd either flame out spectacularly in a fit or rage or pique, or they'd fade out, as staff sought better opportunities and they were left with burnouts, time-servers and unskilled weasels as venal as themselves. The drinkers (and drug users) were eventually overwhelmed by their addiction to the point of not being able to function, at which point any decent person can only feel compassion (no matter how unwilling they might be to continue propping up the bad manager). Sometimes, an overheard comment or behavior was enough, if the right person or persons hear or saw it.
Threats, bullshit and histrionics only take a boss so far; built on hot air, fear and fantasy, their efforts eventually collapse, sometimes taking down a department, an enterprise or a government. The bigger they have grown, the worse the fall.
You have to wonder how that's going to play out on a national scale, by and by.
Love your rundown of your management, Roberta!
ReplyDeleteFortunately, nearly all of my managers were good-to-great so I had little about which to whine and complain. When I joined a company that operated with matrix management, I ran a small office in one state with my line management half-way across the continent and my program management half-way up the coast from me. That was great, although my line management changed frequently. I once told my staff that if my boss called to get his/her name, and one boss I never did meet. As long as they let me run my office, I was happy.
OTOH: When I transferred (at my request after a couple of years) to the larger office that was half-way across the continent, I found that my new boss was so useless that I used his name in placing reservations at restaurants - on the theory that he should be good for something. I really did enjoy working at that company, though.
Over the decades, I've worked with both ends of the spectrum in the military and in civi life.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in the AF I had the following posted over my desk:
Those who can, lead.
Those who can't, manage.
Those who can't do either, micromanage.
Interesting thing was how those that fell in the third category would look at the sign and agree with it without ever realizing they were who I was talking about.
The worst is when a bad manager just happens to be in place when circumstances, luck, and the skill of underlings brings about a success. Even if they had nothing to actually do with it, and even if they had actually fought against it, they would still claim that it was all due to them and them alone. Funny enough, they're able to fool themselves into actually thinking this is the actual truth.
ReplyDeleteAnd woe to those competent people who were part of the success- not only will the boss take credit, he'll work against them as much as he can- firing, holding back promotion, ect. Because they see them as a threat and potential rival.
Something I been realizing lately: people who act entitled are actually insecure and even incompetent. They have risen (so to speak) above their place and ability, unconsciously know where and who they are is a delusion and are handwaving and screaming for attention and respect...they know inside is all a pretense.
ReplyDeletePeople with real substance rarely act that way: they generate, through their actions and presence, a sort gravitas-tional wave that makes people want to know them, to work with them. For them, respect just happens. They don't pull rank, they don't need it or need to; people just respond.
Back before Trump won election, I bumped into a working stiff who told me that Trump was different and would make a difference. Communicating with ignorance is difficult; it's like throwing things at a black hole. I couldn't think of what to say to him. Some hours later, I thought of what I might have asked him (which works better than telling or arguing with people):
"Have you ever had a boss that was a screamer, who was always right and you always wrong?"
...and most have. I *then* could have said, "That's Trump"