I’m sure we all know what it’s like to work for a toxic employer at one stage in our careers, and studies have shown that a bad manager can cause employees anxiety and depression in the workplace, in the most extreme cases.
Leadership expert and best-selling author Michael Bunting is available to provide commentary for this story. According to Michael, the five main signs of a toxic boss are:
- They’re not self-aware– this is by far the biggest red flag, as a lack of self-awareness leads to being stuck in self-sabotaging patterns.
- They waste time protecting their own ego/ managing their own image, instead of acting authentically and adding genuine value to their team.
- They micromanage, and struggle with letting their employees feel empowered to take on greater responsibility.
- They don’t know how to give honest, constructive feedback, leading to greater problems and miscommunications down the track.
- They’re short tempered– a leader or manager who hasn’t yet learnt to self-regulate their emotions, will find themselves reacting to situations from the “fast brain” (e.g. the part of your brains that controls the fight or flight response) rather than reacting from their “slow brain” (the part of your brain that controls logical thought and reasoning). Cultivating greater self-awareness can help remedy this.
About Michael Bunting:
Michael is a best-selling author and leadership expert who has worked with global brands such as Qantas, Novartis, HSBC, Kellogg’s, OMG, Swarovski, Hilton Hotels, CSIRO and the big 4 accounting firms. He believes that less than 1% of the population is truly self-aware and would like to share his top insights for how people can grow vertically to cultivate more self-awareness in their lives. Michael has also recently written a book called Vertical Growth, published by Wiley.
This article was sourced from a media release sent by Kathlene Quere of Agent 99 PR
