When good people meet bad management

It often seems that the history of the world can be summed up into a constant and continuous struggle between good and bad. Of course, what is defined as good and what is defined as bad very much depends on which side of the fence you reside.

On the people side, within the workplace, good and bad can also often be easily identified - there are good and bad employees, and good and bad managers. The hero of this particular article is the good employee, and while bad managers are seldom villains, they can, and often do, present an obstacle to the good employee`s meteoric rise to the top of the heap.

A bad manager is usually a complex organism and is often made up of a variety of elements including insecurity, egocentricity and immaturity.

Jill Hamlyn, MD, The People Business

So what happens when good people meet bad managers?

You have gone through relevant training plus have made the most of experiences that have provided a wealth of experiential learning. Your career is advancing well, you have developed yourself to the extent that you are happy with where you are and what you have achieved and the dedication and energy that you have committed. Results are apparent throughout your career to date, however long or short this period may be.

Considering the general work continuum, you may even have risen to the top, moving through the various hierarchies and having established board-level responsibilities. You are mature enough to realise that you, like others, are not perfect, but you are adept at admitting to, and learning from, your mistakes. You have a good attitude and have gained the respect of others whom you have worked with. You are well on your way to gaining and developing the confidence that will continue to hold you in good stead within the business world. What could possibly go wrong at this point?

It may help to think of the game of snakes and ladders. Your rise through attitude, consistency and, often, huge effort, have helped you to reach your current pinnacle within your career, but then, a twist of fate (or roll of the dice) means that you encounter a snake. In the world of work this is epitomised in the form of a person who holds the title of "manager" in whatever guise this title and responsibility allows, but someone who does not epitomise, nor rarely understands, the depth and breadth of this particular responsibility.

This particular manager is a person who cannot, or does not, satisfactorily manage you, the outcome of your interactions being a feeling of suppression, domination but, most commonly, disrespect of the attitude, values, interpersonal ability or lack of integrity that you perceive. This person may perhaps pay lip-service to seeing you succeed, but seemingly sabotages you, your ideas or your domain. This other person allows no gap to challenge, giving no room for others to possess contradictory views or opinions that differ from their own. Business interactions thus become seemingly inappropriate and unprofessional, and power play often comes into effect as the "hierarchy" card overrides ideas and input leading to continual disunity with no obvious way to correct the situation.

A bad manager is usually a complex organism and is often made up of a variety of elements including insecurity, egocentricity and immaturity, all of which are usually caused or compounded by an inability to communicate effectively. Inhibited by these self-protective motivators, destructive behaviours including the lack of discernment of individual differences, strengths and weaknesses come to the fore. Unable to distinguish or utilise the inherent intellectual property of the quality people within their midst, the "bad" manager actively creates an environment where basic listening skills become extinct, and dismissal, contempt or disdain flavour the content of much of the interaction. This is especially so for those who for whatever reason are able to separate themselves from the majority.

Positive interventions are impossible as there are no receptive abilities in the mind of this other person who dominates by assuming the position of being "in charge". An insidious push-pull mechanism can come into play as the employee is first led to believe that they have a certain degree of power within the workplace but this is quickly reclaimed in often the most inappropriate situation. The trump card that is produced at this point is also known as the hierarchy card, and goes something like this: "I`m the manager, so you do as I say because I`m the manager," or the demand for a passive acceptance of "my management style". This may or may not be accompanied by critical speech and a belittling of either the employee or the problem.

The point is to understand that in such an interaction, both parties are working on a plane of immaturity, and mutual respect is thus completely lacking. The equation is a relatively simple one. When two mature people meet head on, a mature interaction takes place. When one or both are immature, the interaction can only ever be immature. A bad or immature manager is someone who thinks they have already arrived by virtue of being in the position that they hold. Taking charge of others is a process. Managers do not and cannot know everything, there is a process of constant learning that takes place all the time as external situations and contexts change and re-form.

How, then, to get to point where both parties reach the realm of mature discourse? If the employee has reached that point of maturity, we are already halfway there. Managers can begin to achieve maturity by starting to manage themselves, rather than attempting to dominate and control the employees within their environment, thus enabling the employees to manage themselves.

Understanding what a manager is can also contribute to the attainment of maturity. A manager is first and foremost human and as such is fallible. However, managers are managers by virtue of the fact that they have often walked the path for longer and have more experience and expertise in their particular field of management and thus have attained the position of responsibility. And that is all.

Managers are not there to be put on pedestals or to be feared and hated. They are there to manage, especially themselves. That is their primary function. There is no doubt that bad managers do exist and my next column, I will explain how to go about dealing with a situation in which a good employee encounters a bad manager, as well as looking at how good managers can deal with bad employees.