Have you ever worked with a toxic manager or supervisor? Hence the title of my blog, I just feel the need to express this situation.
You work hard, complete deadlines, remain caught up and help others in the work place and yet your supervisor will find negativity and criticize your intentions almost daily.
A toxic manager is not the same as a toxic work place. You can love your job and the people you work with or around despite all the criticism from your supervisor. A toxic supervisor can ruin your vibe causing you to work harder and stress more while you are always trying to meet expectations. But you can never seem to reach those goals because the harder you try, the more negative drive they give you.
This can lead to low moral in the office. It also leads you to be unhealthy away from work. You get home at the end of the day tired and exhausted from trying to keep your supervisor happy. You begin to let yourself go. You never feel like working on yourself. The supervisor has already worn you down and made you feel worthless. All you have ever done is work to make a living and hope your making a difference but you question yourself. You begin to give up things that used to make you happy and relieve stress such as hobbies, healthy habits and family time. You are put in a mind set that you will never succeed. You want to move on and get out of the rut but you fail interview after interview.
How do you pull yourself out? How can you escape a toxic supervisor when you need the job? How can you prove your worth? Do you just continue and hope for the best? That’s what I’m doing now.
Upper management can be blind to a toxic supervisor as they can come across as a great supervisor. They claim they are just wanting to have all the employees on the same page. Complaints are addressed but little is done.
Here are a few other samples of a toxic supervisor or manager.
-Micro managing: They are more concerned with numbers and spreadsheets. They knit-pick at every thing you do and critique every email you send. You have to account for every move you make and explain why you do everything you do.
-They set you up for failure: They give you deadline task on the day or day before the deadline. They set unrealistic goals.
-Poor communication: They often ignore you. They will walk past you without even speaking. Meetings are one on one instead of with a team. This can lead to confusion as there are different discussions about expectations while everyone has the same responsibilities.
-Critical: They always point out all the mistakes and never praise for good works. Your ideas are never good enough. If it is not the supervisors idea, it’s not a good idea.
-Poor evaluations: No matter how well you do in your position, you will never get the grade you deserve. In their eyes, they really do not think your worthy. This causes low self esteem and struggles when your searching for a new position or advancement.
-Favoritism: There is often that one employee that gets away with everything and takes all the credit for the works completed by others, while they do the minimal.
One more thing. A toxic manager or supervisor will not fire you. They make you so miserable in you job that you look for other positions or finally give up and quit. They do not want an employee that can out smart them.
Toxic management is a real thing. Work bullying and gaslighting are real. It’s ok to ask around before accepting a position. Learn the culture of the position you will be in. Find out how the supervisor leads. Last but not least, pay attention to the turn over in employment. The job your excited about getting may be unhealthy in the long run.
