The accepted notion is that companies are profit-making organisations offering value to customers to better their lives but sometimes they are groups of flawed people taking unnecessary decisions. Don’t assume your company is operating on merit. More often than not, messy forces are driving the org chart.
Organisational culture
Sometimes, businesses fail to recognise or acknowledge weak behaviour within their management ranks. This lack of awareness stems from a variety of factors, including a lack of proper feedback mechanisms, limited employee voice, or an organisational culture that tolerates such behaviour. In such cases, businesses must prioritise a feedback-oriented culture that encourages open communication, transparency and accountability.
Holding bad managers accountable for their behaviour is essential to foster a healthy and productive work environment for an organisation to progress. Bad managers reduce productivity and increase employee turnover. So why do companies keep bad managers for so long? Success of a business hinges upon several key factors: a qualified, skilled and talented workforce, effective leadership and healthy company culture. Bad managers being in their roles for too long, means that leaders fear change.
Costs
While the persistence of bad managers in some businesses may seem puzzling, understanding the underlying factors can help shed light on this paradox. From resistance to change and misaligned priorities to a fear of losing expertise and a lack of awareness, multiple elements contribute to this challenge.
However, businesses must recognise the long-term costs of retaining weak managers, including high turnover rates, low morale, and a negative impact on overall performance. Some bad managers even hoard critical information to make themselves hard to replace. They prevent their teams from building the skills and knowledge necessary to replace them. Leaders feel uneasy about making a change when no one seems ready to replace the current manager.
In some cases, businesses prioritise short-term gains over long-term well-being. Toxic managers may exhibit aggressive or controlling behaviour that yields immediate results, such as meeting targets or increasing productivity. Focusing on short-term gains often blinds organisations to the long-term damage inflicted on employee morale, job satisfaction and company culture. This narrow focus on results can overshadow the toxic manager’s detrimental impact on employee engagement and retention.
Resistance to change
One significant factor contributing to the persistence of bad managers is the resistance to change within the organisational structure. Change, particularly in leadership, can be met with apprehension and uncertainty. Organisations may fear the disruption and instability that can accompany removing toxic managers.
If the toxic manager has a long tenure or a close relationship with the senior management, initiating change becomes even more challenging. One of the main reasons bad managers retain their jobs long after they have caused persistent damage, is that most companies have weak systems to measure manager performance. Accountability metrics are not properly set or often too focused on qualitative metrics.
Measuring performance
When company and departmental metrics are positive, companies have a tendency to ignore the impact of bad management. Managers get credit for outcomes that aren’t directly tied to their efforts even when performance would have improved without their meddling. Without a structured plan to measure performance, managers are free to create their own evaluation measures to survive.
Most will cast themselves in the best light possible using subjective criteria and targets they establish in retrospect. Another reason bad manager’s overstay their welcome is the inertia of status. Managers are perceived to have higher status than others. They strive to hold on to this status as long as they can. This is exacerbated when companies fail to create strong individual contributor tracks. People seek managerial roles to advance their careers and earn more. Companies dangle promotions as rewards for good performance. When the next promotion would shift someone into management, there’s often no assessment of their managerial skills, which is followed by inadequate training.
Trying new leaders
Leaders give these new managers time to grow into their new roles while their teams suffer. When a leader realises he has made a mistake, the manager’s position is too visible to reverse without people noticing. One big reason bad managers remain in their roles longer than they should is that they have strong relationships with their bosses.
Whether the relationship existed before they were hired or developed on the job, bad managers are often protected by others. This can be deliberate or subconscious. Management teams often become friends. They tell each other that they are team number one and that they should look out for one another. These types of bonds can cause people to act in each other’s best interests rather than doing what’s best for the company.
Some leaders won’t permit themselves to see how terrible the worst, self-serving managers are. I’ve seen leaders struggle to believe that a manipulative manager was playing them, despite multiple warnings from others. Some executives avoid conflict and allow problems to fester. On one occasion, I saw executives assume an employee was jockeying for their manager’s job rather than honestly reporting the manager’s bad behaviour.
Org values
Some managers are protected by their hierarchy. They have ‘friends in high places’, so they can do nothing wrong!. This is especially useful for toxic managers, as it means they can keep their positions and continue with their toxic behaviour without risk or blame. Those protected by their bosses are rarely fired.
Many of these bosses are deaf to negative information about the managers they protect, even from peers or Human Resources. There needs to be extreme toxicity and the start of a consensus in management around the protecting boss, before they listen to the criticism. But even then, it may take a long time before they take action. By fostering a culture of accountability, promoting open communication and prioritising employee well-being, businesses can break free from this cycle and cultivate a healthier and more productive work environment.
Positive leadership
Remember, successful businesses are built on a foundation of positive leadership, collaboration, and a commitment to the well-being of employees. By addressing toxic behaviour and letting go of toxic managers, when necessary, businesses can pave the way for a brighter future, fostering an environment where employees can thrive and the organisation can flourish.
Some promotion decisions may seem solid based on the employee’s performance record, competencies and interests. But over time a leader who is not aligned with or living out the values of the organisation will create a stressful environment for those they lead. Leadership behaviour and messaging that are not consistent with the culture create confusion and instability for employees as they respond to mixed messages about what is important in the company.
