You will have the terrible experience of working under a manager who has the self-awareness of an eight-year-old at some time in your career. It's a rite of passage for every employee. And, as a persistent stressor in your life, know that having a lousy boss will, sadly, throw a wrench in the spokes of your mental wellness.
But let's not get too carried away, shall we? And rushing to locate a new job isn't always the best plan of action. Sometimes we truly have to make lemonade out of life's bossy lemons - pardon the phrase.
The following is a list (by no means complete) of four sorts of managers you may face, as well as advice on how to cope with each of them. Enjoy.
The Micromanager's Position
This is the sort who has no problem expressing their thoughts about anything. They will scrutinise your decisions till the end of time. They will immediately convey and clarify where you "may have space for development." Consider them to be the perfectionist parent that is never pleased and is constantly pointing out your flaws.
How to Handle It
Though you view their nitpicking as if they were clinging to you, instead of pushing away, you should open yourself to them even more. In practise, this may seem as excessive questioning and communication. You're basically fulfilling their want to be involved in everything - and you won't have to worry about them encroaching on you since you'll be giving them what they want right away. You may wish to review all of the aspects of your employment on your own to ensure that you fully grasp your obligations.
Needless to add, if the aforementioned alternatives fail you, you may always have a heart-to-heart talk in which you (as objectively as possible) explain how you're struggling to focus on your obligations as a result of their heinous behaviour.
The Disinterested
This is the type of person who is "hands-off" when it comes to team leadership. He's the type of guy that is typically unaware of what's going on in his team and appears to be pretty interested in keeping things that way, all while lecturing you from their high horse about what needs to be done and when.
How to Deal With
Confronting this guy (or gal) will be more difficult than dealing with the other sorts of employers for several reasons: Because a) they are living in a parallel universe, they will b) do a double take when you tell them what's going on.
You must also consider the potential that they will refuse to consider it. That's when you should definitely go to HR and gain a better grasp of how (and potentially why) your manager is ignoring their obligations.
"It was never my fault."
When difficulties develop, you'll almost always find this boss pointing fingers. They seldom accept responsibility for their part in any situation and will readily divert it onto others. This is the advanced, somewhat more aggressive form of The Micromanager, in that they are ready to blame anybody they come into contact with - but, predictably, never themselves.
How to Deal With
The only way to convince this sort of boss to see reason is to distract their focus away from the surface-level symptoms (workers making mistakes, which is inevitable) and toward the root source of the problems (anything from poor communication to inefficient delegation to insufficient onboarding makes the grade).
"What was your name again?" Manager
As is customary, we saved the finest for last. When it comes to hearing feedback, this sort of supervisor has a "go in one ear and out the other" approach. They're the sort that casually nod their way through one of your heartfelt discussions and then repeat the behaviour at the next chance.
This is a form of The Apathetic that is sometimes more difficult to work with for one reason: they are unconcerned with altering their ways and will often ignore and/or oppose any attempts to modify that.
How to Handle It
You could always attempt the frontal approach, but as we've mentioned, it's unlikely to work. As a result, our counsel will be limited to speaking with HR about boosting your career and, if all else fails, switching ship entirely.
Managers of many sorts
As previously said, there are many different sorts of fruitcakes out there who you will encounter in the corporate world (and, regrettably, who you will have to work for for a certain period of time - until one of you departs or they retire). The core of it is this: attempt to comprehend them from their restricted perspective and then engage with them at that level (either by convincing them of reality or by playing their own game while being aware of the pattern they're showing and its associated dynamics). With enough experience and self-awareness, you'll soon learn to be one of the greatest managers out there.
Do you have any further suggestions for dealing with poor managers?
Let us know in the comments!