Should You Quit Because of A Bad Boss?
Bad bosses are everywhere. About 50% of employees are said to quit their jobs because of a bad boss. But should you be quitting purely because of one individual, and if so, when is the best time to do so? If you like your job, then you should carefully assess your situation, making sure you are making the most of your situation, as you could end up jumping around from job to job, never happy.
Assess whether your bad boss is really the one limiting your growth and future opportunities, but also assess the company. People say that employees leave bad managers not companies, but companies are the ones that hire or promote bad managers and then keep them there longer term. So step back and look at the bigger picture.
Types of bad bosses that may not necessary be hampering your development or career may be:
Bosses who may not have as much technical expertise as you, but may have good managerial qualities
Bosses that take all the glory from your work, but may me able to get you onto good projects or good opportunities.
Some bosses cannot walk the walk, after all, many are promoted on upward managerial skills not technical ones or downward management skills. It’s important to note that work is not school, your boss does not need to be able to do what you do, but they should have a good high level understanding, and should be competent enough to be able talk through work problems with you. Most of the time you need to learn from your own experience, and your boss should be providing you those opportunities to get those experiences. So even if your boss can't teach you button by button what to do, do they give you enough guidance? Are you still learning on the job and other people around you?
Does your company offer training courses that you could take advantage of?
Could you request from your boss to go on a training course to get the technical know how you need?
Are there meetings you could ask your boss to attend?
Are there are colleagues or senior managers that you could learn from?
Does your company offer mentorship schemes?
Does your company offer networking opportunities?
Are there projects you could get on that would help you gain the technical experience you want?
Bosses that add no value, but take all the praise
Do you have a boss that adds nothing to to the work you do, but takes all the glory from it? It’s super frustrating especially if they are likely paid twice your salary but you can't see what value they add. However that DOES NOT EQUATE to them blocking your development and progress. These bosses could still help you progress up the ladder if you get on their good side:
Could you request a payrise if you deserve one/ promotion or change to job title?
Could you ask your boss to attend certain high profile meetings, or get on high profile projects?
2.) Is the company toxic?
Is your company allowing poor performance/ poor management to continue?
Are there layers of poor management?
Can you learn from other senior leaders within the company?
Are there other opportunities for you within the same company?
If after assessing the above you've:
Got a boss who is unable or unwilling to help you develop either by example or guidance
There is nothing to learn from other staff or the wider company
You are no longer learning anything from your current responsibilities and tasks….
….you know the answer!
So how do you know when your company is not going to do anything about your situation. Let's be realistic here, no HR department is going to be honest and say look we’re not going to actually do anything about it, we work for your boss not you. So here are some clues:
Your boss gets promoted even though there are clear signs of underperformance.
Your boss's boss does not follow up with your personally after you've had a chat with them and passes you back to HR
Your boss’s boss is not competent or secure enough to take action. Are they an action person or just a figurehead? Does your boss’s boss even talk to anyone apart from their own direct report? If not, it’s likely they don’t really care about the wider team.
HR asks you what you want them to do about it instead of coming up with suggestions.
They start giving you the impression that you're the trouble maker. Gaslighting people are incredibly good at turning accusations around and actually accuse you of bullying.
It never hurts to keep an eye out for other job openings
Whilst the grass can always appear greener on the other side...it's important to remember that this company isn't the only company or likely to be the best company. So it never hurts to be on the look out for a better job with better pay, especially if you've done a decent stint of time at your current company. You don't want to look like you move jobs every few months, prospective employers want to know you're in it for the long term. Likewise if you want to be climbing the ladder fast, you want to be seen as someone who learns and progresses or gets promoted every few years, when you’re in the early to mid stages of your career.
Assess your Financial Situation as well as the Economy
This should go without saying. Ideally you want to to quit when you have another job lined up, otherwise you definitely need to ensure you have to enough savings to tide you over for potentially a long job search. You also need to factor in the economic situation, are we just about to enter a recession, could it mean that a redundancies are about to be made, where the first ones in are the the first ones out, because they are cheaper to lay off? Always try to ensure you have savings to protect you from these unfortunate circumstances.
Hope this has provided food for thought.
Good Luck!
Women On the Ladder
