Video Transcript: Surviving A Bad Manager

All right, being an effective manager. One more thing, surviving a horrible  manager, typical characteristics of a bad manager, number one, can't trust that  he will do what he says. Now manager, their job is supposed to be checking on  others. The manager is the one that's supposed to be the one on top of the  calendar. The manager is the one that's supposed to be on top of who is going  to do what by when. So when the manager says he's going to do something and he doesn't follow through, then it's like, well, I don't know if I can trust you with  any of these things. And so then you start second guessing, and especially  when they do let you down. Then the manager stops being a help for you, and  you have to become your own manager. Number Two doesn't seem to  remember what was talked about, or what was decided again, the manager, this is what he should be good at. Remember, we talked about that last week, and  you were going to do this, and I was going to do that, or if they don't remember  at all the conversation that you had, then you have to start writing things down.  And you know that you, you know, as a worker, you know, that's the manager's  job. He's the one that should be way better at it than I am. He should be the one  that's more detail orientated and wants everything done in a certain way. And if  he doesn't want it done that right way, then then how am I going to how am I  going to know that I'm even contributing to something that's going to work. I  could go through all this work and then he didn't tell me something, and the  whole thing could be a waste of time. He says he wants you to take  responsibility and make your own decisions with your part of the organization,  but when you do, he demands to know why you didn't talk to him. So it's like you get a mixed message. You want me to own it, but anytime I do own it, you call  me on the carpet for owning it and making decisions. On the one hand, you  want to set me free. On the other hand, you want to chain me. And I don't know  which one it's going to be. So it's like, no matter which way I go, it's not going to  work. Number four, knows virtually nothing about what you do, and insist on  correcting you. So you're the expert in a certain field. They hardly know what it  is, but yet they know a little bit of the information, and so they keep telling you  things and trying to correct you when they really virtually don't know anything  about it. Number five, negative, never positive. A lot of managers are that  whenever the manager comes around, it's like, you might as well duck. You  might as well put a helmet on, because he's going to find something that he  doesn't like. And it's not like he's looking at the success of the total project. It's  just like, whatever he notices wrong, that's what he comments on. I remember  when I was in high school, I had to write an English paper, and I read this long  book, Gulliver's Travels, and it was this huge book, everyone else is reading  these tiny little books. I read this huge book, and then I made a book report, and I wrote out the book report, and, you know, I did. I wasn't that careful with the  spelling and all those kinds of things, and so she had red marks all over my  paper, and I got virtually no credit for actually reading a really hard, tough book. 

And all I got was deducted for every little spelling error or some punctuation that  she didn't like. It's like, okay, what do I do? How do I grade this? Ah, there's  something wrong. Ah, there's something wrong. Ah, there's something wrong.  And a lot of managers are like that. It's not like, you know, I want kids to read  books, isn't that the goal I want? You know, I'm impressed this person read a  really hard book. Hey, great job on picking out a really hard book. Everyone else picked a really hard one. Oh, by the way, work on your spelling. You know, it's  like, what's the ultimate goal here? What are we trying to do? But a manager  that is always negative? This is, it's like, they can't help but say something. It's,  it's someone who can't help but correct grammar. If you say it wrong, they got to  correct it. Number six, easily threatened by what you do. Instead of feeling good, like hey, you're like my son or my daughter, and you did well, and I celebrate  you, and in a way, I get credit for what you do, because I'm the one managing  I'm not threatened by you. I want you to do as best. I want you to do the best  you can do. You know a lot of parents are like that, that is threatened by what  their kids do. Their kids do really well, and then they got to knock them down so  they don't get too far above them. Instead of seeing this is my kid, my kid does  better than I do. It just really. Likes great on me. Number seven, a manager that  micromanages gives you an assignment, but they might as well do it  themselves, because they're at your elbow, correcting, changing, telling you  exactly what to do. And a lot of managers are like that. They just like people  around them. The truth is, they could do it themselves, but they want someone  there to, sort of, you know, they, you know, like a like, like a puppy. They just  want someone around number eight yells, rather than reasons. If you have a  manager that yells, or if you're the manager and you yell, you have to know that  yelling accomplishes nothing. All yelling does is make the person you're yelling  at feel justified in whatever they did if you're yelling at me, I just go, Yeah, okay, I must be right because you're yelling at me. It doesn't people just get angry back. They don't learn anything. You need a manager that is logical. There's never a  reason to yell or get angry. There's just you know what went wrong, and we  need to talk about that. Or here's what we need to need to do to fix it. Or here  are the consequences if you do that thing again, people listen to consequences.  When the policeman stops you with your car and he doesn't have to yell at you.  He doesn't have to get angry at you. He just hauls out his pad and he starts  writing. He just has to give you a ticket. He just has to give you some kind of  consequence. And you learn number nine, a manager that's emotional and not  logical. They react by whatever they're feeling if they like you, then they treat  you a certain way. If they don't like you, they treat you a certain way. If they're  feeling good today, then they're you know, everything's good. If they're grumpy  today, then they're grumpy about everything, and they're critical about  everything, and they're not logical. Managers manage. They have to take the  many and make it simplified. The only way to do that is to logically go through 

these things a logical person. You can't have an emotional person that isn't  logical as a manager. Tips for dealing with a bad manager. So what do you do? I mean, if you're a bad manager, you can work on it, but what if you work for  someone that is like what I just described? Number one, work is working for the  Lord, not the manager. Colossians 3, whatever you do, work at it with all your  heart. Is working for the Lord, not for human masters, not for human managers.  Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward, it is the Lord Christ you are serving. Ultimately, God is your manager. Number two, obey as best you can. Hebrews 13, have confidence in your leaders and submit  to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give  account, do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden. For that would be  of no benefit to you. So if there's a way that you can help your manager  succeed, I know he should be a better person. She should be a better person.  Maybe they're not qualified to be a manager, but right now, they're your  manager. Is there anything that you can do that would help them succeed?  Number three, keep a written journal. If it's really bad, you need to document  things, because who knows what the manager is going to do. He may turn  around and blame some failure on you. You need to write things down every  day. Just write down, here's what happened, here's what was said, here's what's going on, so that in the end, when things fall apart and the owner comes, you  can just haul out your thing and say, well, here's my record number four. If a  manager is constantly asking you to do things, just make sure you ask him or  her if they could do something for you. I got this tip from my son. My son works  for a manager, and my son is a computer guy. He's a software developer and  writer, and so he's the type that wants to be left alone anyway, but he found that  when a manager is excessively bothering him and he can't get anything done,  so the manager sends him an email and says, Hey, I need this software or some tweak to the software, done by next week, my son would always write back and  go, Okay, I'll see if I can do that. Oh, and by the way, I need this from you. And  every time the manager asked him something, he would always say, okay, yes, I can do that, but this is what I need for you. And so the manager eventually  figures out that if I ask Jeff to do something, I'm going to get something in return. And so I'm going to avoid, if I can, asking him for something to do, because it  just comes right back to me. It's a way of, you know, punishing a manager for it,  for excessive demands. And. Uh, Number Five as a last resort, you could just try to find another job. I mean, there's going to be bad managers out there. You can do your best. You can try to help them if you can, but some are so bad. And you  know, if you're going to work every single day, and it's nothing, but you know,  you dread going to work, and it's just sucking the life out of you. Don't spend  your whole life working under someone that you can't work under. Find  somethings else to do.