Abusive, overbearing, bullying – working for a nasty boss can seriously affect your self-confidence and job satisfaction. So how do you deal with a dreadful boss?
Working for a toxic boss can hamper your career and damage your health. Psychologist Robert Hogan, author or Personaily and the Fate of Organisations, says many staff surveys have shown the same result: three quarters of workers feel the most stressful aspect of their job is their immediate boss.
Bad bosses are far from unusual in the UK, with nearly one in four employees rating their boss “bad” or “dreadful”, according to research by consultancy The Good Boss Company in 2006. More than half of respondants had looked for another job becuase of their immediate manager.
“Employees can dread coming into work and it can lead to stress and reduce effectiveness” says Karen Osborn. A toxic boss can damage an employees self-confidence. It can undermine someone’s self-esteem so they find they are less able to do tasks and lose confidence in their abilities.
There are also implications for an employee’s mental and physical wellbeing when working for a toxic boss, says professor Ariane Ollier-Malaterre of Rouen Business School in France, “stress can lead to absenteeism, a fall in productivity and poor perforamnce from an employee”
But it’s not just the staff member who suffers in a relationship with a toxic manager, she adds. “an organisation will get a bad reputation and lose talented people who will quit”.
Not all toxic managers are the same – there are different types. Research into leadership derialment by Hogan Assessment Systems uncovered 11 types of toxic bossess that link 11 differnet kinds of personalility disorders found in the working popluation, explains Louise Weston, business psychologist at Pearn Kandola. “We know that a boss is the biggest source of stress in the workplace”, she says. “if you’re at work feeling demotivated or stressed, and your boss is the source of that, then there is a potential for them to be a bad boss.”
There are many strategies you could use to deal with , manage and eliminate certain behaviours iwth your boss. Talking is highly recommended to allow openess and feedback. During the conversation focus o their behaviour and how you feel about it because this willbe difficult for them to argue against.
What are your experiences at work? Do you have an inspirational leader who collaborates and morivates the team? Or a bullying-boris who shouts, tells and sulks when the gong gets too hot?
Let us know about your experiences.
(information & extract taken from EDGE -Institute of Leadership & Management magazine, page 030)
