15Five’s Tales of Horror: The World’s Scariest Bosses
When I think of scary bosses, I always picture Darth Vader. Forget about being fired, that guy can strangle you to death over video conference.
Some company leaders are ruling with an iron fist, creating disengaged employees and high turnover. These bad bosses are building haunted houses of poor company culture and unhappy employees (cue Imperial March).
In honor of Halloween, we’ve selected the top articles from around the web that shine a light on the darkness of scary leadership:
1. 18 Signs You Have a Terrible Boss
Terrible bosses don’t only affect employees in the workplace, they can also affect their overall physical and mental health. That’s called the “spillover effect,” a term coined by Dr. Merideth Ferguson. The grumpiness experienced in work environments spills over to people’s personal lives, creating unhappy homes and disconnected families. Smith provides an in-depth list of 18 signs of a terrible boss and how to address them.
2. 3 Bad Boss Personalities and How to Deal with Them
by Sara McCord
The Devil Wears Prada was an entertaining movie and while Miranda Priestly is entertaining to watch, no one wants to wake up every day to work for that type of overbearing boss. When employees constantly jump at their boss’s beck and call or constantly work in fear of being wrong, chances are that a boss has created a paranoid work environment. Know the different personalities of a bad boss and how employees can deal with them.
3. The Origin of Bad Bosses
by Tenaya Tison
So we’ve discussed signs of a terrible boss, how to deal with them, and how to gracefully exit this nightmare. But, where does it start and how can we fix it from the beginning?
Tenaya Tison explores “promoting from within” and how this can breed bad bosses and ineffective leaders. There is nothing wrong with moving a great employee up the promotion ladder to manager, but if cultivating this soon-to-be manager isn’t on the organization’s priority list then the work environment begins to suffer.
4. Dealing With a Bad Boss: The Micromanager
by Lisa Quast
Lo and behold, the micromanager! This is the boss who watches an employee’s every move and controls every part of their work activity. This type of management can decrease productivity, which inherently affects the bottom line. Here are two of the four survival tactics Lisa provides for dealing with a micromanager:
– Meet with your boss to discuss your concerns and how their micromanagement negatively affects productivity.
– Ask your boss, “how can we best work together?”
Having an open discussion with a micromanaging boss, can help them take a step back so the company can move forward.
Bad bosses are an employee’s worst nightmare, creating discomfort and fear across an entire organization. And the best way to end a nightmare is to live into a better reality. In other words, communicate the issues.
Managers can ask employees for honest feedback about their leadership. By creating an environment of great leaders who know how to support their organization, employees and managers can collaborate to keep the company vision alive.
Tell us your stories about the scariest bosses you haves encountered in the comments below…
