Help, I'm a bad manager!

You were promoted... and everything started from there

You were good. Very good, even. So good that one day, someone said:

“What if we made him a manager?”

And that's where the drama begins. Because you were given responsibilities, but not the keys. You were taught to perform, not to listen. To manage files, not people.

In many companies, management is still the price of loyalty or the reward of performance . While it is a real job.

The result: we end up with managers who are brilliant at Excel, but messy when it comes to people.

Bad manager, instructions for use

A quick guide to recognizing it (or recognizing yourself):

• You think giving orders is “managing a team.”

• You think the need for recognition is for children.

• You announce “I trust” before sending three follow-up emails per day.

• You say “we’re a team” but you keep the laurels to yourself.

Good news: we can all unlearn this.

A bad manager one day doesn't mean a bad manager always, but it starts with a dose of lucidity!

What if the real problem was recruitment?

We love brilliant resumes. We recruit managers who are "dynamic," "charismatic," and "capable of holding the helm."

But we forget to ask the right questions :

• “How do you react when someone does better than you?”

• “Tell me about a time you admitted your mistake in front of your team.”

• “How do you deal with silences, doubts, disagreements?”

  
  

These kinds of questions don't appear in traditional HR processes, and that's a shame. But therein lies the truth. Because leadership is, above all, a relational stance , not a line on LinkedIn.

And if it's your company and you're the boss , these questions take on another weight:

• Every management error becomes a strategic error.

• Every team tension directly impacts your business.

• Your ego can be expensive… very expensive.

Leadership in your company is no longer an abstract subject: it is the survival of your project .

Managing means changing software

Moving from “I succeed” to “we succeed.” From “I control” to “I trust.”

From “I speak” to “I listen”.

It's more subtle than an action plan and more demanding than a dashboard. And often, it starts with admitting you don't know. (And that alone, for a manager, is already an act of courage.)

The mirror moment

If you're still reading, it's because you already have doubts. And that doubt is your best news.

Because there's no such thing as a perfect manager. But a manager who's aware of his flaws , that's gold.

So, instead of saying “my team isn’t following,” ask yourself:

“Do I make people want to follow me?”

Management is not an exact science. It's an art made of clumsiness, adjustments, and sincerity.

And if you don't succeed, it's not inevitable. Find the path that suits your style, your character.

For bosses, the real lever is to surround yourself with good managers and trust them to take action. Letting your team excel is sometimes the best leadership you can exercise.