It is a worthy question for new manager training folks to ask: do bad bosses
influence their followers to the extent that they become bad bosses too?
And,
of course, an answer to the reverse would be instructive as well. Do good
leaders beget good bosses?
Considerable
leadership research has been done to analyze how much effect good or bad bosses
have upon their team members as they climb their own corporate ladder to
management positions. It seems that the answers are not as clear cut as you
might expect.
Some
individuals overcome their bad bosses with a determination not to make the same
mistakes. Poor leadership is not an inevitable result. But neither is good
leadership an absolute predictor of next generation good bosses. In sum, it
seems that great leaders have more of a positive influence than bad leaders
have a negative effect on their followers.
That
is generally good news but only one aspect of the damage that bad bosses can
have. Scrub them from your organization so they have no opportunity to break apart
teams and destroy motivation and morale…much less teach poor management habits
to those who become managers.
