Do you have a boss who always watches over you? You must know the difference between care and control in the workplace. Sometimes humans' minds tend to control others in every possible way. Initially, you may feel that your boss is very kind and wants to encourage you. But later on, you’ll feel like being controlled by them. Using psychological power for wrong things can never be beneficial.
“The greatest gift of leadership is a boss who wants you to be successful.” - Jon Taffer.
A controlling boss can undermine your career goals. It’s essential to identify such traits and prevent yourself from a toxic environment. Here are four ways to identify the controlling boss and achieve your career goals.
1. They Control Your Reputation
“I knew that if I failed, I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.” - Jeff Bezos.
A real caring boss will praise you for achievements and give credit for success. They will look at your reputation as an important thing and help you build strong networks. This positive approach is excellent, especially at the workplace.
Meanwhile, a controlling boss will only keep you like a shadow. You won’t get any credits for the tasks but will be blamed for faults. The toxic bosses may tend to spoil your reputation. If any problems arise in the middle of projects, they will blame you for safeguarding their reputation.
2. They Spoil Your Development
“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” - Elon Musk.
A toxic boss will only work on their agendas. They will fail to create opportunities for the employees to achieve goals and needs. Too much control can never help you to grow and succeed.
However, a controlling boss's primary motive will be destroying your strength. This will not just destroy the opportunities but also make employees lose motivation.
3. They Will Make You Dependent
“Waste your money, and you’re only out of money, but waste your time, and you’ve lost a part of your life.” - Michael LeBoeuf.
A controlling boss always asks to get permission for everything. Do you find yourself seeking your boss for simple things? Know that a caring boss will give you the freedom to think and react.
A controlling boss will never give importance to your ideas and always ruin your actions. For instance, such toxic bosses will do micro-inquiries or micromanagement to check your workflow.
4. They Ruin Your Career Path
“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” - Robert Collier.
A caring boss will make sure you’re growing at the workplace. They will support you to do tasks better. A controlling boss will not allow you to grow without their consent.
They tend to look at your growth as a downfall for an organization due to various reasons. They will think that you should always be under their control. Therefore, a toxic boss will take the full credit of your work and end up controlling you.
How To Fix The Issues?
As we discussed, a powerful, controlling boss can take all your potential. In the end, you’ll be lacking behind without knowing how to deal with small issues. Being too controlling can surely break your career goals. But you don’t have to worry about this; one can easily overcome such issues.
Actually, it’s important to ensure that your opinions matter at the workplace. By doing so, you can manage both productivity and well-being together. Let’s discuss the ABC approach to deal with such controlling psychological power.
Acknowledge It!
This step is difficult for someone who has just started their career. However, people with sophisticated or controlling attitudes tend to have good knowledge in manipulating opinions. It’s not easy as the person will do everything for respect within the organization.
Meanwhile, bosses who have the psychological power to control the employees are always lagging. They tend to have a very judgmental attitude and simply follow their instincts.
Build Your Understanding
You need to understand the influences of psychological/covert power on you. This controlling attitude can be seen as a barrier to your career growth.
However, it has a lot more to do with your career goals. A toxic boss attitude will ruin the mental wellness of human beings. Indeed, many people don't manage productivity and mental health.
Confront It
The classic way to deal with covert and controlling attitudes is limited. It’s not easy to deal with such people; one can prove it with emails or eyewitnesses. But it’s again difficult to confront, as HR will be reluctant to take any actions towards it.
However, the best way is to confront your boss. Choose a perfect environment, explain your problems and outline how they can be resolved. As it’s important to consider well-being, especially at the workplace.
You can quote examples to explain the complexity of the job. Don’t be emotional or aggressive with accusations of faults, be strong in your point with relevant data.
Therefore, at the end of this conversation, your boss may realize the issues and change their attitude. Maybe your boss will understand and show respect for calling them out. The scenarios can also be worse, as the boss may get annoyed.
And start abusing you by dragging the issues to other employees. Remember, whatever the scenario might happen, it’s better than keeping quiet. Your silence itself can undermine your career goals. Yes, never let anyone control or manipulate your thoughts. Take control of your ideas and be your own boss.
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