Free Article By Paul Glen of C2
Consulting
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Are You a Scary Boss?
(This article originally appeared in
Computerworld USA and Computerworld Australia.)
I'll never forget the first
time I learned that one of my subordinates was afraid of me. A talented young
man, probably 26, had just left my office after explaining to me how happy he
was with his current project. My assistant came in and told me that he had spent
the 20 minutes prior to our appointment complaining to her about how terrible
his project was and how miserable he felt.
I was absolutely incredulous.
Why would he lie to me? What was the point? I was the one person who could help
him, if only he asked for help. I asked my assistant, "Why he would do that?"
"He's afraid of you," she
said matter-of-factly. The words hung there in the air for a minute as I tried
to absorb their meaning. Someone was afraid of me -- of me. It was unfathomable.
It certainly didn't fit my
self-image. I was 27, short, introverted, quiet and intimidated by my new job
managing 50 people, mostly older than me. What's to be afraid of? It seemed more
plausible that I should be afraid of him rather than the reverse.
But there it was. I was the
scary boss.
Over the years, I've seen a
lot of managers who have been regarded as terrifying by their staffs. I'm not
sure how many realized it, but I suspect that most of them probably never knew
the degree to which they were considered frightening, intimidating or just plain
mean.
What makes someone a scary
boss? Are you one of them? Here are a few of the things that tend to foster that
impression.
Position.
Sometimes, just having the
boss title is enough to make you scary. The fact that you have the power to
hire, fire and grant raises and bonuses makes you a menacing figure.
Unpredictability.
If people can't reasonably
anticipate your response to a situation, they naturally assume the worst. IT
professionals are well-trained symbolic thinkers. Their education, and comfort,
is rooted in the deterministic. "If I put a 3 in that field, I know that the
algorithm says that the answer will always be a 12." Random responses to the
same stimuli mean only one thing to technical folks: bugs. If you as a manager
are unpredictable, clearly you are a bug in your own departmental system.
Volatility.
Even the most predictable
manager can be emotionally volatile. An unbridled temper is never a comfort to
one's staff. In some ways this is like unpredictability. If your mood or other
events occasionally affect your responses to situations, then you might be scary
all of the time.
Mistrust of staff.
If through word or deed you
regularly display mistrust of or contempt for staff, presenting things to you
will likely be a scary experience. Mistrust can be communicated in myriad subtle
ways. Some managers ask lots of rudimentary questions of the staff, displaying
disdain for their abilities. Others ask endless, aggressive, prosecutorial
questions that suggest a hunt for some deliberately concealed truth.
Hoarding of information.
Supervisors known for not
sharing valuable information frustrate and frighten their staffs. Hoarding
suggests that the boss is either power-hungry and self-serving or oblivious and
incompetent. Neither interpretation is comforting.
Not protecting staff.
One of the things that
subordinates reasonably expect from their supervisors is protection from
external forces. If someone in the group gets fired every time the boss's boss
throws a temper tantrum, then people feel unduly exposed to the political
elements. It's as if every deckhand on a sailing vessel felt compelled to keep
an eye on the weather because the captain wasn't trustworthy.
As for the guy who wouldn't
tell me about his crappy project, I eventually discovered that he was both
afraid of my position and angry at me for having it. He had wanted the job, but
it had been offered to me. So he was afraid of me for reasons having almost
nothing to do with me personally. But it didn't matter; I had become the scary
boss.
If you want to encourage the
development of mutual trust that encourages productivity, it's important to
know: Are you one, too?
