There’s no such thing as a perfect leader: even the best manager you’ve ever had will have things they’re striving to improve on.
There’s a big difference, though, between a leader with room for improvement and one who’s truly toxic. Here are eight signs of a toxic boss that you should look out for.
1. Demoralising and belittling
A good boss encourages and praises. A toxic boss demoralises and belittles.
With a toxic boss, negativity is the norm – not just in terms of feedback, but also in the way they communicate with their team in general. As a result, you may feel belittled and that your efforts in the workplace are not appreciated. You could feel scared to speak up as a result, and so this pattern will continue.
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2. Micromanaging
In a recent survey, 71% of employees stated that micromanagement has hindered their job performance. 69% said that they had considered leaving a role because of a micromanaging boss.
Signs that your boss is micromanaging you include:
- Needing every tiny detail of what you do to be signed off
- Being required to give constant updates on your work
- Having your timesheet watched too closely
- Being given overcomplicated instructions because of their obsession with details
- Being pulled up on the tiniest of mistakes
- Finding that tasks are not delegated to you or other team members as the manager wants complete control.
Many micromanagers believe that their approach is a sign of strong leadership. In fact, the opposite is true. If you’re being micromanaged, you may lose confidence in your abilities and have your creativity stifled – and over time, your increasing stress levels may have you searching for a new role.
3. Punitive approach
Everybody makes mistakes at work – we’re only human, after all.
Of course, major mistakes that require disciplinary action should be dealt with accordingly. A punitive approach to minor mistakes, though, could be another sign of toxicity in a manager.
A boss who takes a punitive approach may be doing so to try and exert more control over their direct reports – or may believe that the threat of punishment will prevent their team from doing things that make them look bad.
A good manager will avoid the punitive approach, instead supporting their direct reports to fix the mistake they’ve made and learn from it going forward.
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4. Showing favouritism
There’s nothing wrong with healthy competition in the workplace. It’s also not uncommon for bosses to favour their top performers.
There’s a fine line, though, between favouring top performers, and favouring individuals who are either friends with the manager or who simply pander to them. When this happens, the manager ends up with a protective ring of people around them who keep them in power, and it can also cause friction within the team.
5. Disruptive behaviour
For a team to succeed in its goals, its members need to work together. If a boss is chaotic, inconsistent and disruptive, reaching goals becomes much more of a challenge.
This disruptive behaviour can show itself in various ways. They might be emotionally unpredictable, or they could break promises. They might regularly contradict themselves, or ask for similar tasks to be done in very different ways.
A good boss works with their team. A toxic boss’ disruptive behaviour works against it.
6. Setting unreasonable expectations
Any good boss will want to get the most out of their direct reports, encouraging them to be as productive as possible, and to complete work to the highest possible standard. But are the expectations that your boss is setting actually reasonable?
A toxic boss may:
- Set impossible deadlines
- Require work to be completed to an impossibly high standard
- Ask you to work overtime or weekends on a regular basis
- Give extreme workloads
It’s an approach that’s more likely to reduce productivity than improve it, leading to high levels of stress and burnout – and, most likely, high employee turnover.
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7. Lack of accountability
Toxic bosses believe that they’re infallible because of their position of power. They also absolve themselves of all accountability in whatever ways they can.
You’ll rarely find that they admit when they’ve made a mistake, or take responsibility for something that’s gone wrong. Instead, they’ll make excuses, ignore the issue entirely, or blame someone else. They’ll also shift workloads to those beneath them to absolve themselves of the responsibility.
However, they’ll still expect accountability from their team.
This “do as I say, not as I do” mentality not only shows that these bosses don’t value the wellbeing of their employees, it also sets a standard for employees who move up into management roles down the line.
8. Not supporting your development/progression
Sometimes it’s clear when a toxic boss isn’t supporting your development and progression. They fail to ask you about your career goals and don’t challenge you to learn new things. They never give constructive feedback, and offer no career coaching or training opportunities.
Sometimes, they’ll hinder your development in ways you don’t see. They’ll exclude you from important meetings or choose others over you to work on high-profile projects. They’ll fail to put you forward for a pay rise or promotion, instead of advocating for these things to happen.
As a result, you’ll find yourself stuck in a rut…unless things change.
But what’s the best way to make change actually happen?
What can you do about it?
If you’ve identified that your boss is toxic, there are a few different approaches you can take.
The first is to give them feedback. It may be that they’re actually unaware of how their behaviour is affecting you and the wider team. If this is the case, polite, professional feedback may be appreciated: they’ll see it as help to become the best manager they can be. However, if they respond to your feedback in an uncaring or cruel way – or they don’t acknowledge it at all – you’ll need to try a different approach.
If speaking with your boss directly doesn’t work, try asking for help elsewhere. Depending on the wider workplace environment, this could be your boss’ boss, the HR team or a mentor from elsewhere in the business.
However, if the toxicity is more widespread and reaches right up the management chain, you may need to ask for help outside of the company – perhaps from an organisation like ACAS.
Another option to share the burden is to find a mentor. This maybe someone from within your organisation, or someone from an external professional support network.
By finding a mentor within your company, you’ll have someone else on your side to praise you, get your name known by senior management and vouch for your good work. With both internal and external mentors, you’ll also open up further potential opportunities that will help you to develop (or find a new role) down the line.
If there’s no salvaging the situation – and if it’s affecting your mental and physical health as well as your work – then don’t be afraid to look for a new role. Whether this is inside your existing organisation or somewhere else entirely, joining a new team could result in a career that makes you happy, that challenges you and that has real opportunities for progression.
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