Behavior of a Jerk Manager

People around us may be filled with negative quality, but we do not care unless it affects us in some way. If in an IT department you find yourself in the situations as described below, chances are that you work under a manager who is a complete jerk.

1. Inability to delegate: Being a good worker does not ensure being a good leader as well. Managers were once at your stage and they did their work well to get promoted to the upper level. But just being able to do that work with great dexterity does not mean that the person will be able to lead people doing the same work. Taking each and every decision, involving in every minute of the work reflects his inability to delegate.

2. Being self centered and stealing credit: Everything seems to be about him. Bonus, individual performance, his achievements etc.  If his team succeeds, he takes all the credit and in case they fail, he will never spare blaming his team members. He will bask in the light of your success and rarely acknowledge your hard work and contribution.

There are some technical staffing agencies that choose the right candidate for the right job role. Their hiring process goes through several layers of screening, especially for the position of IT manager or senior IT consultant.    

3. Deliberate unawareness: He may comment on something or pass a casual remark which was quite hurtful. However, he does not take the effort to clarify any offense that might have been created. He seldom apologizes or clarifies his intentions.

4. Always right: His team members are wrong most of the time but he never is. His ideas may not have worked out, but he will not admit it. Rather he claims it not to be well executed by the team.

5. Intimidation: He motivates by intimidation rather than inspiration. Team members constantly experience a tense situation and since they are intimidated, the work pressure appears to be more than it actually is.

6. Does not take suggestions: A poor manager is most of the time restricted by his ego to consider the suggestions of his team members. However if it is a genuine suggestion, he may reconsider it later and restate it in his own language to take the credit. Inability to trust is also another factor for not taking suggestions.

7. Poor Communication: A jerk manager withholds important information while project briefing. This leads to confusion. His team members need to discover the information by themselves.

8. No room for creativity: The manager likes the way it always has been and no innovation or creativity is approved.

9. No appreciation: It was a good work done and you know it. However, there is no word of encouragement or appreciation from the manager. Even if he manages to say a few kind words, his body language does not correspond to his words.

10. Manipulative: He is always manipulating others and situations for his own purpose. It’s a game for him rather than work.

Building leadership is not easy as a best engineer may not become a best manager;  a best employee does not make a best leader. Leadership is a separate skill and domain expertise does not ensure it. Leadership is a personality trait. It’s the ability to let others shine, grow and innovate. It’s taking responsibility for failures, making members believe in themselves and growing together rather than individually. To conclude relying on a professional IT staffing agency to get deserving managers and team leaders for your IT department helps staff retention saving money and time for the organization.