How to manage Bully Managers

Every Workplace has Bully Managers and they are tolerated for their work results  except for the people-focused Organizations. In you case you happen to work with a Bully Manager, how do you have to manage him ? That’s what I am writing in this Blog.

1)Work closely rather than working away. Personal and professional relationship are two different things and let us respect the professional relationship and the person occupying the position rather than cribbing about how bad the person is. Learn to accept and work closely rather than avoiding so there is less room for misunderstandings. You have a chance to understand your boss better.

2) What is within your control: You can do 100% on what is within your control. Let us do it 100%. When you work on a task / project which is not 100% within your control, do anticipate all possible bottlenecks, your suggestions and communicate it upfront / proactively. Do communicate the status on an ongoing basis. Do raise a red flag if you were to see a problem along with your suggestions, not just the problems. Do it proactively so there is still time to react and diffuse.

3) Understand what make him insecure – Do volunteer and take up the task that your Bully manager is not good at and help him manage his insecurity.  If he is not good in doing data analysis, you can volunteer and do it.  Prove that you want to work in the interest of the team. 

4) Be assertive: You need to define your own boundary and when it’s violated, you need be firm and assertive. You need to do it right first and every time. It’s difficult to be assertive if it’s not done in the first time. Being assertive does not mean you bluntly disagree and prove him wrong. Rather, how you do it is much more important. 

5) Get used to tough feedbacks – Bully Mangers don’t sugar coat their feedbacks and they may even criticize.  Accept and assure you are determined to work on them.

6) Ask for feedback: Do ask for feedback proactively and find out what your Bully Boss has got to say on your improvement area. Don’t stop with that, do show improvements on those improvement area.

7) Give feedback – Yes. you’ve read it right. Fix up a time and communicate your feedback in an acceptable manner. For example, if you feel that your boss has reacted to you for something for which you were not directly accountable, you can say that and make him understand in the one-on-one discussion.  If he is busy and you cannot find his time or you think that he is not a person who will listen fully, do send a mail explaining the situation clearly without offending him or proving him wrong.

8) Challenge your Boss:  You don’t do that literally. I mean you need to show more results than what is expected and keep raising your performance level

9) Don’t bad mouth – As a rule of thumb, never bad mouth your boss to others.  It spreads much faster than wild fire and you will be bound to feel the heat.  More than anything, it’s a not an ethical habit. You can very well confront and earn a bad name rather than bad-mouthing. Any relationship is built on trust and credibility and anything that you do should contribute to building it and it should not erode the trust deposit that you’ve made.

10) Two Rules:

Firs rule - Boss is always right

Second Rule - Never violate the first rule

Looks like it has a negative connotation.  As long as you are not changing your personality and you are not doing anything unethical, I think it’s fine. Rather, you are tweaking your strategy and learn to be street smart. You are not giving up. You don’t prove him wrong. Rather you prove yourself right. It’s a win-win situation.

Remember, you learn to survive and perform in a tough environment. Quitting is the easiest choice. Staying back needs lots of confidence and determination. 

Warning – This is not a statutory warning. I’ve seen the above strategies working. However, all of them do not have to work for all and in all situations. You are best judge to decide what best suits you and the situation that you face.

All the best and d0 share your experience in terms how well you managed your Bully Boss/es.  What really worked and what back-fired? 

diD yOU enJOY ReADinG ThIS ArTIcLE? 

                                  If yES, 

yOU maY sHAre it wiTH Your FriENds tOO