Toxic Management: 5 Signs of Passive Aggressive Leadership

Toxic Management: 5 Signs of Passive Aggressive Leadership


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So, you’ve seen it before. The unspecific instructions, the side comments about something not done to standard or the impression that everything is fine when the body language and actions say otherwise.

The passive aggressive boss has struck again, causing duress and bad morale and contributing to slow productivity and inefficient project management. Leading with authority and transparency is often prevalent when it comes to managers and bosses who have successful—and most of all, satisfied—teams and tenures at lucrative companies.

Sometimes passive aggressive behavior can be hard to distinguish and deal with, causing a job to seem more like a pain in the butt than a step in the right direction on your path to career advancement.

Brazen Careerist details five signs of this type of management and how you can either deal with it (employee) or correct it (manager):

1. There’s no direct critique of work, good or bad: The passive aggressive manager will do his or her best to avoid giving any kind of direct critique of your job performance. Employees often receive little to no feedback, and no praise or promotion for excellent performance or exceptional talent. Basically, with this type of manager, you never know where you stand. Talk about bad for morale.

How to deal: If your boss never gives critiques, or does so in a way that still leaves you feeling unclear about where you stand, ask directly about your performance. Putting her on the spot with a direct question rather than playing her game might help her give you feedback that’s actually valuable.

Doesn’t work? Put your head down and do the best possible job you can.

Read more at Brazen Careerist …


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