How to Deal With a Bad Manager

If you've worked in a 9 to 5 job, at some point you're bound to encounter a bad manager. For the few that are lucky enough to have a great manager that encourages you and helps you grow in your career — congratulations. For the rest of us navigating corporate life, I want to share my advice on how to deal with a bad manager when quitting is not an immediate option.

1. Passive Manager

Bad passive managers don’t want to rock the boat at work. They don’t know how to deal with conflict and will avoid dealing with an issue indefinitely. It will not occur to them to give you a promotion. They will not set goals, provide feedback, or give any encouragement. They will do little to help you grow in your role.

How to deal with passive managers:

• Learn how to manage yourself. What does this entail? Find out the goals of the company and how your department contributes to those goals. This can be getting more customers, increasing revenue, or improving conversion rates. Be proactive and suggest new projects you can work on that will contribute to those goals. Better yet, ask to be assigned to a high visibility project you know senior management has their eye on.

• Be proactive and ask for what you want. If you want to take a class to improve a skill then ask. If you want a promotion, ask your manager what you need to do to get promoted. Be persistent because passive managers tend to forget and it may take a couple of tries to get them to do what you asked.

2. Micromanager

Bad micromanagers are always checking on you and want to know what you’re doing. They want to be invited to meetings you initiate and will interrupt you while you’re presenting. They question your actions and can cause you to doubt your own abilities. Turnover is common in a team with a micromanager.

How to deal with micromanagers:

• Provide updates without asking. Micromanagers may have control issues and want to be aware of what’s happening at all times. Keep them updated on your current tasks to establish trust in your work performance. Once they feel comfortable, they’ll be less likely to check on you all the time.

• Don’t surprise them. The worse thing is to spring a surprise on a micromanager. If you know a project is going to be delayed or you’ll miss an important meeting let your manager know ahead of time.

3. Clueless Manager

Bad clueless managers lack domain experience in the area they manage, i.e. a software engineer manager that doesn’t know how to code. They have imposter syndrome and may try to compensate by lying because they don’t know the answer. I had a manager that told me LTV stood for long-term value when it actually stood for lifetime value! Imagine if I continued thinking that was correct.

How to deal with clueless managers:

• Don’t correct them in front of others. Creating a confrontational environment won’t help matters with this type of manager. They probably know what they said was wrong but don’t want to make a bad impression by saying they didn’t know the answer.

• Wait for others to notice. Chances are you’re not the only person that’s noticed this is a clueless manager. Given enough time either this manager will leave on their own or be asked to leave because their lack of knowledge will start to impact department performance.

4. Demanding Manager

Bad demanding managers can have no work-life balance boundaries. They will email you at all hours of the day — weekends included. Your 9 to 5 could be a thing of the past. They can have high expectations that are hard to meet. Hopefully, your demanding manager does not possess all of these qualities.

How to deal with demanding managers:

Understand your manager’s goals. Your manager may be demanding because they may be getting pressure from above to make certain goals. Get context on the goals and ask how you can help.

• Agree on a deliverable and timeline. Work with your manager on timelines and deliverables for projects. This will help you manage your time and create less pressure to work all hours.

• Set boundaries on your work hours. If you feel burnt out, talk to your manager. Stop working overtime and don’t answer emails after work hours. Once you stopped working outside normal business hours, you’ll feel less inclined to start again.

Conclusion

Your first instinct may be to quit after realizing you have a bad manager. Unfortunately, that’s not a long-term solution because the bad outnumber the good.

A Gallup poll of more than 1 million US workers found the top reason people quit their job is because of a bad manager, with

“75% of those who left voluntarily doing so because of their boss and not the job itself”.

First, try to switch departments if possible after researching your potential new manager to confirm you won’t get another bad manager.

Alternatively, you can try to wait it out because your manager can be a different person six months from now. The company can have a reorganization or your manager can leave.

Finally, try to talk to someone above your manager to discuss your concerns and what can be done.

If you’ve exhausted your options then it’s time to plan your exit strategy.

I'm sorry you weren't able to deal with your bad manager in this round. Best wishes on your next role.