Just Because You Could Be A Manager Doesn't Mean You Should Be A Manager

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Image description: A white man in a business suit is cowering on the left side of a room while a gigantic suit jacket-covered right arm with a clenched fist comes toward him from the right side of the room.

Some people shouldn’t be managers, supervisors, senior leaders, or decision-makers for your company or organization.

If you’re thinking of promoting someone into a leadership role after working for your company for years - or you currently have folx who have been “locked into” management positions for years - and they:

  • Regularly use the wrong pronouns when referring to employees, even after being corrected on multiple occasions;

  • Consistently make sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, ableist, and body-shaming comments or swiftly defend others in the organization who make similar comments;

  •  Exhibit that they are unwilling or unable to receive feedback or take responsibility for issues in the workplace with direct correlation to them and their management style;

  •  Have a multitude of employee-submitted grievances or employee complaints on file;

  •  Have shown an unwillingness to do their work and process their beliefs and views around racism, white supremacy, misogyny, hate, and oppressive states and how all of the aforementioned do harm to others;

  •  Make an ordeal and power play out of employees needing time off or flexible scheduling to take care of themselves and their families;

  •  Shame or belittle employees who ask for support or accommodations at work;

  •  Gleefully gossips about others in the company, especially those in their department, and often with derogatory comments about their appearance or what they perceive as the person’s work ethic;

  •  Regularly responds to emails from Global Majority folx by ignoring the content of said emails and sending them a list of “corrections”;

  • Routinely participates in or facilitates gaslighting and invalidation activities toward employees from marginalized communities who speak up, call in, and call out;

Then this person shouldn’t be a manager, supervisor, senior leader, or decision-maker for your company or organization. And if you think they should, and that none of the above should factor into your decision to make them a leader or decision-maker?

All of the above likely fits you like a glove as well.

YOU probably shouldn’t be a manager, supervisor, senior leader, or decision-maker for your company or organization.