Gary got the word only yesterday that he was taking over as the manager of the parks and recreation department. Gary worked in city government for a medium-size city near New Orleans. He didn’t know anything about managing, just what he had learned from the managers he had worked for, whose styles he definitely didn’t like. They were directive and micromanaged. They wouldn’t hassle you as long as you did what they said. If you did not, they would blow up. After working with those types of managers, Gary figured that the best thing for him to do as a manager was to make everyone happy: staff, colleagues, bosses, and the community that uses the parks and recreational areas that he was now in charge of. Life was too short to take things so seriously.
Symptoms of the Exaggerator Congratulator. These managers go around praising everyone they come in contact with, using grandiose terminology. They tell their staff members that they are doing the greatest work imaginable, that they are the best staff ever. The boss is told that she is the best boss since the creation of bosses. Customers hear that their children are the brightest, the best athletes, the best looking, etc. If permitted to, these managers write glowing performance reviews and want to place everyone in the "walks on water" category. They tend to overlook or minimize problems and to laugh things off. They seem to be genuinely happy, and to them the world seems perfect.
Impact on Staff. The vast majority of team members, at first, would relish the chance to work for this type of boss. It would be fun, their egos would rise, and it would be quite a change from many of the managers who they are used to working with. Then again, over time they would find out how disingenuous the Exaggerator Congratulator boss really is. They would become disillusioned and start to feel that the boss really wasn’t a support system for them. They would discount the exaggerated praise and lip service and lose their respect and confidence in the boss. Most team members would eventually view him as a joke.
Impact on Department/Organization. The Exaggerator Congratulator’s behavior soon backfires on him. He’s discounted as an effective manager and, once again, as we have seen with so many other worst types of managers, the morale of the department starts to decrease, resulting in lower productivity and lessening of work quality.
Why Accidental Managers Become Exaggerator Congratulators. Some managers who become Exaggerator Congratulators feel that the major responsibility of a manager is public relations. They think that as long as everyone appears to be happy, the organization will believe that their unit or department is running smoothly. Other managers who become this type of worst manager just don’t want to take the job of managing seriously and give it the attention that it demands.
Hints for the Exaggerator Congratulator. Giving praise is great, but Exaggerator Congratulators do not give it the way it should be given. Praise must be genuine and sincere. It also needs to be specific, not vague or general. Exaggerator Congratulators need to stop the bull and get down to business. They need to do all the other things that successful managers do: set goals and standards, monitor performance, train, delegate, actively listen, give constructive feedback, etc. An Exaggerator Congratulator will fool some of the people some of the time. Everyone else will pick up on his insincere praise very quickly.