Really bad boss trait #6 – blame others for your mistakes

icon1 Posted by denised in Business on 04 2nd, 2009 | 8 responses

Low level employee being blamed by her really bad boss

Really bad bosses who blame others for their mistakes

Yesterday I talked about bosses who’ll never admit when they’ve made a mistake.  Today I’m going to talk about bosses who’ll acknowledge a mistake has been made, but always manage to find someone else to blame. Really bad bosses have a lot of bad attributes, but I have to say that cowardice – the driving force behind blaming someone else for your mistake – is probably one of the worst.   Whether you define it as cowardice or call it by another name, few things cause employees to doubt management more than a boss who constantly points fingers and refuses to take responsibility for his or her own mistakes.  It’s even worse if it happens in an environment where open communication and the sharing of ideas are discouraged.  In that type of  “do as you’re told” environment, where questioning a boss’ decision may lead to reprisal or even firing, employees will keep quiet, even in the face of the most mindless of management decisions.

Speaking of mindless management decisions, remember when the big three auto makers hitched a ride on private jets to meet with congress to beg for money and talk about the viability of their industry? Well I’m willing to bet that there was at least one low level employee at any one of those companies who thought “you know, it’s probably not a good idea for the head of our automobile company to take a private jet to attend a meeting to explain how broke we are.”  And, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit, if after returning from that meeting, one or more of those low level employees were involved in a conversation with one of their bosses that went a little something like this:

 Boss:   “why did you book a private jet for the meeting?”

Low level employee:  “but you said…and when I tried to tell you … but that’s not what you said before…”

Add “should I take a sip of the Kool-Aid now?” to the dialogue and replace the words “book a private jet” with any number of ill fated, harebrained schemes, and that pretty much sums up most of my conversations with Napoleon.

If a really bad boss blames you for something you didn’t do, the bad news is, you usually end up taking the hit.  The good news is – so will he, eventually; he just doesn’t know it yet. Bosses who blame others for their mistakes will eventually lose every employee worth having.  And, the ones that stick around are just sticking around long enough to collect on the bets they made on how long this really bad boss will last.

Next week: Repeating the same mistake over and over again

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  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    Hey Josey,

    Thanks for your comment. Yes, it seems like you have a bad boss to top bad bosses. From the way you describe her she comes across as incompetent and unprofessional. I'm concerned about the fact that money has been coming up missing and she doesn't seem to be doing much about it. If I were you, I'd be very careful about handling the funds. If at all possible, have one or two co-workers with you at all times, and document, document, document everything she says and has you do. If you've only been there a couple of weeks and things are already this bad, you may need to start looking for something better. I know its tough out there now, but its always easier to find something when you're already working. On the other hand, if you need to stick it out, then do your best to accomodate your boss' requests and try to learn from the mistakes she's making. If you have to stay in a bad situation, the best thing you can do is try to learn from it. Keep us posted.

  • josey

    my boss wanted me to watch an employee and tell everything thay said . also she never makes the other person do there work it all falls on me and when i told her about it she blamed the manager before her . and made it a point to elect another employee as a shift leader (in front of me) to make sure the employee not doing her job did her job is this a bad boss and also money had been coming up missing and my boss said its been that way since march i have been ther 2 weeks. my boss gave me akey and code to store should i be alarmed please hepl me .

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    Hey Josey,

    Thanks for your comment. Yes, it seems like you have a bad boss to top bad bosses. From the way you describe her she comes across as incompetent and unprofessional. I'm concerned about the fact that money has been coming up missing and she doesn't seem to be doing much about it. If I were you, I'd be very careful about handling the funds. If at all possible, have one or two co-workers with you at all times, and document, document, document everything she says and has you do. If you've only been there a couple of weeks and things are already this bad, you may need to start looking for something better. I know its tough out there now, but its always easier to find something when you're already working. On the other hand, if you need to stick it out, then do your best to accomodate your boss' requests and try to learn from the mistakes she's making. If you have to stay in a bad situation, the best thing you can do is try to learn from it. Keep us posted.

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    Hey Josey,

    Thanks for your comment. Yes, it seems like you have a bad boss to top bad bosses. From the way you describe her she comes across as incompetent and unprofessional. I'm concerned about the fact that money has been coming up missing and she doesn't seem to be doing much about it. If I were you, I'd be very careful about handling the funds. If at all possible, have one or two co-workers with you at all times, and document, document, document everything she says and has you do. If you've only been there a couple of weeks and things are already this bad, you may need to start looking for something better. I know its tough out there now, but its always easier to find something when you're already working. On the other hand, if you need to stick it out, then do your best to accomodate your boss' requests and try to learn from the mistakes she's making. If you have to stay in a bad situation, the best thing you can do is try to learn from it. Keep us posted.

  • http://reallybadboss.com denised2

    Hey Josey,

    Thanks for your comment. Yes, it seems like you have a bad boss to top bad bosses. From the way you describe her she comes across as incompetent and unprofessional. I'm concerned about the fact that money has been coming up missing and she doesn't seem to be doing much about it. If I were you, I'd be very careful about handling the funds. If at all possible, have one or two co-workers with you at all times, and document, document, document everything she says and has you do. If you've only been there a couple of weeks and things are already this bad, you may need to start looking for something better. I know its tough out there now, but its always easier to find something when you're already working. On the other hand, if you need to stick it out, then do your best to accomodate your boss' requests and try to learn from the mistakes she's making. If you have to stay in a bad situation, the best thing you can do is try to learn from it. Keep us posted.

  • josey

    my boss wanted me to watch an employee and tell everything thay said . also she never makes the other person do there work it all falls on me and when i told her about it she blamed the manager before her . and made it a point to elect another employee as a shift leader (in front of me) to make sure the employee not doing her job did her job is this a bad boss and also money had been coming up missing and my boss said its been that way since march i have been ther 2 weeks. my boss gave me akey and code to store should i be alarmed please hepl me .

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