Many years ago I worked under a boss who was extremely overbearing. It got so bad that the emotional weight began to take a toll on my body physically, including severe acid reflux that I still deal with now over a decade later. A few years before that, I worked a summer under a loose-cannon boss who even fired me for improperly transporting some fish filets. Before that it was a farm boss who would sit inside the air-conditioned truck listening to the radio. But when his boss showed up, this guy would jump out and pretend like he had been working the whole time.

No boss is perfect, because no HUMAN is perfect. But clearly some bosses are simply better than others. I’m sure that you have experienced a vast array of leaders, just as I certainly have. 

While there could be hundreds, what are just a few key mistakes that bosses tend to make? And how do these affect their people and their organization?

5 Mistakes

1. O.F. Moody- Bosses are people, and people ALWAYS have things going on outside of work. Perhaps a family member is ill, young kids are causing lack of sleep, or there are financial struggles. There can be a thousand different specific situations, but they all lead back to stress. These OUTSIDE FACTORS can then be brought into the workplace, making the boss MOODY. While none of these things are any fault of employees, and they are things that shouldn’t factor into workplace behavior, they still do. This causes employees to walk on eggshells and to work out of fear, and this then leads to organizational effectiveness slowing down more and more. 
2. I.F. Moody- Similar to outside factors, bosses can become moody due to factors from INSIDE the workplace. Perhaps one employee is underperforming, and the boss becomes frustrated and starts to snap at the employees who are pulling their weight. Or the strain of the business finances leads to shortness with direct reports. There can be many inside factors, and a lack of ability to keep these in perspective can lead bosses to become workplace grinches. This has the exact same impact on employees and on the organization as O.F. moodiness.
3. Promise Failure- Bosses sometimes commit to things but then fail to follow through. Whether this be with customers, employees, or other key stakeholders, the boss promises to complete something but then simply does not do it. Sometimes this is due to a lack of capacity, and the answer should have been “No, I unfortunately am unable to commit to this” from the outset. Other times this is due to a lack of good systems. It’s easy to verbally promise something, but without a good reminder system it immediately is forgotten. When humans say one thing but then do another, this erodes trust with others. In a boss-employee relationship, this can be especially damaging. This causes employees to distrust the boss, and trust is the most basic function of a healthy relationship. Due to this, organizations lose their advantage and begin to slowly die.
4. Rollercoaster Standards- On any given day a particular thing can be bothering the boss, so they come in and hold people accountable to it at a certain level. But then everyone, including the boss, quickly forgets and moves on to something else, and the standard then is lowered. This kind of inconsistency can manifest in standards regarding communication, quality of work, quantity of work, and more. It signals to people that the standards really are not that high and that the work actually doesn’t matter that much. If the boss is not going to uphold high standards, why should the employee care? This causes employees to give less than their best, and the organization then becomes mediocre.   
5. Rollercoaster Priorities- The boss has so many areas that they must oversee, and this can lead to priorities that are always shifting. Much like shifting standards, bosses can be gung ho about something for a few days, and then shift their energy and attention to something completely different. Employees will wait and see what the boss values before going all in on something. If the target is always changing, then people will lose enthusiasm since they know that they’ll soon be pulled in a completely different direction. When this occurs, organizations experience performance that bogs down over the course of time.

Be Consistent

“Underrated leadership advice: Be consistent. Your team doesn’t need inspiring speeches. Show up. Keep your commitments. Respond predictably. Charisma gets attention. Reliability builds trust. It’s not the loudest leaders people follow. It’s the ones they can count on.” -Dave Kline

I read this quote AFTER I had already put together all the points for this blog post. Kline says exactly the same thing that I had written. The biggest word here is CONSISTENCY! Much like a military unit leader calling out the marching cadence, people need consistency. They need bosses who are consistent in their mood, in keeping their word, in their standards, and in their priorities. As one writer put it, “Inconsistency breeds insecurity”. How can you be a better manager? Be MORE CONSISTENT!

In Closing

Are you consistent? If asked, would your people say that you are a consistent boss? Are the people that you lead (or work for) consistent? If not, what can you do to change or influence them for the better?