I often wondered how incompetent managers survive the planning process year after year without being detected as incompetent by their hierarchy.  It was during my time working with managers that never make decisions – I call them no-decision managers – that I discovered the two tactics they use, to make plans and remain undetected. Any type of […]

Management leave toxic managers in place on purpose. Financial success, getting things done, being too expensive to fire, company culture or not being toxic enough are all excuses to keep toxic managers. They know the costs to their organisation, and they know the suffering of their employees, but they sacrifice them by taking no action. […]

In the second of my articles, here are other reasons that organisations keep toxic managers. Friends in high places Some managers are protected by their hierarchy. They have ‘friends in high places’, so can do nothing wrong. This is especially useful for toxic managers, as it means they can keep their positions and continue with […]

Toxic managers complicate work of employees, compromise sanity, destroy careers, and destroy morale. For organisations they incur hidden and indirect costs, competent employees leave, absenteeism increases, and tasks are carried out mechanically. Ultimately, dissatisfaction encourages unproductive talk about the behaviour of the boss. Why, then, do organisations persist in keeping toxic managers, knowing the effect […]

Top management has no excuse leaving toxic managers in place. Managers should never be allowed to treat people badly, regardless of their apparent success.  And there is enough management literature out there which shows the impact toxic managers make on their teams and on the organisation: high turnover, absenteeism, intimidated, frightened or frustrated employees, to […]