Three Things to Remember When Working for a Toxic Boss

Is your bad boss making your life miserable and contaminating the workplace? Well, you’re not alone. The number of toxic bosses out there is troubling. According to a Gallup study, a staggering 60% of government workers said they are unhappy because of bad supervisors. What’s more, multiple studies have found that working for an incompetent boss can raise the risk of heart disease as much as 50%.

In this article, I give you three tips you should remember when dealing with a bad boss:

Focus on what you can control

When working with a difficult or toxic person, it’s best that you focus on what you can control – and that is your job performance. Rather than focusing on your boss trying to intimidate you, keep your focus on the tasks of your role and your career. A toxic boss is likely to sap your confidence and the feelings of self-worth, which can be quite debilitating. Also, giving your boss emotional power is tantamount to inviting him to target you. Once you keep yourself focused on the tasks of your job role, you stop worrying about gaining your boss’s approval and being fearful from him/her.

In addition to this, I recommend that you tend to yourself. When you’re working for a bully, you’re in the mode of self-survival. Recognise your strengths and reinforce them as a coping mechanism.  

Set verbal limits

As Robert Frost said, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’ Setting verbal boundaries is crucial but before you do that, it’s a good idea to analyse how your boss treats you from a neutral perspective. Make a rundown, so you approach your manager with solid facts and confident countenance. When you focus on what matters, you wouldn’t have to squeeze empathy from him/her. Also, sticking to facts will help you set better limits.

Don’t be a martyr and accept discourteous behaviour. It’s important to communicate clearly to your boss that you wouldn’t tolerate any negativity in terms of how you’re being treated. If your boss retaliates with bullying or threatening, reach out to your boss’s manager and ask for assistance.

Reach out to coworkers

When you’re working for a toxic boss, your knee-jerk reaction might be to hide under a rock and survive every day in misery. However, the best thing you can do is build a support system you can trust. Talking to fellow coworkers may significantly help as other colleagues could also be experiencing the same lousy boss issues.

By meeting together and addressing the problems you all have been facing, you can create some solidarity amongst your colleagues and later put forward your concerns to your supervisor in a professional manner. That being said, refrain from engaging in mean spirited conversations such as backbiting or gossiping. Instead, trouble shoot with your boss to foster a positive workplace climate.

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Paul Keijzer is the CEO and Founder of Engage Consulting and the co-Founder of The Talent Games, which aims to transform HR by digitising talent processes and creating more engaging and productive workplaces through gamification and mobile technology. As a global HR and Leadership Management expert, Paul knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.