Let’s face it, management has a mixed reputation. It seems like everyone has a story to tell about their manager doing something poorly. But when we break it down, often times it’s that we’ve had a bad experience with a manager. That person might actually be an ok manager overall or even a good manager. But in this instance they did something wrong.

Something we keep coming back to in the Management Café is how managers’ mistakes impact the humans they manage. And these impacts are not trivial. People’s jobs are important to them. They are linked to financial security, to their plans for the future, to their sense of self-worth and wellbeing. Bad experiences and bad managers can affect the employees for a long time afterwards.

There are many reasons why managers make mistakes. Some people just aren’t suited to the job. Some aren’t a good fit for a particular company or team or individual or situation. Some are still learning. It might not even be in the manager’s control – for example bad behaviour might originate from someone more senior or the organisation itself. And of course managers are fallible just like everyone else. Sometimes they just mess up.

Most confusing of all is that these conditions are fluid. And it is about perception. A good manager for employee A might be a bad manager for employee B. The manager might think they did the right thing and their superiors or peers or team members might agree. But the affected employee can still disagree. Any they might all be right! As always, it’s a tough job being a manager…

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00:00 mins Content warning! Talking about bad management can be triggering.

00:30 Pilar talks about her father, a senior engineer who did not like management.

2:00 People often grumble about management in general, but in reality they are talking about bad managers. There is a big difference.

3:40 It might take just one mistake for an average manager to be viewed as a bad manager. And once they are perceived as a bad manager it can be difficult to shift.

6:00 Nobody comes into management fully formed. We learn as we go and we make mistakes – many of which have an impact on the people we manage. So a person who is learning and growing as a manager will feel regret and guilt. This is not given enough importance by organisations. It’s a difficult job and managers should be better supported.

7:20 Some managers take a defensive stance to protect themselves against the human impact of their actions. The phrase “It’s not personal, it’s just business” comes to mind…

8:15 Context is so important. If we want someone to do their best work, the environment and fit need to be right. This will be different for different people. And it can change with the circumstances. Tim shares an anecdote of managing someone who started off thinking he was a good manager, but ended up thinking he was a bad one.

10:45 When interviewing candidates, Tim could sometimes see the scars left on people through their experiences with bad managers. As Pilar points out, this experiences are carried forward into future interactions. It forms part of the psychological contract that we create with our workplace. (Check out episode #5 for more on this.)

13:40 If an employee has only experienced micromanagement, that becomes their expectation of what management is.

14:00 Manager “readmes” can be helpful for employees and managers to make their expectations and needs more explicit.

15:30 There is often a big disconnection between the people making a decision and the people impacted by that decision. Pilar shares an example from the Harvard Business Review article “Leading in the Flow of Work” (the bulk of this article was discussed in episode #74), where a hospital’s administration suddenly introduced a meeting during a critical part of the day for the clinicians and staff required to attend the meeting. This sort of thing happens all the time.

17:30 Take a deep breath as Tim attempts to draw a line from society and more specifically capitalism all the way through to having a bad line manager. Pilar is, as ever, the diplomat.

21:50 Tim climbs down from the ledge but still points to systemic issues often being at the root of bad management.

23:00 Pilar points out that the bulk of bad management is not the obvious examples like bullying. Most of it is less extreme. For example, managers who don’t understand the work or consult with their teams. And this is the sort of behaviour which gives a bad name to management overall. If you don’t put the effort in, then you are a bad manager.

24:00 An intriguing premise from Pilar: do people love to hate managers? Do we like having managers? Even, in some sense, like having someone who we can blame?

26:15 We close with a reminder that anyone listening to this podcast (or reading these show notes) is clearly not a bad manager! You are fighting the good fight and we appreciate you.

What about you, dear listener? Why do you think management has a bad name? We’d love to hear from you!
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