There’s a current popular trend that opposes managers. Saying that they are useless, we need less of them and they need to be replaced by so-called ‘leaders’ – or so the popular story goes. But managers are not necessarily the problem and they are often essential. It’s rather specific behaviors that we want to eliminate.

A key reason for the negative discourse around managers is that, as is witnessed too frequently, they adopt the wrong type of behaviors. They manage in a way that is ineffective or even counterproductive, leading to dissatisfaction and frustration.

This is not something only managers do, it’s also part of being human: we all make mistakes even though we do our best. However, given the profound influence managers have in organizations and the profound influence organizations have on our world, their behaviors are scrutinized under the looking glass more often. 

This makes it all the more important to find a way to improve their behaviors.

Toxic vs. healthy management

One of the more useful inventories of ineffective management behaviors was put together by executive coach and consultant Jakob Bovin for a LinkedIn post in Spring 2024. It contains what he calls Seven Toxic Management Behaviors and their opposites, which I call the Seven Healthy Management Habits. (see Picture 1 above).

The manager on the left is the traditional command-and-control type of manager. They have a hard time letting things go, mistrust their employees and are afraid of losing their position. As a result, they keep information to themselves, micromanage and divide the team so that it will not be able to overrule or overthrow the manager’s power and position. In essence, it is management driven by insecurity and weakness. The manager on the right is the exact opposite. They manage driven by strength. These managers are confident, present, and truly interested in getting the best out of their people—and helping them flourish and grow. And not only individually, also as team. Because they feel confident about their own abilities, they dare to be transparent, delegate, and let things go.

Origins of the toxic management behaviors

There’s a reason why we see toxic management behaviors all around us. These behaviors are a result of how the concept of management has emerged with the industrial revolution, especially in the early years of the 20th century. Based on, amongst others, the work of Henry Fayol and Frederick Winslow Taylor, management was traditionally defined largely along the lines of the left side of the table.

A century ago, this was seen as appropriate or even essential behavior. In the factory of those days, managers were supposed to command and control their employees with a great level of detail. They were seen as superior to their subordinates who simply needed to obey and do their work.

Times have changed and so have organizations. Yet, the idea of what management is, has largely remained. Old habits and beliefs are persistent and hard to change, but the very fact that we see these behaviors today as ‘toxic’ rather than appropriate, shows the time for change is there.

Moving forward

The Seven Healthy Management Habits on the right side of the table show the path forward. Of course, and fortunately, many managers already show the behaviors described there. But there are also plenty of them that do not or do not do so as much as they should. To help them move forward, the following steps are suggested:

1. Create awareness. Share the lists of toxic and healthy behaviors with as many managers as possible to create awareness of what is appropriate management behavior in organizations today.

2. Look in the mirror. Evaluate yourself and assess which, if any, of the toxic behaviors you still show regularly and which of the healthy habits you need to do more of.

3. Unlearn. Actively unlearn toxic behaviors by reflecting regularly on your own, while stopping unwanted behaviors as soon as you witness them, whether they be your own or others.

4. Learn. Replace the toxic behaviors with their healthy counterparts. Be patient with yourself, adopt a continuous improvement mindset and improve one step at a time.

5. Help others. Look at other managers around you and help them to reduce their own toxic behavior and develop healthy habits.

With these steps and the underlying descriptions of the seven toxic and healthy management behaviors, we can change the negative discourse around management and reacknowledge and revitalize the essential and value-added role of management in organizations today.