Managerial Anti-Patterns
We’ve all witnessed behavior of Managers and Leaders that resulted in poor performance of reports, destroying trust and motivation.
The immediate benefit is to the Manager’s ego, but in the longer term the productivity is reduced and might cause Reports to leave, as most Reports quit their Manager, not their company.
Some behaviors repeat so often, that they can be categorized into patterns, or anti-patterns.
Mad at Questions
- Manager makes a decision and communicates it to the team without reasoning.
- Report asks why, because this is how most engineers and even humans work — they want to know why.
- Manager sees this as disrespect, questioning his judgement and competence, and answers disrespectfully.
Problems:
- Report is publicly shamed
- Report has no explanation, executes only due to role authority and loses professional respect for Manager
- Report loses trust
Example:
Manager: “I decided we have code freeze for the next two weeks.”
Report: “Oh, what’s the reason?”
Manager: “Do I really have to spell it out for you?”
Resolution:
Manager: give the context and reasoning in addition to the decision. Report is not aware of all your information.
Report: avoid asking as you will not get an answer anyway.
Mr. Know-it-all
- Manager delivers a message.
- Report suggests an idea, state the effect or gives additional information.
- Manager is angry that Report assumes he is not aware and rudely stops Report.
Problems:
- Report is publicly shamed
- Reports get demotivated and will not be initiative
- Reports adheres to unprofessional, pleasing and obedient behavior
Example:
Manager: “Pause work on project x, switch to project y because so and so.”
Report: “Got it. Just to make it clear, there is a price of context switch, and having to merge later on, which will be slower. To mitigate this, we could…”
Manager: ”Stop. No need to assume I don’t know that!”
Resolution:
Manager: thank Report who suggested, acknowledge you are aware, but it is still the decision and we will deal with the price later.
Report: phrase it like you make it clear for everyone else, Manager surely knows already.
Slaughter Ideas
- Manager outlines a scenario and asks for ideas to deal with it, any idea is welcomed.
- Report suggests an idea.
- Manager publicly ridicules the idea, the person who suggested it and reminds of previous mistakes of Report.
Problems:
- Report is publicly shamed
- Other reports don’t dare to suggest now and in the future
- Report loses trust
Example:
Manager: ”We committed to deliver x, y, and z. We delivered x and y, but there are two more days and z is not ready. Any idea how to get the most?”
Report: “We previously reduced scope and delivered smaller value, then continued to full z afterwards.”
Manager: “I asked for any idea, not a stupid idea. Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”
Resolution:
Manager: explain why Report’s idea is not good enough.
Report: before expressing your idea, say that your idea is not great, but maybe it will help others generate other ideas.
Slaughter estimations
- Manager outlines a new and rather large task that was never done before and asks for rough estimations.
- Report suggests a time frame.
- Manager ridicules the the estimation as too low or too high, then ridicules Report.
Problems:
- Report is publicly shamed
- Other reports will modify their estimations based on Manager reaction
- Report loses trust
Example:
Manager: ”We have to migrate our entire infrastructure to AWS. Each of you is requested to estimate how long this should take for a team of 5 developers.”
Report: “16 weeks”
Manager: “In 16 weeks I can rewrite the entire application on AWS all by myself, go to Portugal for vacation and come back to see what you did all this time.”
Next Report: “2 weeks”
[in reality it took 30 weeks for a much smaller scope]
Resolution:
Manager: collect estimations from everyone without responding.
Report: think about your realistic estimation, then adapt to the specific manager — if they are speed oriented — decrease it. If they are quality or fear oriented — increase it.
Unexpectations
- Manager sets clear expectations from Report and ties it with promotion.
- Report follows and improves, maybe even stands out.
- Manager refuses promotion to prevent promotions inflation.
Problems:
- Report cannot understand the rationale and is demotivated
- Report loses trust
- Report will revert to lower productivity because it doesn’t matter anyway
Example:
Manager: ”You’re doing great on x, y, and z. In order to get promoted, you need to improve v by w percent.”
Report: greatly improves v and exceeds w percent.
Manager: “You’re doing great on x, y, z and v, but I cannot promote you because this other Report could get promoted and we cannot promote too many.”
Resolution:
Manager: set objective, measurable expectations and if promotion is tied and the expectations are met, then promote.
Report: ask for objective, measurable expectations that define success criteria, in writing. Ask preemptively, if other getting promoted will stop you form being promoted.
No Expectations
- Manager sets vague, unclear expectations from Report and possibly ties it with promotion.
- Report tries their best.
- Manager announces failure to meet expectations after several months and possibly refuses promotion.
Problems:
- Report operates in constant uncertainty, hard to make decisions
- Report loses respect for Manager
- Report’s Reports are confused and unsure regarding loyalty and authority
- Manager has an underperforming Report in his view
Example:
Manager: ”You will serve as an interim Team Lead. Your job from now on, is to make sure the team works, not only yourself.”
Report: delivers tasks but also conducts managerial activities.
Manager: “In the past 6 months your productivity was very low, the number of tasks you did is half of the preceding 6 months.”
Resolution:
Manager: set objective, measurable expectations and if promotion is tied and the expectations are met, then promote.
Manager: refrain from interim titles as they create confusion and reduce productivity.
Report: ask for objective, measurable expectations that define success criteria and an end date of being interim.
Unspecific
- A single Report behaves inappropriately.
- Manager reminds everyone of the proper behavior.
Problems:
- Misbehaving Report gets proof that more Reports behave that way, so they continue
- Other Reports get demotivated
- Reports feel Manager is detached
Example:
Report: works only 7 hours every day.
Manager: ”Everyone, remember we need to work 8 hours per day”
Resolution:
Manager: give candid feedback to the offensive Report.
Misbehaving Report: act upon the feedback that is relevant to you.
Behaving Report: ignore feedback that is irrelevant to you.
Measure One Thing
- Manager sets clear expectation on one plane.
- Report behaves according to how they’re measured.
Problems:
- Report neglects other areas he’s not measured for
- Report learns to look at how they’re measured instead of the greater good
Example:
Manager: “This quarter, you need to increase the number of tickets you finish by 50%.”
Report: focuses on visibility of working tickets, neglects quality code, automated tests and bugs, which will result in possible bad reputation for the organization and more efforts spent on fixing.
Resolution:
Manager: give a counter expectation additionally , so that it’s clear what not to neglect.
Report: still behave as measured, but suggest the possible outcome upon receiving the expectation.
Forever Hold
- Report make a single mistake, either technical or social and never repeats it.
- Manager brings it up months and years later repeatedly.
Problems:
- Report knows they are “burnt” and nothing they do will fix it, thus, no point trying
- Report questions the competency and judgement skill of Manager
Example:
Report: “What about company-wide topic x, that I was promised will be handled?”
Manager: “I have to check and come back to you.”
Report: “It’s been 2 months since I last asked, any news?”
Manager: “I have to check and come back to you.”
Report: “It’s been 4 months since I last asked, any news?”
Manager: “I have to check and come back to you.”
Report: talks to HR about the topic over lunch as it haphazardly came up.
Manager: angry about bypassing his authority. Brings it up in discussions regarding promotion and leadership competency many months later.
Resolution:
Manager: give time estimation by which you will have an answer.
Manager: immediately say “no” instead of bullshitting, when this is the case.
Report: ask for a date for an answer.
Absence
- Manager has little to do with Report, avoids 1:1 meetings, gives no feedback.
Problems:
- Report cannot know what he does well or needs improving
- Report has no growth opportunities
- Report feels happy first due to lack of micromanagement but then feels neglected
- Report is surprised in annual performance review, when Manager cannot avoid delivering feedback any longer
Example:
Report: “We missed the last few 1:1s, can we have this week?”
Manager: “It’s a busy week, maybe next time. I have nothing to say anyway.”
Report: when finally have 1:1: “can you tell me what I’ve been doing well and what I need to improve on?”
Manager: “All good, just continue.”
Report: in annual self assessment, lists good and bad things in his perspective.
Manager: rates Report subjectively without any reasoning or examples, based on intuition.
Resolution:
Manager: give positive and negative feedback constantly.
Manager: don’t miss 1:1s and follow up on items.
Manager: don’t micromanage (depend on Report maturity level and tasks at hand), but do check in and offer help.
Report: openly tell Manager what problems their behavior inflicts on you. When Manager responds they will not change, as last resort and if you’re privileged enough, talk to their Manager and suggest that this is not acceptable and must change. Often Manager’s Manager is not aware.
Detached
- Engineering Manager never talks to Reports, only to Managers.
Problems:
- Engineering Manager’s only source of truth is Manager, they filter and manipulate information to serve them best
- Reports status and career is dependent only on Manager
- Reports question Manager’s ethics
Example:
Manager has no 1:1s or has them and talks about the weather, gives no feedback to Report.
Reports wants feedback in order to improve but cannot receive it because they respect the chain of command and cannot go directly to Engineering Manager.
Engineering Manager has no idea what Report is responsible for and believes everything Manager says without any other opinions.
Resolution:
Engineering Manager: conduct “skip level” meetings, where Manager is not present, or 1:1s with Reports.
Engineering Manager: ask for anonymous feedback from Reports.
Engineering Manager: conduct anonymous trust exercise in retrospective meetings to find out if there is a problem.
Manager: deliver genuine Report messages to Managers’ Manager.
Report: anonymously request skip level meeting or 1:1 from Engineering Manager.
Us And Them
- Manager talks negatively about other teams.
Problems:
- Creates barrier between teams instead of collaboration to achieve goals
- Report loses trust in colleagues, learns to optimize for themselves or their team
Example:
Manager: “As usual, the so-called engineers of team x screwed up and we must fix it.”
Resolution:
Manager: emphasize positive aspects of other teams, encourage inter-team collaboration.
Report: build good relationships with other team members.
Hope this helps creating a more positive and productive work environment.
