o you already know whether you are working for the worst of toxic bosses or whether you are under the wing of the best of supportive bosses? Making sense of their behaviours will help you considerably with your work experience.
Understanding whether someone has your best interests at their core makes an amazing difference to your daily activities and how you see your future. If you are working for a people-focused leader who balances care for individuals with consideration for best economic results for the enterprise, you will be protected from a state of high-anxiety, stress and fear where depression just lurks around the corner.
A great leader will know your capabilities and what you ought to be able to do. And this boss will draw these qualities out of you and show others how your abilities have become exceptional, demanding a premium from your enterprise. Your skills, experience and knowledge will be obvious, and your newly crafted abilities will attract comment, testimonials and recommendations thanks to the support of your good boss. And given your competencies have been encouraged and brought out, your strengths will be perceived to far outweigh your weaknesses.
On the other hand, a toxic boss is probably on the way to having a narcissistic personality disorder, typified by people who are described as myopic, panglossian, psychotic narcissists (MPPNs). Individuals who are so short-sighted they do not realise the negative effect they are having on all around them. They can only see their way is the best way and will not listen to anybody else, unless there is an immediate, personal and individual benefit for them. So full of self-love, their behaviour, driven by how they feel and what they think, is actually a psychosis; obvious to all who suffer from their presence but the toxic-bully-boss is oblivious to the damage they cause around them.
You will know this person; the one who does not listen and shouts you down so you cannot be heard. They so love the sound of their own voice, this toxic individual is unlikely to mix with clients because clients cannot be bullied. They therefore are often obsessed with paperwork and bureaucratic monitoring to keep them busy; doing oh so many things right but neglecting to do the right thing. They will rage when criticised by those deemed to be below them and will fight a sense of humiliation when criticised by those deemed to be superior, which they will immediately amplify and make their juniors’ lives miserable.
If they do mix with clients, you will see a form of schizophrenia which is driven by their abnormal behaviour and total failure to understand what is real, so the client sees a totally different individual to the one you experience in the work-environment. This person exaggerates his or her own abilities and accomplishments, expecting to be recognised as oh so very ‘special’ and has an unreasonable grandiose sense of self-importance. The toxic boss believes they have absolutely unique problems, which can only be understood by those who are as ‘elevated’ as they are.
With this need for excessive admiration, you know you have to boost them constantly to try and get some peace. You pay these compliments so you can get on with your work winning customers and delivering, delighting and exciting as many stakeholders as possible, notwithstanding this toxic boss’s excessive need for over-the-top blandishments which they believe they deserve. And they have no sense of working with others; have no conception of queuing or waiting – because they always have to be first.
The toxic boss will talk about ‘bleeding the asset’ and is prepared to sacrifice others because these others just do not matter in the drive to benefit themselves. They do not understand other people’s needs; they do not even see others’ needs are relevant. This haughty indifference to others typifies their behaviour because the only person who matters is the myopic, panglossian, psychotic narcissist (MPPN). With such high levels of arrogance they leave a metaphysical snail-like trail behind them as they move from one office to other, from one enterprise to another, causing chaos and anxiety wherever they tread.
How different is this to the supportive leader who aims to improve your oral comprehension and expression and helps you with clarity of speech. This leader coaches you to become an effective public-speaker, teaches you how to best speak to small groups or mentor your staff on a one-to-one basis.
This leader shows you there is a vital need for critical thinking and creativity, based in both deductive and inductive reasoning. But for our critical thinking and creativity to be of value we must learn how to not only debate with others, but to truly reflect on what they say and to be prepared to generate new ideas. Our leader-boss is your own change-agent, counselling you on how to become an exceptional generative listener as well as an effective creative critical thinker.
Your decision-making, judgements and perceptiveness is improved by exposure to your supportive boss; who shows you the way to gather information to help drive purpose, vision, values, mission, goals and specific objectives. This boss joins you in delivering, delighting and exciting customers as well as employees and other stakeholders, ensuring your enterprise’s reputation grows and you personally benefit.
Thanks to this boss, you will have exceptionally competent time-management skills and discipline given the management by objectives approach exhibited, shared and encouraged by this leader of people. These time-management and discipline skills will help you deploy your developing report-writing skills and the boss will say, well done. It’s all down to your efforts.
Know whether you are working for the worst of toxic bosses or whether you are under the wing of the best of supportive bosses? Their actions and words show you.