Narcissistic tendencies

In its extreme form, this is unfortunate for both manager and employee. For the manager, it's an actual mental condition known as narcissistic personality disorder that requires medical attention. For employees, pathologically narcissistic managers could ruin their careers. Joseph Burgo, author of The Narcissist You Know: Defending Yourself Against Extreme Narcissists in an All-About-Me Age, says this person "often relies on contempt to make others feel like losers, proving himself a winner in the process. He/she will belittle your work product or ridicule you at meetings. When he/she needs something from you, he/she may become threatening. At his/her most toxic, a narcissistic manager will make you doubt yourself and your ultimate value to your employer."

Not recognizing their people for good work

Don't underestimate the power that comes from recognizing high performers who are intrinsically motivated. In fact, Gallup has surveyed more than four million employees worldwide on this topic. They found that people who receive regular recognition and praise:

Increase their individual productivity,
Increase engagement among their colleagues,
Are more likely to stay with their organization,
Receive higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers,
Have better safety records and fewer accidents on the job,

Bad leaders do not recognize the good work of their people and often want them to feel bad about themselves. They deprive them of the mentioned outputs which are born out of saying: ?you?ve done a good job, keep it up.?

Treat people like numbers

In top-down power structures, employees are viewed as worker bees and considered to be objects or expenses rather than assets. There is little concern for their happiness or well-being, since the motive for hiring them was purely productivity and profit. In these environments, there's little evidence of leaders' displaying compassion and empathy in seeing employees as valued human beings. As a result, you'll encounter high levels of stress, staff turnover, absenteeism, and burnout.

Too much control

A manager that micromanages is a control freak. The work environment they create is overbearing and stifling because he or she wants control over all decisions. This manager distrusts the team, so tasks rarely get delegated to others. Typically, you'll find there's hardly room for group discussion or input because the management style is autocratic. It limits creativity and the desire to learn new things. Loyal workers trying to find meaning and purpose in their jobs are left with nothing but marching orders. It may be time to update your resume under such conditions. Bosses who dominate people, decisions, and processes, lead by fear, and lack vision make this the top reason by far. As I have written in the past, micromanaging ultimately derails your team's motivation and creativity.

Not sharing information

A leading cause of turnover -- when done repeatedly -- is hoarding information, or a lack of personal and organizational transparency on the manager's part. Again, this is the behavior of a manager on a power trip, and it's the kind of leader employees never trust. If you've read Patrick Lencioni's masterpiece The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, you know the foundation for any good relationship is trust -- it's the foundation for his pyramid model -- and that foundation simply cannot happen without transparency at work. As a result, employees working for managers who openly share information will work harder for them, respect them more, be more innovative, and solve problems much faster.

Threatening Behavior

Poor leaders intimidate and bully employees, often threatening them to fire them if work is not completed satisfactorily. Employees of a poor leader are frequently publicly criticized for mistakes and poor performance.

Never Apologizing

If you are always right, then there is no reason to apologize. When it is obvious an apology is necessary, the reaction will be to blame any negative situation on someone else, thereby alleviating any need to apologize.

Micro Management

Micromanagers can?t resist becoming involved in the smallest details of their employee?s jobs. Why? Because they want to prove they know best and can do a better job than their own people. It also avoids having to consider the bigger picture.

Lack of Discipline

Constantly changing the goals, targets, expectations and structure are clear signs of a poor leader. Constantly trying something different or being attracted by the latest ?shiny object? shifts focus and attention of the company and prevents any real process to get traction.

Nebulous Expectations

Failing to make expectations clear can frustrate employees and hinders their ability to successfully complete a task. Poor leaders don?t tell employees when a project is due or if there is one, change it.

Lack of Motivation

Poor leaders have no idea how to motivate others. So in the absence of such skills they use the ?carrot and stick? technique without the carrot. They share their negative opinions about the company and are unable to consider anyone?s viewpoint but their own. They don?t respond well to complaints or suggestions.

Bad Communication

Poor leaders don?t value communication with their employees. Listening to others is a low priority and a poor communicator constantly interrupts while an employee is talking because they are more interested in what THEY have to say, not others.

Gigantic egos

Hubris is the cause of much conflict, and the pressure to please impossible, know-it-all bosses who think they have the best ideas and information, and use it to wield power or control, will suck the life out of people and destroy morale.

Utter failure to listen

We're not talking about the inability to hear the message but the inability to actively listen to what team members are saying, and act on the listening. This lack of active and respectful listening and two-way communication--sending without receiving--is a clear shortcoming for many bosses with low emotional intelligence.

Not caring about people

In essence, it's a boss who believes anyone is replaceable and sees employees as cogs rather than worthy colleagues to be treated like business partners in producing excellence. It's a boss who has no capacity for valuing people's unique strengths and investing in their development.

Not asking for feedback or including people in decisions

Bosses commonly fail to tap into frontline intelligence. Since customer-facing employees are more intimately acquainted with and knowledgeable about what's going on, it would behoove bosses to gain an inside edge by coming to employees first for input, buy-in, advice, and strategy. This fosters a culture of trust, questioning, and creativity, where followers feel safe enough to contribute ideas and share concerns that have value and can help resolve situations.

To be fair, most bosses who are the subject of these themes are humans too, and not out to deliberately destroy the lives of their followers. They are community leaders, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, and have families to feed like the rest of us. Yes, they should be treated with grace and, most importantly, be empowered to perform well and succeed as a leader with proper development, encouragement, and accountability.