How to spot bad bosses and poor leaders: a method that portrays the anti-leader

There are notable differences between a good leader and a mere boss. Perhaps one of the differences employees notice most is that a good leader has followers, while a boss has subordinates. One inspires; the other intimidates.

While it is dangerous to keep a toxic or overly mediocre employee in a company, having a mediocre or unwanted person in a leadership position can bring the whole company down. Of course, it is not easy for top management to identify a bad leader, especially if the numbers are adding up for the time being. Even so, a bad leader is like a virus that will eventually make the company sick, and by then the solution will be more costly and come later than if we had spotted the problem in time.

But how can we identify the bosses who wreck the working atmosphere and the levels of engagement in companies? How can we identify the leaders who neither want to nor are able to improve their teams’ results?

To answer these questions, Luis Fernando Rodríguez, CEO of WATCH & ACT, uses the Fourflags Express Model, through which he can define, in four blocks, the profiles of the bosses capable of destroying all of their employees’ commitment to the company.

1. How this boss makes people experience the company

The first block looks at how team members view the company and how the team leader manages that. A bad boss is one who leads his staff to believe that theirs is:

• A company with no hallmark (no differentiation)
• A company with no passion for improvement
• A company where investing in people is an expense
• A company with an individualistic culture

2. How he is perceived as a direct boss

This block analyses the boss’s ability to become a reference point and an example for his team; how well he hands out tasks and evaluates his team members; and whether he sets suitable goals. In this respect, a bad boss is one who:

• Is not a reference point for his team members
• Doesn’t know how to set good goals, and doesn’t set them
• Doesn’t know the professionals in his team

3. How he makes people experience the team

This block focuses on finding out how the manager builds commitment through the way he manages the team. For this analysis, WATCH & ACT looks at two variables:

1. The way the team welcomes new members.
2. How achievements and continuous improvement are evaluated.

With these two variables in mind, we could say that a bad boss doesn’t build teams; he only creates work groups, which tends to be very uninspiring and certainly doesn’t make employees leap out of bed excited about a new working day.

4. How the tasks done in his department are perceived

This block puts the spotlight on the manager’s skill at building commitment through the way he manages the tasks his staff carry out in their daily work. A bad boss is one who makes his team members feel:

• That what they do has no purpose
• That what should be done isn’t being done
• That what they do adds no value

The ten signs of an anti-leader

If we wanted to sum it up by highlighting the 10 key points that define an anti-leader, this is how employees would end up seeing things:

1. The company I work for has no hallmark that sets it apart from competitors in the market.
2. There is no variety in my company. There is no passion for continuous improvement or for innovation.
3. The company culture is individualistic and not very meritocratic.
4. Spending on the development and growth of employees is seen as an expense, not an investment.
5. My boss is not a role model, either for me or for the company’s work teams.
6. My bosses don’t set good goals.
7. My bosses know nothing about me or the rest of the employees. They don’t know what motivates us or what our interests are.
8. There is no team spirit in the company.
9. I don’t know what the tasks I do in the company mean.
10. I do lots of tasks that don’t match my job description.

Watch & Act is a consultancy with a broad outlook. It works on transformation through people, innovation and technology, within an assurance framework that protects both data and people.

See also: 29 traits of great leaders: the definitive guide to leadership

Featured image: Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas or alternatively © CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.