The aggressive boss

21/04/2021

Aggression in companies is a rarely discussed topic. Some of you probably experienced such a behavior of your bosses. What sometimes happens inside an organization, behind its closed doors? Aggressive bosses - men and women - are fighting all the time with someone or something. Often to prove their worth.

Aggressive bosses - as well as colleagues - have a strong need to win in any situation at all costs when someone or something stands in the way of their plans. And it is not necessarily about achieving goals, but about the need to win and be better in every aspect, e.g. being right, having an advantage, being higher in the hierarchy, or just being more important. The awareness that someone can be better than them is a threat to an aggressive boss. Therefore, they will have a problem with employees who:

- have more knowledge,
- have better experience, 
- have stronger impact on others than they do,
- are better at anything than them, even in minor matters,
- have a different opinion,
- dare to object,
- are more interesting.

Aggression in superiors or colleagues may manifest as perceiving others as inferior, less valuable, and using them. For their advantage, they will not hesitate to use all possible means and behaviors. The circle becomes vicious, because if employees become compliant or cautious towards such people, aggressive bosses may still add to their feelings towards them an absolute disrespect. It may also happen that submission is accompanied by the development of a technique or tactic for "servicing" such bosses. Anyway, it will not be a situation that will trigger creativity, energy and willingness to act, but rather it will cause employees to slow down, fear autonomy, not ready to express their own opinion or take risks.
 
How to cope with it? There is no simple answer, because dealing with such a supervisor is not easy. First of all, we cannot afford to trample our values ​​and personal dignity down, because if that happens, it will be hard for us to get up. It's easy to say, hard to do, especially for people with a weaker personality, but they will need support in clearly setting their boundaries - like coaching Diagnostics and Coaching It is also good advice to seek support within or outside the organization, as being alone will not build strength in us. It may be necessary to file a formal complaint in the organization or outside of it, especially if the organization turns a blind eye to such behavior. Often an aggressive attitude leads to the successful achievement of goals and therefore in some organizations it causes indulgence of management.

And the most important  - we must not allow anyone to destroy us or hurt us. If necessary, we should be prepared even to leave the organization, because remaining in such a relationship will cause problems for many years.