A toxic work environment has caused a third of UK workers to quit their jobs, according to a study from The Chartered Management Institute (CMI), in partnership with YouGov.
In fact, poor managers can cause a lot more than just resignations among their teams. Bad boss behaviours range from ruling through fear, isolating some team members while overtly favouring others, along with an inability to manage either people or the team’s workload.
When that happens, balls get dropped, the boss plays the blame game, and the team is stressed, on edge and constantly second-guessing themselves.
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Those are just some of the ways a bad boss can behave. Take the aloof leader, who sits in their office, doesn’t interact and is impossible to read. Are you doing well? Are they unhappy with your work? Well, you’ll never know.
Then there’s the shouter, the demander, and the micromanager. All of these bad boss tropes are well-represented in TV and film. Think of Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada––’that’s all––who gives her team nothing but an aura of haughty froideur.
Or how about the utterly incompetent Michael Scott in the US version of The Office? Scott is a truly terrible boss––on the one hand he wants everyone to love him, but his inability to stop playing favourites, not to mention playing pranks, means he’s the kind of manager where you’ll simply never know what each day will bring.
Perhaps, though, the most insidious is the boss who decimates your confidence. Belittling you, criticising everything you do (while offering no practical solutions), this is a leader who sets their team up for failure at every turn.
We’ve seen this boss on the small screen in restaurant dramedy, The Bear. Throughout the show’s three seasons, Carmy Berzatto, played by Jeremy Allen White, is haunted in flashbacks by his treatment at the hands of a former employer, Chef David.
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We watch as David belittles him in front of his colleagues, shouting and criticising. It’s emasculating behaviour that Carmy takes in silence, but the inference is that he’s devastated by it, and it causes him a massive crisis of confidence.
Regardless of how successful he is with his own restaurant and the high standards he sets for himself, that early workplace conditioning means it’s clear Carmy fears failure.
And unfortunately for his team, Carmy’s learned behaviour means he begins to exhibit these sorts of management behaviours himself, meting out poor treatment to both his cousin Richie and his chef de cuisine, Sydney.
Part of the issue with bad bosses, says the CMI and YouGov report, is that they haven’t had any training themselves. It found that 82% of workers entering management positions have not had any formal management and leadership training, and are what’s known as ‘accidental managers’.
‘Promotions based on technical competence that ignore behaviour and other key leadership traits are proving – time and time again – to lead to failings that cause damage to individuals and their employers, not to mention the wider economy’s performance’, says Ann Francke OBE, the CEO of the CMI.
By contrast, managers who have received formal training are far more likely to call out bad behaviour or report concerns or wrongdoing.
That’s all good to know, but if you’re in the doldrums with toxic leadership right now, how do you survive a bad boss?
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Firstly, figure out what is making your manager act so poorly.
It is a case of institutional behaviour where they are treated badly by their own superiors, and are punching down? Or, perhaps they actually lack confidence in their own abilities, and cover this up with bluster and micromanaging?
Identifying the main issue is important because then you can make attempts to manage the situation from your side. If your boss constantly calls or emails you outside of work, try to explain that you have other responsibilities that take up your time outside of office hours. If that doesn’t work, turning off notifications or powering down your phone are your next steps.
Or if they watch over you like a hawk, make an attempt to share even more of what you’re doing, offering regular updates on your work and progress. If you offer it up, hopefully the nitpicking may abate as they realise you can be trusted.
If you’re finding that your health is affected by your boss, you’re not alone. Mental Health UK’s Burnout Report 2024 found that 20% of UK workers have needed to take time off work in the past year due to poor mental health caused by pressure or stress.
Sometimes, the best route isn’t to try to fix the problem. If your boss’ management style is leading to sleepless nights, anxiety and a lack of confidence, then the best thing you can do for yourself, your career and of course, your self-worth, is to seek a new position.
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