Sometimes you find yourself in an office setting with a boss that is less than ideal. Taking into account human nature, at some point managers or bosses are going to make mistakes or treat you somewhat unkindly. However, when that behavior creeps to a different level, and you end up with a toxic boss, you will of course need tools to be able to spot them. For that reason, I have compiled this list of the 10 different kind of toxic bosses.
1. The Tyrant
Usually the easiest to spot, the tyrant is the type of toxic boss who is concern with only their own ego. The tyrant makes every decision in a manner that will only benefit themselves. The tyrant is Machiavellian in nature. Anyone who challenges the status quo is seen as an up-riser and is squashed. This person doesn’t build team moral; rather, they divide and conquer, make seemingly arbitrary decisions, and take every chance to remind you that they are in charge.
2. The Inappropriate Buddy
Growing up, everyone had a buddy with a dad or uncle who was always “just trying to be one of the guys.” This parental figure would talk to you about members of the opposite sex, about going out and having fun, or about school as if they were there with you. The innappropriate buddy is the workplace version of the same thing. This toxic boss will use their place of authority to make sure you are their friend. Whether or not they mean to, they create workplace division and will inevitably dig up some office gossip that will prove detrimental to someone.
3. The Promoted-Too-Fast
This person has less than a year’s worth of experience over you, but that did not stop the company from moving this achiever up the corporate ladder too soon. Arguably the worst type of toxic boss to have, this person will be in charge of people with more experience. They will resent every effort those workers make to do their jobs. Constantly in over there head, there is no saving this person – they are doomed. The panic in their eyes says they know it.
4. The Swoop-In
This toxic boss is usually fairly disengaged in work, which makes it mostly bearable for a good portion of the time. You get to kick back and hold yourself to their nondefined standards. However, when someone higher above the swoop-in comes calling about progress, this boss will show up, misunderstand the situation, make illogical demands of you, and leave. It’s so not terrible, as long as they don’t hold you to those demands once their supervisors find something more interesting.
5. The Innovator
When you first meet them, the innovator seems like an amazing boss to work for. They have all the brilliant ideas. They want you to expand your creativity in executing those ideas. The fault of the innovator is two-fold: they never stop innovating long enough for you to see the ideas to execution, and they have no idea what the end product of their idea would look like.
6. The Robot
The defining feature of the robot is that they don’t seem to have a need for sleep. Or food. Or social contact, for that matter. This person has memorized all of the benchmarks their department is required to meet. They are relentless in driving you towards just one more ounce of productivity. They don’t even feel a certain way about making you work a billion hours to hit a specific goal. Basically, if they can work 14 hour days every day for eight years, then why can’t you?
7. The Micromanager
When working for a micromanager, you may constantly feel as though you should just give them your work and tell them to do it for you. A micromanager will never be happy with the format of the spreadsheet you used, or the color ink you wrote a note in. They will spend extra time trying to teach you things that you already know, all the while missing meetings and deadlines of their own because what you are doing just needs to be done correctly, dammit.
Featured photo credit: John Angry/Oboyah Za3lan via flickr.com
