Edward Correia strikes a nerve

Edward Correia’s column in this week’s Test & QA Report really struck a nerve with readers. My colleague was writing about “team leaders behaving badly” — that is, bosses that yell at you in front of coworkers, or who ignore you for weeks on end. That sort of thing.

There was some great feedback, some of which I’m sure you’ll see addressed in a future Test/QA News. But here are four excerpts from letters:

1. It seems that when middle- and lower-management openings become available, a company just fills the slot and does not train the individual on how to lead. To make it worse, the company may not back the manager up in crisis situations sending the message that the manager and their insight is unimportant. Faith is lost in the entire project and upper management. The middle- and lower-manager begins to speak disparaging comments about upper management to their subordinates. If you have a 5 yr old child screaming, flopping around and behaving badly, do you blame the child, or the parents? It is usually like that with employees it seems. The parents have not led by example (which includes accountability) or else (barring mental illness) the child would be more controlled. If managers behave badly as described in your article, and employees lose inspiration and focus (resulting in undesirable behavior such as not giving their all), then a mirror needs to be held up from the highest level down to the lowest level of the organization and each person asking, what have I done to contribute to this problem? Unfortunately based on my experience, instead of honest self-assessment, the result is finger-pointing and people being let go (under the guise of top grading).

2. Wow, you are so right. I have unfortunately experienced coworkers and leaders behaving badly throughout my career. Many years ago, I had a coworker take credit for my work. It was my first year out of college. I immediately reported him to my manager. He soon was no longer with the company and I was promoted. Just recently I had a manager who was into blaming me for everything that was wrong instead of coaching me and helping me to succeed. He was only here 6 months and in that short time managed to completely alienate almost everyone in the department. Morale was very low, and nobody that I talked with liked him. I was about to talk with Human Resources about him when a reorganization was announced and he was gone. Everyone was elated! I now have a new manager who understands my career goal is to become a leader in our organization and is genuinely interested in helping me achieve that goal and is giving me the coaching I need to help me get there.

3. I work for such a bad boss. He encourages people in my office, to be dishonest, and make false statements about co-workers he does not like. The victim is then punished , and the person who discredits them is rewarded. The Ethics Group in my company has been aware of it, and yet does nothing.

4. Good leaders must recognize talent, especially when employees demonstrate the ability to meet new challenges critical to the survival of key projects. Leaders must develop key relevant skills in their existing staff whenever possible, much like a good coach will keep his promising new quarterbacks on the bench until they have become seasoned and developed the necessary maturity and stamina to become a major contributor. Good leaders must recognize that consistent performers occasionally need a change of venue and allow them to groom newer employees to take over key tasks in their absence. It is not enough to have a successful team. Good managers must always be on the lookout for new opportunities that can be quickly handled by members of the staff.

Have you had experiences like that? Share them with us — and let us know what you did about it!