8 Signs To Spot Manipulative People At Work


Back when I was in a corporate job, I had a coworker who would always try to take credit for my work.

It was terrible, and when I confronted him about it, he played the victim and gaslighted me.

Now, looking back, I realize how he tricked me with his manipulation.

It’s never easy to identify a manipulative coworker, but being aware of certain behavioral patterns can help you recognize such individuals.

Here are 8 signs to watch out for:

1. ???????????????? ?????????? Manipulative people frequently lie or present misleading information to achieve their goals or to create confusion among colleagues.

2. ?????????????? ???????????? They portray themselves as the victim to gain sympathy and elicit support from others, even when they are responsible for the issues they’re facing.

3. ?????????????????? & ?????????????????? ?????????????? They engage in spreading rumors or gossip about others to create division and undermine trust within the team.

4. ???????????????? ???????????? They take credit for the achievements of their colleagues and minimize their contributions to appear more successful themselves.

5. ?????????????????????? They engage in gaslighting, which is a tactic used to make others doubt their own perceptions, memory, or judgments, causing confusion and self-doubt.

6. ?????????????????????? ?????????????????????? They control the flow of information to their advantage. They selectively share details and withhold critical information from colleagues to be the sole holders of valuable insights.

7. ???????????????? & ????????????????They form alliances with influential individuals in the workplace to strengthen their position and isolate others who could challenge them.

8. ??????????????-???????????????????? ?????????????????? They resort to subtle, passive-aggressive actions, like giving backhanded compliments, ignoring requests, or using sarcasm, to undermine or frustrate others.


Is there any other red flag you’d like to add to the list?

Anujja Marwwaha

Leading digital transformation for business excellence through IT innovations | Client Partnership | AI/ML, GenAI Automations | Product Mangement | Consulting & Presales | Portfolio Management

1 年

True Eye opener.. Would highlight they have all goodie sweet talks in person when you question & confront however do back biting to influential people about everything and everyone strong stand up. Bring negativity all around if you don't learn to ignore them most of the time or deal smart. THEY JUST CAN'T TRUST ANYONE. I play it defensive rather aggressive most of the time and focus on work and use my own influential power to overcome confronting situations. I wonder what makes them like this? Is it Insecurity to start with then getting into habit. A topic to research for me too ?? .

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Elaine Glencoe, MSc, PCC

I coach leaders to Become Even More Amazing #BEMA

1 年

These are definitely things to keep in mind, Rakesh Rana - High Performance Educator. ? Thank you for sharing this! ??

vipin mehta

Sales Manager at Curative Healthcare

1 年

Manipulative co-worker not only creat a toxic work culture also hinder the growth of individual, co-worker and company. Bad habits always create bad things.

Kunwar Srivastava

Program Manager - Strategist & Business Excellence Enthusiast (PgMP-PMI, AWS Solution Architect, MBA - Telecom, Masters in Advance AI, ML, DL, IoT, Big Data Hadoop, Data Science).

1 年

This is just an outcome of Sense of Insecurity amongst those who promotes these practices. Some of the other noticeable signs - they are sweet & praiseworthy on face bearing mysterious smile always as if they are close confidant, contrary to that kept on bad mouthing to spoil the image before Sr. Management. From outside they give the message as if they are the greatest well-wishers but with in themselves, have the greatest bitterness & hostility. Best strategy to cope up with these sets of people is to be self-aware with above signs of back-stabbing mindsets, stay safe & alert without cutting any vices or burn bridges with these people. Don't be over-friendly. As rightly said in Corporate World, there are no Friends & no Foes. So learn to isolate two worlds Professional & Personal. Never let anyone enter ones' personal space. Never become over-friendly ! Never reveal or discuss ones' secrets / weaknesses, which may get exploited by these people & downplay on one's bright prospects or upcoming opportunities on the way. Lot of other key aspects too, but would be too lengthy to cover here. In a nutshell, need to learn to define boundaries & limits to not to become victim of the circumstances in the hands of few in near future.

Ranjan Bhandari

Cloud Security Architect | Cloud Strategy, Management

1 年

Can’t agree more than this ..manipulative Co-workers leads to toxic work environments. Try to fight out and sometime you can’t win.. Guess that’s the best time you need to start looking for other option to move out.

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