Nov

11

Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers

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Fast Company discusses the "Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers" by Margret Hefferman which are as follows:

  1. Bias against action: "There are always plenty of reasons not to take a decision, reasons to wait for more information, more options, more opinions. But real leaders display a consistent bias for action. People who don’t make mistakes generally don’t make anything."
  2. Secrecy: "….If you treat employees like children, they will behave that way — which means trouble. If you treat them like adults, they may just respond likewise. Very few matters in business must remain confidential and good managers can identify those easily…. Secrets make companies political, anxious and full of distrust."
  3. Over-sensitivity: "An inability to be direct and honest with staff is a critical warning sign. Can your manager see a problem, address it headlong and move on? If not, problems won’t get resolved, they’ll grow…… Interestingly, secrecy and over-sensitivity almost always travel together. They are a bias against honesty."
  4. Love of procedure: "Managers who cleave to the rule book, to points of order and who refer to colleagues by their titles have forgotten that rules and processes exist to expedite business, not ritualize it."
  5. Preference for weak candidates: "…Who did our manager want to hire? The junior. She felt threatened by the super-competent manager and hadn’t the confidence to know that you must always hire people smarter than yourself."
  6. Focus on small tasks
  7. Allergy to deadlines: "A deadline is a commitment. The manager who cannot set, and stick to deadlines, cannot honor commitments. A failure to set and meet deadlines also means that no one can ever feel a true sense of achievement."
  8. Inability to hire former employees: "… Every good manager has alumni, eager to join the team again; if they don’t, smell a rat."
  9. Addiction to consultants: "A common — but expensive — way to put off making decisions is to hire consultants who can recommend several alternatives."
  10. Long hours: "In my experience, bad managers work very long hours. They think this is a brand of heroism but it is probably the single biggest hallmark of incompetence. To work effectively, you must prioritize and you must pace yourself. The manager who boasts of late nights, early mornings and no time off cannot manage himself so you’d better not let him manage anyone else."

Margret goes on stating that "Any one of these behaviours should sound a warning bell. More than two — sound the alarm" I found the last point especially interesting….!

 

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3 Responses to “Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers”

  1. Nick McCormick on November 12th, 2007 5:44

    Fantastic list George. Thanks for pointing it out. It’s unfortunate that these characteristics are so prevalent in the workplace. No wonder worker engagement is so low, huh?

    We all need to be reminded of this list to avoid falling into these traps. It’s unfortunate, however, that the prime offenders, those that need this dose of reality the most, will probably never read it. They’re too busy keeping secrets, following procedure, and working the long hours!

  2. Pasquier on November 13th, 2007 16:29

    Perfect post, as usual. Very helpful. I’ll try to avoid that. But to try to avoid that around me will be the hardest job ever.

  3. Joe and Wanda - on Management » Blog Archive » Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers on November 19th, 2007 5:39

    [...] Ambler had a recent blog post about a Fast Company article discussing the “Ten Habits of Incompetent Managers” by [...]

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