The Top 10 Bad Leadership Behaviors (And How to Avoid Them)

A great leader can set the tone for a team, department, or even an entire organization—their influence can help everyone else become better. Unfortunately, that is also true in reverse. Bad leadership behaviors can create a toxic environment that will have employees running for the door. Want proof? According to our research, 44 percent of people cited their boss as the primary reason they’ve left a job. Chances are you’ve had a bad leader at some point, too—but hopefully, you’ve never been one. But if you’re worried, keep reading to find out what employees rank as the top 10 bad leadership behaviors and learn how to avoid them.

What Are Some Bad Leadership Behaviors?

According to the BambooHR Bad Boss Index, here are the top 10 things a bad leader does:

1. Takes credit for employees’ work
2. Lacks trust in employees
3. Overworks people
4. Refuses to advocate for employees’ compensation
5. Hires or promotes the wrong people
6. Shifts blame in disputes between employees and clients
7. Fails to provide direction
8. Micromanges
9. Focuses on employees’ weaknesses more than their strengths
10. Fails to set clear expectations

FAQs About Bad Leadership Behaviors

Have questions about bad leadership behaviors and what can be done about them? BambooHR has the answers. Below are some of the most frequently asked questions (and their answers) employers tend to have about bad leadership behaviors.

What Communication Skills Are Important for Leaders?

If leaders are going to be effective and successful in their position, they need to have advanced communication skills that adapt to different communication styles of different audiences.

To do this, you must first understand how you typically communicate your vision and ideas. When you speak, observe how others respond to you to get an idea if they respond positively. If they don’t seem to be listening or engaged, you may not be communicating in a way that suits your audience.

Second, you must know your audience, and experiment with different communication styles for each. For example:

• Analytical communicators are logical thinkers and love data and specific details. Therefore, don’t simply say, “Sales are positive.” Instead, say something like, “Sales over the last quarter have grown by 5.2%.”
• Intuitive communicators look at the broader picture on a high level. They like to stick to main topics and avoid details.
• Functional communicators love to take things step by step, from start to finish. Ask them follow-up questions, and be prepared for them to ask them as well.
• Personal communicators value relationships and emotional language. Be a good listener and a great diplomat for them.

Eight essential communication skills of good leaders include having the ability to:

1. Use your critical thinking skills to assess the areas that are most lacking so you can focus on them first. There must also be constant learning, discipline, and a knack for handling criticism or conflict.
2. Be an active listener. Knowing when to listen (and actually doing it) is very important as a leader. It shows you care about others’ thoughts and feedback. To be an active listener, eliminate distractions, don’t interrupt, invite collaboration, ask questions, and take notes.
3. Break down communication barriers and welcome transparency. Speaking openly about challenges and mistakes fosters an environment of empowerment, experimentation, and trust between you as a leader and your employees.
4. Have clarity and speak in specifics. Speak clearly and provide specific examples in your instructions and explanations. This can dampen confusion and set up your team for success.
5. Ask open-ended questions. Such questions have a way of sparking thoughtful introspection and consideration before answers are given. As a result, leaders will get better, more honest answers from their team members.
6. Empathize with employees’ experiences and feelings. Empathy improves communication by building a better culture based on trust and teamwork.
7. Show openness through body language. Leaders don’t just communicate through words—they communicate through nonverbal cues. Some tips to convey warmth and friendliness around others are to make eye contact, unfurrow the brow, and smile.
8. Receive feedback graciously and take quick action on it. It doesn’t help to ask for feedback if you respond with annoyance, anger, or resentment. Be sure to thank others for their feedback, let them know they’ve been heard, and get to work improving on what was suggested.

What Causes Poor Leadership Behaviors?

Most poor leadership isn’t intentional, but it can be easy to fall into bad habits. Here are some common root causes of poor leadership behaviors:

• A poor attitude
• The expectation that knowledge is all that’s needed
• Busyness to the point of inefficiency
• Ignorance of problems or obliviousness to morale
• Passing on the responsibility to others
• A failure to serve

How Can You Improve as a Leader?

Oftentimes, encouragement and patience is all that you need to improve as a leader. But sometimes, more drastic steps must be taken to get the results your organization needs from you.

Here’s what you can do to improve as a leader:

1. Figure out why you’re struggling. What are the contributing factors both inside and outside the office? There can be a variety of stressors that contribute to a lack of engagement or commitment to good leadership behaviors.
2. Evaluate your tasks to understand whether or not you feel overwhelmed with your professional responsibilities. Talk to your superior about your challenges and how they affect their expectations.
3. Ask for training, a mentor, and ongoing support. Encouragement and patience really help you develop your own style as a leader, improve your skills, and gain confidence in leading others.

How to Avoid the Top Ten Bad Leadership Behaviors

Even if you recognize some of those poor leadership behaviors in yourself, it’s not hopeless. Try some of these ways to reverse and avoid those behaviors.

1. Give Your Employees Credit

Imagine being an employee who put in their absolute best work and extra hours of time on an assignment and then…your leader takes all the credit in the next company meeting. Ouch.

As a leader, you might think that when you look good, the whole team looks good, but try thinking of it the other way around: When your team looks good, it shows you’re doing an excellent job of leading them. Even a little recognition goes a long way, so keep track of who is working on what and be sure the people who put in the extra effort get the pat on the back they deserve.

2. Trust Your Employees

Unless you hired people for the wrong reasons (another poor leadership behavior) you hired your employees because they are smart, capable people who have the right skills to do their work. Trust them to do it! If an employee gives you a reason to not trust them, have a conversation and try to get things back on track. Trust goes both ways; the more trust you put in your employees, the more they will trust your guidance.

3. Allow Your People to Take a Break

Getting assignments shipped on time and done well is important; it’s what employees are getting paid to do. But people have friends and family and hobbies, too. Plus, everyone needs a break sometimes. Stanford University Graduate School of Business reported that burnout costs the United States $190 billion in health care expenses, as well as 120,000 stress-attributed deaths. So you aren’t doing your company any favors by asking your people to burn the midnight oil.