The last 15 years have seen an explosion in the number of popular books focusing on “bad bosses.” These publications have not only described the “leader from hell” but also have advised subordinates on how to handle toxic or incompetent managers.
More scholarly writers on management have preferred to adopt the perspective of bosses, but much of their writing shares the same underlying emphasis on “what managers are doing wrong,” highlighting the many ways that bosses fail to engage their employees, through lack of communication, authenticity, imagination or emotional intelligence. No matter who is doing the writing, the employees are usually portrayed as well-intentioned, competent individuals who, if half-decently managed, will perform well. There is, of course, some talk about the small proportion of “dead wood” — employees who cannot meet the company’s minimum performance threshold — but the rest are assumed to have what it takes to succeed under the “right kind” of leadership. Implicitly or explicitly, subordinates are treated as receptive individuals waiting only for the boss to offer a productive channel to their intrinsic energies. Indeed, much of our own writing has highlighted the boss’s responsibility for creating unsatisfactory relationships — a phenomenon we labeled the set-up-to-fail syndrome.1 Bosses trigger this dynamic inadvertently through a combination of premature labeling (“I know I’ve been working with him for only three weeks, but it looks like he won’t be very effective”); over-monitoring; and cognitive biases (expecting the employee to fail, the boss looks for places where the employee is underperforming and attributes the employee’s successes to external elements). These three factors distort the way bosses notice, interpret and remember events.
The leading question
Plenty is written about the mistakes leaders make. But sometimes they fail mainly because their subordinates undermine them. How can good managers prevent that?
Findings
- Employees — sometimes deliberately, sometimes subconsciously — take steps to sabotage their boss’s success.
- Leaders make the situation worse by not understanding why an employee might act this way.
- Concerted efforts to engage employees in particular ways can forestall the problem and help you keep your job.
Although we initially identified the subordinate’s contribution to this dynamic, we saw it mostly as retaliation for the boss’s actions. We did not suspect that reasonable subordinates would in some cases play a leading role in triggering and perpetuating unproductive
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Excellent point which are very true in the current business world.
Thanks
Sudindar Rao
Resistance to chance makes Boss difficult in managing subordinate. I agree that the Boss should invest early in subordination and intervene. However things could be more complicated if the Superior of the Boss does not aware or do not want to aware the situation.
This could make subordinate fail the Boss.
Excellent article and it really makes you think I know I am the lead in my department and as a leader I do have a subordinate that has several times tried to set me up for failure and I have bit my tongue on several occasions with this person and I try to build up my patience wall again and look for ways to keep this person on the right track. Even my own boss says I need to treat with kid gloves because this person is one that needs constant supervision and you have to tell this person what they need to do everytime and this is getting old to. Right now this person has a severe lying problem and now it is hard to trust this person anymore. Deep down I hope the boss just lets this person go. This person is what I call and quoted in the article “dead wood”. This person refused to conform to way things need to be and what is worse I have tried and tried again to train this person in the processes that we have in Inspection and how things are to be inspected and yet this person goes out of the way to do his way and not the company way. Yes I agree there are many subordinates that feel they are more superior then the boss. I am now to the point the investing anymore time is a waste of precious time and money. This article is worth the time to read. Thanks
A couple of observations. One is what is said about you after you’ve been recruited, and before you arrive. If your boss has trailed your arrival with: ‘x will change, or y will be expected when newperson arrives’ then you may be walking into a hornet’s nest. Best to ask what they’ve been told in that initial 1:1. Body language can also say a lot.
The other is to note which individuals might have thought that your job should have been theirs. They may not have had the confidence, skills or experience to apply, nor have been supported to do so, but still resentments may simmer. Key indicators include refusal to give over responsibilities that really belong to you, or super-capability by direct reports so that you can add nothing to anything they are doing.
The only real solution if you want to keep everyone onside is to build up trust through appropriate praise and encouragement, and becoming known for removing any obstacles or confusions efficiently – in other words, earn your position.