“Good bosses can be differentiated from bad bosses by the ways they make employees feel,” says a career website.
We all know how the work environment gets vitiated when employees develop animosity towards their supervisors.
The biggest casualty of this intense dislike is productivity. Therefore, it’s necessary for the boss-employee relationship to be miles away from Hatredville.
That is not to say the bosses are always at fault. But if most people on a team have the same feeling of animosity towards the boss, then it’s clear where the problem lies.
If you have been labelled “bad” as a boss, chances are you will be the last one to know about it. So, allow us first to help you identify whether you are a bad boss.
3 signs you’re a bad boss
If you have not been able to figure out that you’re a bad boss, we will list out three things that will help you identify whether you’re someone the employees hate.
1. Your employees do not smile
Why isn’t any employee smiling?
Yes, that’s the first sign. They just stop smiling around you. Even when they were quite happy just a second ago. As soon as your face shows up, they just stop.
The interesting thing is that they don’t consciously decide to wipe off the smile; it happens automatically. After all, who wants to pretend to be happy around people they hate.
2. Their replies are short
“Yes”, “no”, “yeah”, “of course”, “will do”, “understood”, “fine”, “good”. If this is all you manage to elicit from most of your employees in response to your questions, you certainly own the “bad” tag.
Employees who hate their bosses do not want to engage with them at any level.
3. They avoid eye contact
Employees who are angry and frustrated with you don’t want to look into your eyes because they fear that the eyes will a major giveaway of their hostility towards you. Subconsciously, people avoid eye contact with those they hate. It’s as simple as that.
For the purpose of this article, I have chosen just three signs, but everyone who has worked with a bad boss can write at least 300.
There is also an argument that it is not the responsibility of bosses to be liked by their employees. But Lynn Taylor, the author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job, says:
Your goal as a manager is not to be liked by everyone; if it is, you won’t be making the best decisions for the company. But if you’re an insensitive manager, no amount of intelligence or business skills will ever take you far in your own career advancement. You will always need a strong team and following to thrive in your career.”
Clearly, the success of every supervisor depends on how efficient his subordinates are. So, it makes sense for a boss to be not an asshole.
Insensitive manager?
Employees’ performance in many ways is directly linked to the kind of relationship they enjoy with their supervisors. Nobody can be productive in a negative and hostile work environment.
Therefore, if you’re a boss causing hostility among your employees, some changes in your attitude and signature will not be a bad idea.
Improvement with signature change
I have discussed before in articles on signature analysis that many personality changes can be brought about through alterations in our signatures. In this article, I will talk about only one particular change.
Before telling you what signature change I am going to suggest, it is important to specify what personality trait we are going to change.
Supervisors are called bad bosses because of various unpleasant personality traits. One of them is lack of proper communication.
A disliked boss does not communicate to his team members what he expects from them, which at the end of the day, raises the stress levels for everyone.
An article on the stress at workplace says:
High-stress levels in the workplace are a huge sign that there are communication problems. Poor communication can create a feeling that everything on your to-do list is urgent, causing you and others to hurry, feel tense, overworked and have little-to-no sense of humor.
Good communication causes a sense of stability and predictability, but lack of communication or unhealthy communication introduces a sense of fear that causes tension, which is counterproductive to efficiency.”
In his mind, a bad boss is convinced he has communicated clearly, but the reality is that he rushes through the directives and instructions, giving very little clarity to his subordinates.
As a result, when the final product reaches his table, the boss’ expectations meet with disappointment, making him go on an angry rant about how inefficient and unproductive everyone in the team is.
In my 14 years of experience as a handwriting analyst, I have seen that most supervisors with poor communication skills have illegible signatures. That’s what they need to change. They need to be make it legible.
This single change in the signature will ensure the supervisor communicates effectively with his team members, tells them clearly what results he expects, and how he wants things done.
Understanding illegible signature
Illegible signature
Let’s now understand what illegibility in signature reveals about the person.
There are two principal reasons why a person has an illegible signature. One, his mind is faster than his hands. And second, he is hoity-toity rascal who seems tell others:
“Look, I don’t care whether you can read my signature or not. I am just too busy to be bothered by that. I have no time for you.”
If you are a boss and you sign like this, it will be difficult for you to have a great relationship with your team members.
Incidentally, this type of signature also reveals that the writer is in a hurry most of them time and does not slow down to communicate lucidly. Additionally, he or she is more prone to making mistakes.
I’m too busy to slow down.
According to graphologist Fiona MacKay Young, legible means the writer is interested in communicating, illegible means he is not.
Bosses with illegible handwriting or signature do not care about employees at all. Hardly an attitude someone in a supervisory role can afford to have, wouldn’t you say?
Conclusion
If you are a boss with an illegible signature, make it legible from today itself.
If poor communication can impact stress levels, deadlines, morale and health, then good communication can have a positive and healing effect.
By making the change, you will not only feel the change in yourself but also see improvement in your employees’ attitude towards you. They will be friendlier and more communicative with you.
And if you find that your boss has an illegible signature, find a way to bell the cat and let him know he should try changing his signature.
Disclaimer: One element of handwriting may be analysed at a time, but always look at the entire handwriting sample before arriving at any conclusion.
