Archives October 2018

According to the Gallup Organization, having a bad boss is the number one reason people quit their job.

Seen one lurking around your office lately?

Bad bosses can create all sorts of problems for their employers, causing employees to call in sick, become disengaged, and even quit their jobs. 

Here are 10 signs you may have a scary boss.

1. The stalker

One of the signs of a scary boss is when he stands behind you and watches what you’re doing–not just once or twice, throughout the day or worse when your boss calls you outside business hours.

2. Plays favourites

This boss has pet employees whose performance requirements are set much lower than everyone else–leaving it to the rest of the office to pick up the slack.

3. The dreaded late Friday meeting

Your boss asks to meet with you late Friday afternoon before you go home for the weekend. Scary how often people are fired on Friday afternoons.

4. Inexplicably incapable

A scary boss is one who doesn’t even know how to do his job and relies on you to cover for him.

5. Super stressed out

It’s scary when a project kicks into high gear or goes south, and the boss can’t handle the stress and begins barking orders and making everyone feel like they’re two years old.

Read about not being an Ass

6. NSFW conversations

There is nothing scarier than when a boss confides in you about his private life–inappropriate and embarrassing.

7. Never makes a mistake

A scary boss never admits when she’s wrong. Instead, you get excuses, or your boss turns the tables on you, and somehow you end up getting stuck with the blame.

8. Weakly wishy-washy

It’s scary when a boss tells you one thing in the morning and then completely changes direction by the afternoon. Triple scary when they claim you didn’t hear them correctly if, God forbid, you call them on it.

9. It’s my way or the highway

A scary boss thinks the only way to get something done is his or her way–any other way is completely unacceptable.

10. Never a kind word

A scary boss never has a kind word to say even when you work hard and succeed. Instead, your boss congratulates you with another ominous work assignment.

Read about being gracious

Scared?

If some of these signs sound frighteningly familiar, it may be time to consider a new job.

 Written with credit to Inc.com

How to Deal with A Boss with Zero Emotional Intelligence

For most of my career emotions were something to be avoided like the plague.

Emotions were acceptable only when a bone was sticking out of you.

The only undeniable truth in life is that we are human and by definition we are emotional.

Our partners, children and even our pets sense our emotion and learn how to respond when we are sick, happy, sad or distracted.

read about sharing information

But what about work?

To work with people with low Emotional Intelligence, you need to learn how to communicate differently.

You might already know that emotional intelligence can influence your job success, but what can you do if your boss comes off as an emotional void?

Don’t panic, the situations more hopeful than you think.

But brace yourself have to have an awkward conversation.

What is EI?

When you say that your boss has low EI, it could mean:

• that she’s unconsciously cruel – think The Devil Wears Prada; or,
• he doesn’t know what their team needs to do their best work – think ‘The only time no is an OK answer is when you if asked if you have had enough.’

If your boss has low EI, they struggle to read your emotions.

They miss the non-verbal communications you are naturally sending them.

Alternatively, someone with high EI will have four skills. They:

• Accurately read their own emotions: they can perceive the emotions with their and the experiences of others.
• Use passion to facilitate thinking: if they need quiet to focus, they put themselves in a calm place
• Understand how emotions progress: they know irritation leads to frustration, which inevitably leads to rage
• Regulate their feelings: they don’t become overwhelmed by their feelings

EI doesn’t equal being good!

EI is not about virtuousness: it’s more about being able to understand your and others’ interior lives and how your actions and environments affect them. To work well with people with low EI, then, you need to accommodate that misapprehension.

 “Emotions are information, people who are low in EI are lacking the ability to take in, understand, or process a critical part of the way that we communicate in the world.

 If they can’t read your emotions, they won’t be getting all the info you’re naturally sending them.

 They’re missing this information, so you have to clarify.”

 –    Professor Sigal Barsade: University of Pennsylvania

So, what do you do?

 Book an appointment with your boss. Then you can follow this framework for sensitive conversations using the 4 F’s:

1. First: When you make the appointment, say that you want to have a conversation that will be valuable to your working relationship
2. Facts: Begin the meeting by retelling what happened for each of you
3. Feelings: Tell the impact that the meeting had on you
4. Future: Help each other figure out what you could do differently and what can be done by everybody to address the situation

Don’t forget to end on a high note: share why it’s such a good thing you two had the conversation.

By facing your bosses low IE with a conversation like this, you can help people to see that information that’s before them.

Read about partnering with your boss