One thing that really bad managers do really well is drive away good employees. Even the most patient, most loyal, most productive employees will not long suffer the toxic traits of really bad managers. If you’re a really bad manager and want to ensure that your best players quit the team (or transfer elsewhere), here are five surefire ways to go about it.
1. Micromanage Their Work
One of the worst things you can do to a skilled and experienced employee is to not let them do their job. Micromanagement is a surefire way to cause your best employees to start looking elsewhere; they don’t need and don’t want you constantly looking over their shoulders and telling them exactly how to do what they already know how to do.
Whether this micromanagement comes in the form of unnecessary meetings, too-frequent required reports, the use of intrusive surveillance software, or just asking too many dumb questions, your best employees will soon bristle at his uninvited and unwanted attention. When you micromanage a talented professional in this fashion it means you don’t trust them, and your best employees won’t stand long for being undervalued in this fashion.
Constant oversight stifles initiative, creativity, and, ultimately, productivity. If you want to drive away your best players, spend a lot of time trying to control every detail of their work.
2. Don’t Recognize Their Accomplishments
Employees like to be recognized for good work. If you ignore the work your employees do—or, even worse, take personal credit for their work—you’ll soon inspire them to look for work elsewhere.
A lack of recognition sends a message to employees that their hard work is neither noticed nor valued. Not that you have to constantly bestow unwanted praise on the members of your team, but you at least have to acknowledge when they’re doing a good job. Employees need to be recognized for the work they do; ignoring strong-performing employees will force them to seek that recognition elsewhere.
3. Overload Them with Work
Nobody likes to be overworked. When you give an employee more than they can accomplish in a normal work period, they’ll eventually burn out and leave.
This is true for employees at all levels and capabilities. Even the lowest-level employee doesn’t want to be assigned more work than they can accomplish in a normal shift; they also don’t respond well to forced overtime. Higher-level employees can take on more tasks but shouldn’t be punished for their hard work by being forced to take on more than they can handle.
You can make the situation worse by not compensating your employees for any extra work they might do. Unpaid overtime is a great way to lose some of your best employees—and may even be illegal. When you want to drive employees away, overload them with so much work that it ruins their work-life balance.
4. Don’t Provide Opportunities for Growth
Your best performers have a desire for professional growth and development. They want to succeed and expect to be rewarded professionally for their performance. Denying them professional advancement can stifle their enthusiasm, reduce their motivation, and make them feel like they’re stuck in their jobs.
The situation is worse if an employee sees other, often less-competent colleagues in other areas of the company get promoted and given pay increases. Slotting a talented employee into what is essentially a dead-end career will cause them to not give you their best work and, probably, look for better opportunities elsewhere.
5. Don’t Listen to Them
Skilled employees want to give and receive management feedback. They need you to answer questions they might have, provide necessary training and guidance, and be there to help solve problems and troubleshoot your company’s internal bureaucracy. They also have good ideas that they might want to feed you and expect to be listened to when they speak out.
Ignore your employees at your own peril. An employee who feels as if their questions are ignored and their input routinely disregarded will take their talents somewhere else, where they’ll be better recognized. Employees are people and need attention. Withholding that attention makes them feel insignificant—and no one likes to feel that way.
Final Thoughts
Employees who are well-managed, well-paid, and well-regarded seldom leave of their own volition. Employees leave because they’re not treated well by management. Create a toxic environment and you’ll eventually drive away even your most dedicated employees.
This is why really bad managers have trouble retaining their staff—and ultimately fail at their own jobs. You need a skilled, hard-working team to guarantee success, and you can’t get that if you’re a really bad manager.
