-

My first impression was this is a great way to explain the person that is truly a nightmare of a boss. The one’s that go beyond the normal of making a few mistakes. You know, the one’s that just plain do it wrong all the time. The term really is easy to use. For me, I did not have to spend too much time thinking about all of the boss’s I have had or have worked in their organization before I could visualize the true bosshole’s. When I am teaching “New to Management Classes” – I stress this key phrase, “We all have had “good” boss’s – copy what they did well. We all have had “bad” boss’s – use their bad examples as what not to do!”

This got me thinking – why have I not heard this term before? Seems simple and perfect. So, off I go to do a little research. Nothing in wikipedia – yet.. Simple Google search found a few things.. First was a MP3 of a song, Bosshole – from the album An Introduction to the New Boss - released January 1, 2004. Next up was a book, The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn’t Actually Do, But Could Have, And May Yet; by Jill Connor Browne. This was published April 15th 2008. There was also a blog post by Bob Sutton - that he talks about his term, Hassholes – and a friend shares the Bosshole term with him (January 13, 2009). So, the term has been around awhile, but is gaining in popularity..

I bet there are more than a few stories that can be shared on the Bosshole front. I would love to hear a few… Please share.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review of Bob Sutton’s “Good Boss, Bad Boss”(mcgeesmusings.net)
• Books@DailyFinance: An Irreverent Guide to Being a Better Boss(dailyfinance.com)

The annoying calls that I am writing about at the wonderful political calls that are robo called to us around election time. The cheap and easy way to reach out to voters. When do they normally happen? Around dinner time or slightly after.. You know the time that you are supposed to be spending family time together. Interrupt family time! The topic of discussion switches over to the call and the purpose of the call, but not in a good way (usually a simple no way am I voting for “that” person!). How can we get those added to that law? Wait, that would probably mean that those exact folks that approved the list for those sales calls – would have to put their own campaigns on the list. Let’s not hold our breathe waiting for that to happen.

For our household, we are a house divided. So, we get to get both parties lovely phone calls. After keeping track of who called, who called for whom and which party called.. The loser party with the most calls were the Republicans. Senate John McCain topped the overall list – his voice was on my answering machine three times. Since this is computerized – did you really have to call me three times? I have to seriously revisit the party that I follow. In an earlier post, I commented that I was not going to vote for anyone that called or had some call with their support on a candidate. I lived up to my promise. I did not vote for any of those folks.

When will some of our law-makers step up and put an end to that behavior?

We all know there are more.. Please share…

Here are the behaviors or actions (or non-action) that will easily make the team miserable.

• Ignoring bad employees. We all get that dealing with problem employees is not an easy task. That most of the “dealings” should be behind closed doors. When actions don’t change for a very long time the team suffers. The doubts start coming into the better employees. Is the manager really doing anything? Why don’t they just get rid of this person? Actions need to be noticed by the team or they believe that the manager is ignoring the situation.
• Blanket changes rather than dealing with the problem. This one is pretty much like the ignoring the bad employee.. Let’s take the situation about working from home. Over the years, we have had policies that have swung to both sides. WFH can happen with your managers approval, no day limits – to – only one day defined and agreed upon by your manager. What is the “real” problem? Are we losing our culture? Or was it hard to account of office space and trying to manage WFH employees? We all have opinions on this matter… Go ahead and discuss.
• Hold back your good employees. Everyone needs good people around them. They help the manager look good! They make the team look good. If you hold them back within your organization – you will lose them. Not today, but at the first chance that they can. For me as a manager, I truly enjoy seeing some of the people that I have managed do well. I only hope that I had some help in their success.
• Think only of the customers and not the employees. This one definitely is a sticky one.. The customer should come first. There are situations that when doing the best for your organization and the company, does not always sit well with your customers. Most of us at the table have internal customers – so, it is something of a balancing act. But, to stand up and push your organization many different directions due to the customers, well – one thing you can count on is the teams themselves will suffer. Look at 4 customers, with different priorities and needs. Your small team to deliver to all 4 customers on all of the different priorities and needs. Words like “suck it up”, “we need to be flexible at all costs”, “you guys have pulled rabbits out of your hat before why not now” – are good once and awhile, but as a habit – not so much.
• Everyone loves the new manager that waltzes in. Change is not a bad thing, if done right. Many of us have experienced the “newbie” that comes in like the bull in the china shop. “You all have not been doing good work in the past, and I am here to fix that immediately.” They usually come in with the best intentions, but forget to really provide the back drop to their statements and the explanations to their changes. First impressions, go both ways.
• Be extremely ineffective at escalations or pushing back on new projects. When a person or two (or all of them) come with an escalation that needs your help and you do nothing. The first thing that pops into most team members minds are “what do I need you for?” When that happens – the leader can just feel the footsteps on their backs are the escalation is being given to someone else. Pushing back is not easy sometimes, but when you know you team is completely booked up. Saying No is a good thing.
• Be a dictator and make arbitrary decisions.  Always a winner in my book. The self proclaimed “king” (not Lebron James) and what I say goes, don’t ask a question and just do it. The king has his serf’s upset and they are rebelling. Sad part about this one is rarely does the king see that the serf’s are rebelling.

There are probably a bunch more.. We only had about 30 mins (and a few additions from comments) on this topic and a bunch of us had to leave for a 1pm meeting.  Maybe you can take this one to a café table near you. Come back with your lively discussion!

Leading and managing still have a huge spot in my heart. The other day, I announced (in my internal company blog) that I was going to retire after the first of the year. In that message, I stressed the importance of the people that I have led, worked with or coached over the years – taught me more than I have to them. They truly have challenged and help me grow! I hope to take those learning’s and apply them to the next chapter of my life.

Ice hockey is still of interest for me. Not like it was before the hip replacement surgery. I can not coach on the ice – so, I help out other coaches from a far. I probably will not be writing much about this in the future.

The new adds of Book Review, Observations and Travel will continue. Observations for sure – I am having some enjoyment from that one. With my recent announcement – I should have a little more time on my hands – hoping to add more travel… With travel comes more reading…

Here is to the next 150 posts! Cheers