Making Employees Quit with an Incompetent Boss

HR Advisor feature article | May 2010

The April Poll in the HR Support Center posed the following question:  “In a recent study conducted by SHRM what percent of employees quit their jobs because they believed their boss to be incompetent or difficult?”  35% of the HR Support Center respondents correctly answered (interestingly enough) “21%.”  Whatever the percentage, it represents an avoidable situation that is bad for any business. All employers need to make sure they create and constantly maintain a work environment of top quality employees especially those in leadership positions.

The first step towards making sure that none of your managers become crowned as an incompetent boss is to determine some common warning signs of leadership incompetence.  Use this quick checklist as your starter guide: 

• Unable to Act.  A real leader makes a decision while those who are incompetent make excuses.
• Secret Keeper.  Management transparency allows all those affected to understand the direction, the progress, and any necessary adjustments to help accomplish a business objective or goal.
• Clueless. Managers with no clue of the big picture only focus on small mundane tasks.
• Inside-the-Box.  Policies and procedures are meant as guidelines for clarity and efficiency in decision-making and not meant to be unwavering doctrines of power and discipline.
• Lost in Time.  The inability to create and commit to realistic deadlines becomes problematic over time.
• Over-reactive. Managers who think that employees are often over-sensitive usually are referring to themselves.
• Weak Preference.  An incompetent boss is threatened by and does not want to have smarter, more talented, and higher-performing employees on their team.
• Credit-Taker. A bad boss taking full credit of another employee’s great work is a clear sign of an individual not to trust.

The more items that are checked off, the more of a problem manager at hand that you need to address.  If left ignored for too long, you will likely have your top performers under that incompetent boss leaving very soon.  As part of becoming a truly effective leader, do your best to avoid these pitfalls all the time and support your emerging leaders to do the same. 

.:. Subscribe now >>