How to spot a bad supervisor February 25, 2019

How to spot a bad supervisor

When you are facing a bad supervisor on a daily basis it can make it hard to get out of bed in the morning. This can affect your working and personal life, many people have heard dreadful stories of people contacting employees at odd hours in the night and making them do things that are not mentioned in their job description. When people spend too long in a toxic environment it can make you rethink your career and have a long term effect on your health.

A good supervisor will help you improve and be a better version of yourself, the positive impact can be noticed on every aspect of your life. A good supervisor usually will have experience from either supervisor training or from supervisor courses.

Here are some ways you can spot a bad supervisor:

A bad supervisor is usually too busy to meet even when you have something important to discuss with them. They might cancel meetings that you have been planning for weeks at the last minute. Being a good supervisor means that they are responsive, giving them time to get the information that is requested, understand assignments and give clear feedback.

A supervisor that is not interested in the career of their employee but more interested in their own career will not be the best for employee growth. The very best supervisors mostly take interest in their employee’s career growth and development.

An unsuitable manager will constantly micromanage their employee, they will check every little bit of your work. They might feel that the work would be better done if they completed it themselves. The best supervisors would learn through their supervisory skills course that you need to let employees have responsibility and make them feel empowered.

A bad supervisor is untrustworthy; you might feel afraid to be open or honest with the supervisor because they might use the information in your next performance review. They might say one thing to you and do the other. A relationship with a good supervisor should be based on trust.

Some supervisors exclusively focus on the negative things, you might work perfectly but the one time you mess up your supervisor is very focused on it. Some speeches from your supervisor might begin on a negative tone. Good supervisors will focus on the positive and help you when you are struggling on a task.

Another way to spot a bad supervisor is by seeing what they use as motivation. Bad supervisors use punishment as motivation, employees that feel this negative energy tend to perform less because they are always looking over their shoulder to lower their boom.

A bad supervisor is unable to communicate clearly, it is usually difficult to determine what the boss really wants and they rarely listen to you. Communication is a key to good management, giving clear and concise instructions will help your employees to be successful at their work.

Want to be the best supervisor at your workplace? Find out more about the supervisor courses we can offer you at London TFE, they will help prepare you for your next role.