Thursday, June 22, 2017

How to spot a bad boss


The suckiest thing about working is when you have a bad boss. It is not something which you can predict or guess before you sign that offers letter. A bad boss is something you learn throughout your employment. "Bad" is something subjective. It cannot be measured or tracked on, moreover, the definition of "bad" varies from different individuals.

What I'm going to point to you are the values of a good boss. Try to tick off your boss's characteristics and if you manage to tick off 3 points, you probably have a very good boss. What about "how to spot a bad boss" like the title said? Just flip it the opposite and you will get the bad bosses characters.




#1 - Give you the opportunity to learn

First, you need to know when opportunity strikes. Proposed to your boss if you want to take up a project or responsibility. Even if it's going to be a failed project, a good boss will allow you to take up the lead.

#2 - Do not penalize you for your mistakes

Mistake is part of the journey of success. Everyone is bound to make one or two major mistakes in a year. It shouldn't be an excuse for a boss to penalize you for the mistake you did. Do not confused penalizing you as getting angry or scolding you. Your boss might have a fair share of devastation when you did the mistake because he or she might need to take up the consequence of your mistake. As long as your mistake is genuine, a good boss will not force you to leave the company or pay your penalty to the company.

#3 - Protects you

A major crisis happens, and a good boss will first protect you. Instead of pushing you off the cliff and roll down with the crisis, a good boss will not put you right in the middle of the hot pot. One of the responsibility of a boss is to protect the career interests of the staff. Take for example, in a bad crisis, corporate has instructed every manager to reduce staff salary if needed. A good boss will propose your name to be exempted from the reduction by showing your hard work and achievement throughout the years.

#4 - Show you how to grow

One of the way how bosses can show you how to grow is by giving more tasks to you. Instead of grumbling having too much work and unable to complete it, you should plan your work properly. Bosses aren't going to hold your hand and guide you all the way. Giving you more tasks is to allow you to grow, giving you more opportunity. Your boss should be the mentor that you look up to. Someone you wish you can be in the future.

#5 - Understand your career needs

Are you lack a particular skill to complete your tasks. A good boss might have the ability to see through your weakness and propose you to improve your career needs, such as sending you to training, allowing more time for you to complete your job while you figure it out.

#6 - Tell you what went wrong

Is your project going to fail? Are you risking getting demoted? Are you not performing up to expectations? A good boss will tell you all those non-sugar-coated news. It's not easy to be the bad person to drop you the bad news. But as a good boss, he or she understands what you need to know that may impact your career.

#7 - Respect you as a person

As a boss, it is hard to balance the company's needs and staff needs. However, he or she should at least, respect your dignity and basic human rights. Take an example, if he or she is upset at you, a boss would talk to you face-to-face instead of screaming off his/her head in front of your coworkers.

#8 - Do not involve you in office politics

In every office, there is office politics, whether you like it or not. It can happen at a low level or it could happen at the management level. A good boss will keep you out of those politics. This is part of the protection that a boss should give to their staff. It would be seriously toxic if your boss involves you in all the politics. One example that bosses often use their staff for politics is to let the staff fight. Apparently, this is good to create competition amongst the staff, but it is not good competition.


It takes a lot to be a good boss. If you can at least tick off 3 of the characteristics of your boss, I would suggest you stick to the boss longer. It is not easy to find a good boss, especially one that will look after your career interest. Your success depends a lot on your boss. Make sure to choose the right one.

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