Types of Bosses

You’re likely to work for a number of different bosses over the course of your career. And as the saying goes, it takes all kinds. Here are a few:

• Micro-managers
• Hands-Off bosses
• Perpetual crisis bosses
• Bullies
• Passive Aggressive bosses
• Bosses who organize everything into bullet points

Micro-managers are the ones who are constantly looking over your shoulder or asking for constant status reports on everything. That can get annoying real fast.

Hands off bosses can be great in that they let you do your work. However, when you boss takes three hour lunches or leaves early for his weekly round of golf, you may be expected to take up the slack.

Perpetual crisis managers act like everything is a top priority that has to be handled right away; they run back and forth from one crisis to another. Most people around them are jaded enough that they give lip service to addressing the crisis and then go back about their real work. The fact is that most of these so-called crises really are not crises at all, as evidenced by the fact the managers forget about each one as new ones crop up.

Even worse than the perpetual crisis manager is the bully, who revels in conflict and in belittling their employees. Some are just sadistic, but others actually think that yelling at and stressing out their people is a great motivator -- “Toughen ‘em up” is their motto. Think Steve Ballmer.

Then there are the passive-aggressive bosses who do not provide you with the information or support you need, and express disappointment at your poor performance. It doesn’t matter that you weren’t told or consulted about the issues leading to failure; you are still responsible. After all, you're an adult and you don't need to be constantly told what to do, right?

I will discuss these managers and some of their management styles in upcoming articles. Oh, and about those bosses who have a penchant for bulleted lists? Avoid them at all costs.