Poor leaders can have a negative impact on employees and might even damage the company’s bottom line. Bad leadership affects your company’s ability to retain employees and lowers employee morale, motivation and productivity. Understanding the traits of poor leaders can help you avoid leadership pitfalls and strengthen your leadership abilities.
Lack of Communication
Poor leaders don’t value communication with their employees. A poor leader might spend long periods of time away from his desk or office or might ignore staff emails and telephone messages. Listening to others is a low priority and a poor communicator might interrupt while an employee is talking and cut the conversation short. Poor leaders disregard input from staff and might not seem to care about staff opinions. Poor communicators might also fail to pass along new information about company policies or procedures that will affect the way staff members perform their jobs.
Micromanagers can’t resist becoming involved in the smallest details of their employee’s jobs. While micromanaging ensures that everything is done the manager's way, employees can resent the lack of responsibility and autonomy. Profiles International reports that micromanagers might be insecure, or reluctant to give up control for fear of being shown up.
Failing to make expectations clear can frustrate employees and hinders their ability to successfully complete a task. Poor leaders might not tell employees when a project is due or might suddenly move up the due date. Project details can be vague, making it difficult for employees to guess what factors the supervisor considers important. If a project involves participation from more than one employee, a poor leader might not explain who is responsible for performing each part of the project.
Poor leaders may intimidate and bully employees, often threatening them to fire them if work is not completed satisfactorily. Employees of a poor leader might be publicly berated for mistakes and subject to criticism of their personality traits. Working in such an environment decreases staff morale and increases turnover. Creating a negative atmosphere can backfire because fear can cause stress, and in extreme situations, reductions in performance and efficiency, reports Ronald Riggio, Ph.D. in “Psychology Today.”
Poor People Skills
Poor leaders can be negative people who have no idea how to motivate others. They might feel free to share their negative opinions about the company or a department-wide project, rather than emphasizing the positive aspects of a situation or problem. Unable to consider anyone’s viewpoint but their own, poor leaders don’t respond well to complaints or suggestions. Poor managers might play favorites with staff, obviously choosing one staff member to receive special treatment and plum work assignments. Employee conflicts can be frightening for leadership-challenged supervisors who don’t have the skills necessary to mediate and resolve communication problems between staff members.
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