Bad employers disrupt the workplace. While some may do so obviously, others smugly manipulate their employees, using them as tools for their own success. Regardless of their methods, toxic employers cause irreversible damage to their companies and employees by hampering performance and creating undue stress.
The stress your boss causes can be bad for your health. Multiple studies have found that working for a bad boss increases your risk of having a heart attack by up to 50%. However, it is the large number of bad managers that are most worrying. Gallup research found that 60% of government employees struggle with bad managers. In another study, 69% of workers in the United States compared employers with too much authority to toddlers.
The comparisons don't stop there. A large percentage of American workers describe their bosses as:
These statistics do not surprise most employers. One study found that 64% of managers admit that they need to improve their management skills. When asked where they should focus their efforts, managers answered overwhelmingly: “Increasing profits”, but they don't realize that it's their lack of people skills that might get them fired at some point.
TalentSmart has conducted a survey of more than a million people, and the result is that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in critical situations, as they maintain their calm and control.
The ability to remain unaffected by toxic people - even those in a higher position - is one of their most important skills, and this is not an easy task, as it requires a great deal of emotional intelligence, a skill that high performers rely on.
It is true that seeking another job is the best option when you have a bad boss, but it is not possible whenever we could. Therefore, successful people know how to get the most out of difficult situations. A bad boss doesn't get in the way of their work. This is because they understand that success is the result of accepting the situation in which they find themselves and their ability to make the most of it.
If we assume that this difficult situation is working for a bad manager, successful people identify the kind of this manager and study their nature, and then use this information, so that they do not let their manager's behavior affect them.
Here are six of the most common types of bad employers and the strategies successful people use to work with them effectively:
This boss is too friendly, but not the type who cheers up the team. Rather, they are the type who think only of their personal amusement and engage in unnecessary office gossip. Also, they use their influence to make friends at the expense of their work, and they choose favorites, creating divisions among employees who get frustrated by the lack of justice in attention and respect.
This manager can't make tough decisions about which employees to fire - unless they don't like them - as their company becomes the object of derision.
Setting firm boundaries is the most important lesson to learn when dealing with this type of employers. Don't let their position intimidate you. Rather, take control of the situation by consciously and proactively setting limits.
For example, it's okay to treat your boss in a friendly way, but don't be shy about saying no to spend time together. Nevertheless, the difficulty lies in keeping your boundaries, especially when your boss is persistent. Try as much as possible to distance yourself from their behavior that you consider inappropriate, and you will always be successful, and you may even have a healthy relationship with them.
It is important not to set undue boundaries that show you are unfriendly. Instead of trying to change their pleasing disposition and push them to be someone else, let them see you as an ally, which puts you in a stronger position than you might expect.
This type of manager makes you feel like you are being constantly watched. For example, your boss thinks you need to practice to improve your handwriting, so they replace the pencils you always use with more practical ones that let you grip them better, or they hand back your 20-page report because you didn't use the right paperclip.
Such a manager pays great attention to small details, and constant micromanaging makes employees feel frustrated, pessimistic and even uneasy. A manager who pays attention to small details is naturally drawn to successful people who are flexible, efficient, disciplined, and effective in communication, and to employees who get the job done as they please.
However, the challenge is understanding the way the manager envisions doing the work. To do that, try to ask specific questions about your project, check in regularly, and pay attention to the aspects that your manager gives you most feedback on.
Of course, that doesn't always work. Some micromanagers who pay attention to the smallest details will never stop looking for something to over-analyze and scrutinize. If you are in such a case, you should learn to derive your sense of satisfaction from within.
Don't allow your boss's obsession with details to generate feelings of inadequacy in you, as this will only make you nervous and hinder your performance. So be content with your good work and don't strive for perfection. Even if your boss likes to focus on details, they will appreciate your diligence, but they won't know how to show it to you.
The bossy manager is opportunistic. They constantly make selfish decisions, and their main concern is to maintain power, even if they coerce and intimidate others to do so.
The bossy manager has fantasies about their employees, as if they were a gang of thieves aboard their ship. They classify the people in their mind and treat them accordingly. They treat those who are high achievers but who disagree with them as rebels. Those who support their accomplishments and show loyalty to them are treated in a friendly way. Those who lack the skill of performance are treated with contempt.
An effective strategy for dealing with the bossy boss is to present your ideas in a way that gives them credit, so that they accept your idea while maintaining their ego. Don't hesitate to give them that credit, even if you know they won't reciprocate your gesture, but it will bring you closer to them.
You have to be selective in confrontations in order to protect yourself from the bossy boss. If you have self-awareness and manage your emotions well, then you can choose the battles that are worth fighting rationally and the ones you have to avoid. Thus, you avoid your boss's resentment and prejudice against you.
Perhaps this manager was hastily promoted or hired arbitrarily and occupies a position that exceeds their abilities. They are not necessarily lacking in competence, but perhaps people who are more experienced work for them, who possess information that they still lack.
If you work for a manager who has disappointed you, this may be a sign that you have experience that they lack. It is important to give up your pride and share your experience and knowledge without showing it to them. Share the information this manager needs, so they can enhance their role, and they will make you their ally and the person they trust.
This type of manager does not see in the employees anything but numbers. For them, you are the employee number so-and-so, with a production return of such-and-such, and a level of experience of such-and-such.
This manager makes their decisions based on numbers, and when they have to come to a conclusion without resorting to the appropriate data, they falter and fail. They may make little or no effort to communicate with their employees, and instead look only at the numbers to determine who is priceless and who should be fired.
To succeed with this manager, you need to understand and adopt their mindset. So, make sure you have the necessary data to support your productivity. The same goes for your performance; you need to know what they value and be able to show it to them if you want to prove your worth, and once you achieve that, you can start trying to push them out of their antisocial comfort zone.
The trick here is to find ways to communicate with them directly, without being pushy or rude.
This employer's strength lies in their ideas and innovation, but their entrepreneurship approach falters when implementing a plan or solution, so they cannot focus on the task before them, and when it is time to implement their vision, they will have moved to the next idea, leaving you alone to manage things.
To best deal with this type, reverse the course of their thoughts. It is natural for them to look at things from a larger perspective. So, hasten to break things down into smaller and more practical parts, and to do this, ask a lot of specific questions that force them to rationally deal with the issue and consider possible obstacles to the implementation of their general ideas.
Don't directly refute their ideas or you will make them feel that you are criticizing them; rather, let them focus their attention on what it will take to carry out their plan realistically. All too often, your questions break down their plan, inspiring them to make efforts to help implement it.
Many are marginalized by a boss who seizes opportunities and decides to take action and risks. Instead of taking the time to study the facts and sit down with their team members at the table to come up with possible solutions, this boss rants about a stereotypical set of advice and leaves them alone to correct their mistakes and the mess they created.
This type of manager reaches out to their employees when a disaster strikes at work and asks them for help, and even in this situation, they are restless and urgent, do not think their way through as they should, and make the situation worse by frustrating and neutralizing those who need them most.
There are many forms of approaches that work for a boss who is an opportunity-seeker. If you can get the team to sit with them and explain that their approach to problem-solving makes it difficult for everyone to do their best, they might listen to you.
If the whole team gets together and gives feedback free of threat, then they will find a better way to work with their team. It is easy to tell that you are working for a manager of this type when you bear the consequences of his actions. However, they are not aware of the consequences of their negative behavior.
It's okay to get the team to alert them, and things will change for the better.
If you think these strategies might help others, share this article with them, so that they may find it beneficial to deal with their bad managers.
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