Who is afraid of the BIG BAD BOSS... everyone so I created the 2010 Calendar of the BIG BAD BOSS attitudes

1. THE 2010 CALENDAR
OF THE
BIG
BAD
BOSS
20
10

2. 2009 has been rich in:
- high Stress levels
- suicides on the job
- massive lay-offs
- illegal confinement of bosses
- offshore relocations
- violent strikes

3. and 2010 will be
WORSE

4. AS MANY MANAGERS
ARE NOW TRAINED TO
PUSH PEOPLE OUT
WITHOUT FIRING

5. Mission quarter1
Management by the 5 C
in french:
C’est
:
Con mais ed
slat he
an ’s t
C’est Tr at is !
Comme Th y it
wa
Ça !

6. KICKING OUT
THROUGH
PROMOTION
JANUARY 2010

7. SERGE – Head of an engineering
service (3 engineers) in a large
group gets promoted… by
supervising a MUCH larger team…
He becomes the...
HEAD OF THE INTERNAL
RESTAURANT
Result : Serge can’t support this situation
and leaves the company 2 weeks later

8. Always HIGHER
FEBRUARY 2010

9. « Like pressing an orange… »
Laurent, Director General Services
30% of his pay depends on his achievement
Goal Year 1 : cutting operating costs by 30%
Mission achieved with 34%
Goal Year 2 : cutting operating costs by 35%
Mission achieved with 37%
Goal Year 3 : cutting operating costs by 40%
Failure – with only 34%. Laurent has been fired for
lack of result…

10. THE BOSS
rules the waves
MARCH 2010

11. Patrice, Sales director
Implemented an atmosphere of constant war
The 5 sales persons (newly arrived) have to chase
new prospects…
But Patrice steals in the end the signature of new
contracts…. And it is Patrice who collects all
contract incentives !
Disgusted, no sales person finishes his trial-
period
(but as revenue increases constantly… the board
keeps this insane situation)

12. Mission trimestre2
Management by the 5 S
(japanese)
Seiri = get rid
Seiton = get things into trim
Seiso = wipe, rub
Seiketsu = keep neat
Shitsuke = strictness

13. FAKE EMPLOYEE
APRIL 2010 SURVEYS

14. Hubert, COO has to close a critical
subsidiary having a lot of internal
problems
- Solution… execution of an employee
satisfaction survey
Conclusion
- Publication of a small note, confirming some
of the minor problems but without real
explanations…
- Nomination by the group of an extra director
(oriented trouble-tracking not operations).
Impact
Team completely unsatisfied and in less than 4
months, all 5 managers resigned !
Successful operation as the subsidiary closed 2
months later

15. THE FOG
MACHINE
MAY 2010

16. Goal : loose focus
Carlos, GM of a business unit,
receives constantly new goals… (through a very
complex matrix-organisation)
- Sales goal changes every 15 days
- The SLA he has to respect changes every 2 months (due
to restructuring in Europe, EMEA …)
- After each European board meeting, the priority of the
product portfolio changes radically
- He has full P&L responsibility but the group is engaging
major expenses he can not refuse
A company without focus or clear
settings… after doing a great job, all GM’s
leave after one year… just like Carlos.

17. CREATING
JUNE 2010 OFFICE GOSSIP

18. Patrick, President of a subsidiary
He is doing well but he has a strong personality
and does not necessarily follow the group-rules.
Several group executives don’t like him.
Launching of a very negative buzz (articles on a
so-called bad performance, sending of tax-
inspectors, legal inspectors… ).
Result : the employees have lost confidence in
their boss and internal conflicts ignite.
Patrick resigns 6 months later … and the unit is
integrated inside the group as a “department”.

19. Mission quarter3
Management by the
5M
Management by stress
3-yearly Mobility plan
Perpetual Move-on (change)
Manipulating Redundancy
Multiply “kick-out” forces
(early-retirement, relocation…)

20. Annual Assesment
JULY 2010
= split-up

21. Sylvain, director of an IT field
service
- learned how to use the annual assessment
discussions to destabilize certain people.
- his goal : make people leave without firing
“You work hard but you are not efficient”
“The market has changed so you need to adapt quickly”
“Our clients ask us to work 10% faster… so do it”
“We expect you to execute, not to talk…”
“The market conditions are not longer present to pay you
any training”
“The team is filling up your inexperience”
Result:
The number of resignations has …tripled

22. HOLIDAY BUZZ
AUGUST 2010 TO DIVIDE

23. Francine, site manager (distribution) –
executing a major critical contract (but money-losing activity)
She reads in the written press :
- A project to unite several sites
- A project to offshore several services
Her site is not impacted… but this has not been
written
Returned from holidays, she finds her company on
strike. One week later, her critical contract has
been cancelled by the client…
Result:
- Close down of the site (- 54 people)
- The group ended a money-losing contract
without penalties

24. ROT THE
SEPTEMBER 2010 ATHMOSPHER

25. Gérard, director of operations
His mission : divide by 2 his team without firing
He :
- changes the team priorities 3 to 4 times a day
- never explains his decisions
- does not share information neither forecasts
- reduced office cleaning (and decoration)
- always focuses on speed of execution and the
restriction of resources
- is always searching for the person responsible
for a delayed intervention…
Result : 50% of his team left in less than 12
months time

26. Mission quarter4
Management by the
5S
In French :
Stresser g
Sévir S tr essin
g
Stigmatiser
terin
déStabiliser Splin zing
mati
Subordonner
Stig g
ilizin
de stab g
inatin
S ubord

27. BIG BROTHER IS
OCTOBER 2010
WATCHING YOU

28. The eternal monitoring
Hubert, GM of a software house
He is monitoring everyone
He knows of each person the number of cups of
coffee, the number of cigarette-breaks, the time
spend on the Web, the number of personal phone
calls…
It allows him to knock down people by
increasing (in a clever way) their stress-level so
he/she will resign as quickly as possible.

29. The CONSTANT
BATTLE for
SURVIVAL
November 2010

30. THE ETERNAL COMPETITION
Jean and Philippe, two directors at 2
different engineering offices but in the same
group (both working under a fixed term contract)
They both work – without really knowing - on the
same files and have to prove their efficiency by
delivering to the Group the best products at the
best price (and at the shortest delay).
This constant battle is tough … and stressfull.
No director stayed more than 2 years in the
company… but the Group got extreme fine
products !

31. DECEMBER 2010
THANKFULLY… THERE ARE STILL
SOME GOOD BOSSES

32. @ND YOU C@N FIND THOSE HONEST
@ND PEOPLE C@RING EXECUTIVES
TO @SSIST YOU ON IMPORT@NT
CH@NGE @ND/OR RESTRUCTURING
PROJECTS ON :
email : interim-executives@lesrelanceurs.fr

33. All pictures are royalty free and
from :
- www.freedigitalphotos.net
- www.dreamstime.com
All the stories in
this presentation
are real and
happened in
France. Not one
single boss got
legal problems…