incompetent

one good thing about having a bad leader

is you easily become the better subordinate

I had a discussion with the team leader yesterday.
At the end of it, I was so upset/disappointed/frustrated/sad/heart-broken/worried.
I lost confidence in him.
Technically and management-wise, I can't see how he fits in the role.
This was not the first time it happens.

Him: Are you working on changes to this?
Me: No? I thought you say to put it on hold?
Him: Ya. But you can start changing them to suit B.
Me: Sorry? Last week you said we do it according to A. Why are we doing B now?
Him: I'm pretty sure now we have to do B.
Me: Pretty sure? Is that your own assumptions or the client said so?
Him: Just my guess.
Me: zzzz
Him: I'm not sure how busy are you. Are you busy? If not, we can try B now.
Me: Last week you assured that it's A. Yesterday you told me to hold the works. Now you ask me to try B? Do you have a clear direction as to what we have to do?
Him: Not yet.
Me: Do you realise we keep repeating the same task without having a direction? It's heading nowhere.
Him: I thought it's normal to repeat?
Me: *look at him in disbelief* I thought we should AIM at getting things right the first time to avoid unnecessary repetition?
Him: It happens you know.
Me: I know it happens. But that's due to BAD PLANNING! We do without planning and without direction. That's the reason.
Him: Okkk....Let me know if you have any queries.

I turned to face my monitor while he quietly manoeuvre his chair back to his seat with him sitting on it.

We haven't spoken a word to each other ever since and only communicated via emails as of today. Lol.

What it feels like working with an incompetent leader:

- You find yourself repeating one same task over 5 times, with no conclusion and no result.
- You find yourself rowing single-handedly trying to move a kayak of two people.
- You find yourself in unnecessary meetings because he doesn't know how to prioritise what's important and what's not.
- You find yourself in a discussion with him for 30 mins only to realise that he does not know half the things that came out of his freaking mouth.
- You find yourself getting more confused after a discussion than before it.
- You find unnecessary forwarded emails in your mailbox with 'FYI' as the opening.
- You find emails ending with 'let me know if you have any queries' (as if he's ready to answer any questions), but when you ask, his responses are 'I don't know'.
- You find that he keeps checking on your work progress without a freaking idea of how long the work actually requires. Like checking at 30 mins interval for a task which requires 5 days or giving you 5 days for a 15 days task.
- You find that he often contradicts himself because he doesn't know what he wants and what needs to be done.
- You find that his favourite sentences for complicated tasks are 'I'll leave this to you' and 'Honestly, I haven't done this before'.
- You find that he sets a low target for everything he does, 'don't have to do so much until the client asks for it'. Like don't wash the dirty toilet bowl until it turns brown.
- You find that he likes using 'do it by COB xxx' for every task he gives you. Not all task requires a bloody COB deadline!
- You find him saying stuff which leaves you gobsmacked and makes you suspect his career experience. Like when a manual car driver tells you that he drives without ever using the clutch - is he fooling you or he is a fool.

It all comes down to:

- Lack of passion in what he does
- Lack of sense of responsibility
- Lack of planning skill
- Lack of common sense
- Lack of desire to strive
- Lack of motivation
- Lack of meaning at work
- Lack of related technical skills
- Lack of .......just anything you expect from a leader

There's just too much differences in us and our way of working.
It's a long way to go for us till we come to the middle path in our work-relationship.