On The Subject Of Incompetent Bosses...

A Delaware Online columnist plainly puts into words what everybody (but my bosses) knows:

Academics long ago learned that companies and business leaders fared better when they created positive, confirming corporate cultures.

A confirming culture is one in which employees feel valued. If you say to me, "I just turned in my project," a confirming response might be: "That's great! You worked hard, and it must be a relief to be finished."

People who receive confirming responses tend to have better morale, work harder and longer, don't jump ship, take fewer sick days and are more productive.

But far too often, managers offer a "disconfirming" response: ignoring you, cutting you off in midsentence, changing the subject, going off on a tangent, being condescending, reacting ambiguously, etc. The subtext is that their time, their interests, their lives are more important than yours. Disconfirming responses can be toxic.

The full column is here.