When you’re running your own team, your effectiveness as a boss will have an impact on the end results of your employee’s workflow and productivity. If you want your company to thrive, then you need to be the best boss possible, and that is, unfortunately, an area that is sadly lacking in far too many workplaces.

A bad boss will reduce workflow, create toxic environments, or fail to recognize and reward good work. This, in turn, leads to an unsatisfied and unhappy team, and that has a knock-on effect when it comes to productivity and profit-generation.

If you’re managing your own team for the first time, or you are keen to become an even better boss than you are right now, then here’s what you need to know.

Recognizing a Bad Boss

The first step you need to take in order to become a better leader is to learn to recognize the signs of the worst bosses. It’s easy to become a bad boss slowly, and usually you can become one without even realizing it.

The most common identifiers of a bad management leader are:

Micromanagement

Too much constant scrutiny makes team members spend a lot more time than they should on their workload. Constant interruptions and a worry about the end result mean that productivity can take a major hit. Micromanagement also makes your team feel that you don’t trust their judgment or skills, and that can lead to resentment and frustration.

Public Criticism

The old adage of ‘praise in public, criticize in private’ is not just a guide, it’s a vital necessity. Whether it’s a professional criticism or personal, make sure that you take your critique into the closed office and make sure that you keep it private. If you criticize an employee in public, then you are simply making them feel bad, and may encourage them to pack their desk and leave.

Not rrecognizing achievements

Praise is always good, but the bad boss will simply register your achievements and consider them as expected parts of your job. A good boss will thank productive workers and praise or reward those that have gone above and beyond what’s expected of them.

Dismissing Development

Career and personal development is one of the most valuable tools at your disposal if you want a more loyal and productive team. Failing to invest time or money into your team is a major sign of a bad boss.

If you want to improve your leadership skills, make sure that each member of your team has career and personal goals, and that you allow them the space to achieve them. If you have a team member who wants to take a Lean Manufacturing online degree, then by giving them the time that they need to do so will only be of benefit. That team member will then bring those new skill sets to the workplace, and the good boss will always be looking for that essential factor of improved growth.

Lack of Feedback

If your team isn’t getting regular feedback, then they will never know what they are doing right and what they have been doing wrong. This will mean listening to them and identifying their positives and where they could be improving.

This is another key step of staff development, and is crucial for growth.

Allowing Toxicity

The notion of the toxic workplace is one that has become much more prevalent in recent years. It’s imperative that the leader of the team is aware of the reasons for toxicity so that they can resolve the issues. Sometimes, this will mean letting disruptive team members go, while it might just be a far simpler solution. Make sure that you know the signs of a toxic workplace so that you can tackle them more efficiently.

Lack of Forward Planning

If you’re not thinking about the future of your business and your team, then you stunting your potential for growth. The bad boss is happy to keep things as they are, but the status quo is never going to be an effective means of managing and planning for higher sales and improved audience reach.

A good boss will have a vision for the future, their own leadership development plan, and they will have clear and identifiable steps to work through in order to meet the necessary business goals.

Do As I Say

One of the major signifiers of a bad boss is a willingness to break the rules that they have set in place. This is a big issue, especially if the boss then admonishes members of the team for breaking the same rules. Those rules are in place for a reason, and as the boss you must be expected to follow them as much as your team. You do not get special privileges just because you are managing a team, and doing so will only cause workplace resentment.

Team favorites

While there is no doubt going to be members of your team that are more popular than others, the workplace is no place to play favorites. This is one of the more common signs of a bad boss, and it can all too easy to fall into. There will always be members of a team that are more pleasant to work with, and the temptation will be to give them more sought after tasks. The key is fairness, and by allocating workloads fairly, you will end up with a less dysfunctional workplace.

Over-demanding

If you expect your team to be at your beck and call 24/7, then you may not be a very good boss. Just because you may be a workaholic who thrives on profit generation and productivity, it doesn’t mean that your team is.

Personal time off is vital for workers, and they will have commitments that mean that are not accessible all day every day. Know your boundaries. Some employees will be fine with more enthusiastic bosses, but knowing who is able to work is the key.

A bad boss is not necessarily a bad person. It takes time and experience to become a good leader, and it can mean a constant drive for improvement. Learn to recognize what makes a good and bad boss, and you will start to understand any of the mistakes that you might be making. Strive to improve in the same way that you want your team to develop, and you will naturally become a much better a leader and a boss that your team will want to work for.