10 Ways to Get Your Staff to Disrespect You

Your faithful correspondent of more than a decade on WordPress was in the workforce 35 years before retiring. During that time, in both the private and public sectors, plenty of bosses were encountered who had their own unique styles of managing. A few were excellent managerial leaders. Unfortunately, most were weak and inconsistent in their leadership roles, with others being downright incompetent.

In this post we’ll look at how to earn the disrespect of your staff (and in a future post on how to earn their respect).

Take a moment to share your suggestions based on your own experiences.

So here we go…

How to Get Your Staff to Disrespect (or even hate) You:

#10 – You’re the boss, and make sure that everyone knows it. Shared leadership is for sissies. Keep that ego well oiled

#9 – Speak to your staff through email; God forbid, don’t talk to them in person. What the heck is “Management by Walking Around?”

#8 – Keep your staff in the dark – keep ‘em guessing since it strengthens your hold on information and power

#7 – Don’t trust your staff’s judgement; you make all the decisions. After all, you’re the boss!

#6 – Constantly change your mind, leaving your staff confused as to what are the priorities

#5 – Have no sense of humour, especially not being able to poke fun at yourself

#4 – Laugh at others misfortunes or mistakes. Losers!

#3 – Micromanage your staff to death; double check everything they do, including rewriting their work reports, etc.

#2 – Assign tasks to staff that you would never consider doing yourself. If it involves, for example, having to deal with a known cranky customer or supplier, better have one of your subordinates do it.

Drumroll please…

#1 – Don’t stand behind your staff, even when they make a mistake; cover your own ass. Hey, people are expendable. What counts is your career advancement.

Okay, let’s have it folks. What’s missing in this top ten?

To change and to improve are two different things.
– German proverb