Eight to watch for: takes credit and assigns blame, gives feedback only when angry and never in writing, changes the rules with their mood, talks about people who are not in the room, never says what done looks like, reverses decisions without a reason, asks about hours but never about the work, and has a team where nobody has been promoted. Two in a month is a pattern.
The eight flags
- Credit up, blame down. Wins are theirs; losses are yours.
- Angry feedback only. No written notes, no calm reviews, just heat when something goes wrong.
- Mood rules. What was fine Monday is a problem Thursday.
- Gossip. If they talk about others to you, they talk about you to others.
- No definition of done. You find out what they wanted after you deliver something else.
- Reversals without reasons. Decisions change and nobody learns why.
- Hours, not work. The questions are about when you logged on, never about what you made.
- A frozen team. Nobody has grown, moved up or left for something better.
Flags that are not flags
High standards. Direct feedback. A hard week before a launch. Asking for a brief before saying yes. These feel uncomfortable and are signs of a good manager.
What to do
Document specifics: dates, words, what was asked, what was delivered. Keep your own work record clean and visible so that the story of your work is not only their version. Fix what you can with clear briefs and finished work. Then decide, on a timeline, whether this is a manager you can grow under.
Where M-Tracker fits
Flag five is the one that causes most of the others, and it is the one M-Tracker removes. Each task has a brief that says what done looks like, visible to both of you. When the work is sent, M-Tracker checks it against the brief and writes a plain review. The reviews are saved with dates. Your work has its own record, which is the best protection against flags one, three and six.
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Questions people ask
What is the single biggest red flag?
Credit up, blame down. Everything else follows from a manager who protects themselves first.
Should I leave at the first red flag?
No. Look for the pattern, document it, and try the fixes you control. Then decide.
Can a manager with red flags change?
The ones about information, like never defining done, change easily. The ones about character rarely do.
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