The 10 most common types of toxic bosses (and 10 tips for dealing with them)

Toxic relationships are characterized by generating negative emotions and feelings that, far from helping to grow, tend to paralyze. In summary, the position of authority is one of the factors that lead to this type of relationship, and it is even worse if we find ourselves in the position of the official.

In this post, the incredible.club reveals some situations that will help you identify if you have a toxic relationship with your boss and deal with it in the best possible way.

This is probably the most common type of toxicity, so much so that an estimated 60.4 million people in the United States have experienced some form of harassment in the workplace, according to the Workplace Bullying Institute in its latest survey — and yes, 61 % of these harassment cases come from superiors. If yours yells at you, insults you, or generates any situation where he terrifies and intimidates you, that’s harassment. Gary Namie, director of the Institute, said workplace harassment by bosses manifests itself in four ways: throwing tantrums over the smallest of situations, criticizing performance without justification, withholding resources, or smearing reputation with words.

Controllers are among the most common bosses in work environments, so much so that they have even been called by the term micromanager. Such managers are terribly obsessed with detail and monitor, with the intent to control, every action of their employees. These people make visible a great distrust of their team and have an absolutist view of how things should be. There are leaders who are so controlling that they often decide to do things alone, without giving their employees the opportunity to learn and grow, due to mistrust.

A person who is a perfectionist is usually very rigid in their thinking and quite critical of their results and those they are responsible for. Thus, she only accepts “perfection”, which is completely understandable, because the results of the whole team will, in general, be impeccable. The real problem comes when the boss’s perfectionism reaches the detrimental requirement, as people who are perfectionists often hold others to high standards in their performance as much as they hold themselves, which leads them to completely condemn their employees’ mistakes. .

Undoubtedly, time is everyone’s responsibility, each one must assume their tasks and deliver the results within the given period. However, when an employee’s workload and responsibilities become excessive, it is probably the boss who is mishandling work time and assigning tasks without regard to time or other responsibilities that are already pending. This affects the fulfillment of commitments and, in general, the boss does not usually take responsibility for the problem, which becomes a complaint for the employees and misunderstanding in the work relationship.

People and companies that employ a worker must seek certain rights simply out of humanity, empathy and respect. Unfortunately, many work environments are not like that and there are bosses who are often unfair, violating and failing to comply with basic human labor rights. In Mexico alone, 80% of workers do not work in decent conditions, according to a report by the Ciudadana Action Against Poverty, a civil organization dedicated to finding better working conditions for workers in the country. This happens due to selfishness and personal conveniences that only benefit the boss, who takes advantage of the employee’s needs. This creates a bad environment in the relationship between employer and employee.

An absentee boss is characterized by not fulfilling his obligations as a leader because he avoids participating with his employees. It’s not just about letting things happen, but it’s something even more destructive, as he ends up delegating his responsibilities. Research carried out by the department of psychosocial sciences at the University of Bergen studied the damage caused by an authoritarian superior and one who shines in his absence, the latter being more detrimental to job satisfaction than the former. While the authoritarian immediately impairs satisfaction, something that lasts about six months, the absentee affects job satisfaction for at least two years, in addition to generating greater stress in employees.

It is also very common to find bosses who do not generate enough trust for employees to approach and express their concerns, due to zero or poor communication. He minimizes what others think or opine, without taking into account that good communication generates better results in a company. However, many leaders generally believe that trust is also only linked to results, but it is related to transparency. “Organizations that are publicly traded and have high trust in their work teams end up being at least 200% more profitable and productive. The reason is that they set aside rigid, traditional vertical structures that don’t give the employee a voice,” explains Stephen M. R. Covey, global leader of trust practices from the FranklynCovey Institute.

Usually because of an absurd thought that being strict is what will engender the respect it deserves among his team members, the boss usually becomes inflexible. This type does not allow their orders to be discussed and imposes their ideas, in addition to not accepting opinions from the rest of the team or variations in results. However, a study has shown that a flexible leader generates better results in productivity, as it benefits the health of employees. According to the study conducted by the University of Minnesota, the flexibility of a boss is related to the decrease in sick leave, as well as a greater commitment at work.

In general, people who don’t trust themselves avoid taking risks by all means, because one of their biggest fears is failure. However, this is the result they always expect, a situation that derails them from success. If we take such characteristics to the level of a leader, he will drag his entire team with him, not undertaking new projects or tasks just because he does not consider himself capable of executing them. In this way, not only the commander, but also the people who are under his command lose opportunities for growth — or else he tends to delegate to his team the responsibilities that he does not feel capable of fulfilling.

It is usually a relationship in which the boss expresses certain prejudices or ideas that he brings with him from his upbringing. This can have an impact on a good relationship, especially if such ideas become completely personal and show that he doesn’t accept someone because he doesn’t like the way the person dresses, physical appearance, character, sense of humor, ideologies and even gender. . One of the most common examples of discrimination suffered by employees, and not just by bosses, but by company “policies”, focuses on women who decide to become mothers or who are pregnant.

You can find different ways to deal with a person who fosters an unhealthy relationship within the workplace: confronting, reporting the incident, or even changing jobs. But before that, it’s good to consider our tips below:

We are sure that the most important thing is not to feel powerless in the face of any situation that may arise with your boss and to face it one way or another. Did you identify yours among the ones we mentioned? Tell us if you had any bad experience in your professional life with a superior.