Google's Management Study Reveals if You're a Toxic Boss

Fantastic managers can make the office an enjoyable and productive place to work. But not everyone has a natural talent for the role. After poring over their annual employee survey, Google’s HR team uncovered eight key traits of good leaders.

But their findings also told us something more. By taking the opposite of the findings we can identify eight key habits that make a bad manager.

But do you identify with any of these traits that makes you a toxic boss?

1. You Don’t Enjoy Training Your Employees

As a boss, you are the head of your team. You are the one everyone should be able to turn to for guidance and advice. But Google’s management study showed toxic bosses find it difficult to pass their wisdom to their employees.

This could either be because they don’t enjoy interacting with their team members or they find it difficult to communicate their ideas to them. In today’s rapidly expanding business world, poor employee training will have your company left behind.

To improve your training you should look to provide regular feedback to your staff through one-on-one meetings.

2. You Are Too Critical and Keen to Point out Mistakes

Bad managers lack trust in their employees and adopt an ‘I know best’ attitude. As a boss, you will probably have the most experience in your team but that doesn’t mean your employees are worthless.

According to the Google management study, good bosses empower their employees and don’t micro-manage. Therefore toxic bosses are the type who don’t give their colleagues the freedom to be creative. So the next time you are thinking about checking over every piece of your staffs’ work, remember: ‘They need space to grow’.

3. You Only Focus on Your Employees’ Work Lives

Everyone likes it when you pay them a compliment or ask how their weekend was, and at work, this is particularly true. Toxic bosses tend to focus solely on what goes on within the four walls of the office and rarely ask about their employees’ lives outside of work.

As a boss, you should be finding out how your staff members are getting on in all aspects of their lives. This will help to create a bond between you and them, and make your staff more comfortable around you. Similarly, whenever a new employee joins the company, take time out of your day to find out about him or her.

Don’t concentrate on work, just spend that time asking about their home life, their interests or anything else you can think of — as long as it’s not work.

4. You Feel Out of Control

Every now and again we can all feel like work is getting on top of us. But toxic managers will know that feeling better than anyone. That’s because bad managers find it difficult to self-manage, meaning, their own productivity and effectiveness is less than it could be.

If your team can see you are struggling to keep up, they will feel like the business is rudderless. Take time to plan your working week, organizing an efficient and clear schedule that will focus your mind and energy.

5. You Like to Shut Yourself Away from Your Team

This one might seem obvious, but to be a great manager you need to spend time with your staff. Bad managers often shut themselves away in their office, unwilling to communicate and impart their knowledge. However, this can make employees feel like they are on their own and have no-one to come to with their work-related issues.

If you are lucky enough to have your own office, make a point of getting out and showing your face. Your employees need someone approachable and friendly. A faceless manager behind a closed office door is good for no-one.

Remember: It’s as important to listen as it is to speak. Make sure to spend time with your employees, in which you just listen to any issues they might have.

6. You Feel Employees Should Look After Their Own Careers

Toxic managers often believe that their employees should look after their own careers. Wrong. As a leader, it is your job to give them everything they need to grow within your industry. Take time to look at training opportunities and highlight areas they are good in and could improve in.

The time investment will pay off when you have highly-trained, engaged employees. You will also find that when you put time into helping your staff, they will be much more loyal.

7. You Have No Vision or Strategy for the Future

Every great boss knows where they want the business to go and how they want to get there. They will also convey their message clearly to the rest of the team.

Toxic bosses, on the other hand, will have no end-goal in sight. Without a vision, toxic bosses are unable to plan for the future. Their employees will be confused and will struggle to understand their true mission.

8. You feel threatened by other members of staff

The final trait of a toxic boss is that they feel threatened by other members of staff who have skills they may not have. Leaders should be confident in their own areas of expertise and should identify and praise good qualities in others.

Furthermore, toxic bosses will be unwilling to pass on their own technical knowledge to other members of staff for fear of ‘overtraining’ them.

Are you a toxic boss?

If you’re asking yourself the question: ‘Am I a toxic boss?’ then you are on the road to fixing any issues you might have. Even good bosses could have some of the eight traits identified above, the key is to accept your faults and look to improve them.

Every single one of the eight issues mentioned in this article can be fixed, spend some time to focus on your own issues. It could see you go from toxic boss to wonder boss in no time at all.