The toxic boss.

How would you like to live next to a toxic waste dump?

Nobody in his or her right mind would consider moving next to such a poisonous site. If anything, people would do everything possible to avoid such a place. Yet thousands of people travel every morning to a poisonous location: a toxic workplace. These are job sites contaminated by "toxic bosses."

Unfortunately, the hiring and selection processes for some management positions have allowed toxic bosses to poison the work environment. These managers do everything humanly possible to instill fear and intimidation in the workplace while destroying office morale, team building, and employee competence and confidence. Regrettably, government service also has its share of these poisonous bosses. In this article, I discuss various types of toxic bosses and "antidotes," if you will, to their toxins. (Additional information on recognizing a toxic boss and some ways to overcome a toxic boss appears at the end of this article.)

What Are Toxic Bosses?

Leadership requires a certain amount of competence and confidence. General William J. Livsey (Ret.), former Commander in Chief, United Nations Command! Combined Forces Command! United States Forces Korea/Eighth United States Army, once said, "Competence breeds confidence! If [a leader] is competent, then he or she is confident."

Toxic bosses are normally deficient in the skills required to do the jobs assigned to employees working in their sections. Therefore, since the poisonous boss is incompetent, he or she also lacks the confidence to lead effectively and manage employees. Lacking both confidence and competence, toxic bosses tend to be very insecure. They may also exhibit other characteristics, such as low self-esteem and low self-worth. Consequently, toxic bosses may use bullying, threats, fear, sarcasm, and intimidation to compensate for their lack of competence and confidence.

But, alas, the toxicity does not stop there! The insecurity that lethal bosses have nurtures the psychological breeding grounds of megalomania, paranoia, and narcissistic behavior. These types of toxic conduct manifest themselves in a variety of ways. Let's rake a quick look at some of them, along with the antidotes to counter the poisonous behaviors.

Types of Toxic Behavior

Casanovas--Fortunately, policies and laws prevent these bosses from making advances toward subordinates. However, there are still incidents of office romances between bosses and subordinates. Regardless of whether you are the boss or the subordinate, this romance will eventually turn ugly, and both careers may suffer. The boss will lose all credibility. The subordinate will be branded and, as such, will nor be trusted among his or her co-workers.

The antidote for this is simply not to start a compromising office relationship. However, if you are caught in a position where someone is making advances, you should report it immediately. Harassment of any sort, be it sexual or threatening, should never be tolerated.

Explosives--These bosses are extremely moody and unpredictable. Things can be going smoothly in the office. Then, suddenly. . .without warning... BOOM! You become the target of screaming insults, sarcasm, and humiliation. Explosive bosses are nothing more than tyrannical megalomaniacs. They are ruled by anger, hatred, and/or vengeance; they have a gigantic need for power. Organizations with an explosive boss at the helm experience a high rate of personnel turnover, an inordinately large number of employee sick days being taken, lengthy hiring lags, and low morale and productivity.

Since explosive bosses depend on bullying, self-control is the countermeasure to this type of toxic boss. Show neither fear nor tears to explosive bosses. Such emotional responses are like waving the proverbial red cape in front of a raging bull. Do not engage the explosive boss in a shouting match. This is a no-win situation for you. Besides, you may say something that you will regret. Instead, look these bullies in their eyes during these screaming sessions. Let the tyrants know that you are a professional and that you have too much self-respect to be treated in such a rough manner.

Remember, if you behave like a victim, you will always be a victim. If you refuse to be intimidated, you won't be. Like all bullies, an explosive boss will back down whenever an employee firmly stands his or her ground.

Gangster Bosses--Hey, paesani, how would you like to work for Il Padrino? I am sure that you have seen Marlon Brando portray Don Vito Corleone or have read Mario Puzo's classic novel, The Godfather. However, I would guess that many of you would be very concerned and fearful about working in an environment surrounded by people with "offers you cannot refuse."

Truth is, many people find themselves working in such an environment every day. Whether they know it or not, gangster bosses are classic Machiavellians--the ends justify the means. Gangster bosses want to hold onto whatever power they have. They will use people (the means) to secure their power and position (the ends). And once people help the boss achieve his ends, they are eliminated--in a corporate sense, of course, because the gangster boss does not want to be in anybody's debt.

Moreover, the boss doesn't want anyone to know his or her weakness. Everything to the gangster boss is business; loyalty is only a temporary convenience--a means--to secure power. Consequently, you can never trust a gangster boss. In an office headed by a gangster boss, you're gone once you've served your purpose. This type of boss would rather be feared than admired.

Gangster bosses are secretive. They will never tell everything to a single person. Instead, the gangster boss will tell his or her employees only those portions of the project that each needs to know to do his or her specific portion. Needless to say, gangster bosses are extremely hazardous to your career, especially if they become involved in a vendetta.

You will not be able to change a gangster boss. Instead, you have to survive and move on. The best antidote is to keep a very low profile--what is commonly known in the syndicate as omerta. Gangster bosses get nervous whenever they see one of their employees getting noticed. They perceive this to be a threat to their power. Keeping a low profile and your thoughts to yourself will help you to survive and, eventually, to move to a better position that will advance your career.

Narcissistic Bosses--Perhaps you're pondering that age-old conundrum, "Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous bosses or, by sucking up, to end them?" Have I got the answer for you! Find an organization run by a narcissistic boss.

Narcissistic bosses are full of themselves. They have tremendously large egos that constantly need to be stroked. Here is where the flatterer enters the picture. Constantly give the egotistical boss the feel-good words that he or she needs and you'll have it made. Of course, there are a few drawbacks.

A typical narcissistic boss believes that he or she is the greatest thing to hit the organization since e-mail. Consequently, these bosses are not too receptive to anyone else's ideas or opinions. Furthermore, since self-centered bosses believe that they are the epitome of perfection, any action that achieves less than desired results cannot possibly be their fault.

Obviously, less perfect specimens--the employees--sabotaged the action. As such, the employees will always bear the brunt of the tirade.

Being the boss's flunky doesn't exempt you from the haranguing. Instead, even though you probably had nothing to do with the action gone bad, you'll be the primary recipient of the dressing-down session. After all, being the narcissistic boss's sycophant carries with it certain responsibilities. One such responsibility is to be the fall guy (gal)/whipping boy (girl) when things go wrong. Working for a conceited boss is strictly an I-win, you-lose affair.

The best medicine is to use the boss's ego to foster your own ideas. Carefully word your ideas and opinions in such a way that the boss will think that he or she came up with them. Once the boss claims ownership of these ideas, he or she will bite into them like a pit bull. True, you probably won't get the credit you deserve. But, with a little tact, your stature and prestige within the organization will increase. This might be what you need to secure a promotion or to get a transfer to another, more rewarding organization.

Spineless Sensations--In Dante's Divine Comedy, The Neutrals, those souls who preferred to straddle the middle of the road instead of taking a decisive stand, are punished in the Inferno (Hell). Sitting on the fence with both ears to the ground is a poor way to manage. As in Dante's epic poem, indecisive managers are buffeted by such stinging pests as poor performance, personnel problems, and mission failure.

Managers who lack a backbone can never be trusted because they stand for nothing except their own personal preservation and survival within the organization. Additionally, employees, fellow managers, and senior executives do not respect these milquetoast decision-dodgers. How can you respect a person who stands for nothing? These cowardly managers either disappear whenever a decision is required or assign the responsibility to another person.

Spineless bosses prefer to expend enormous amounts of effort to find a safe middle ground. But is there ever really a safe middle ground? In reality there rarely is.

Finding a safe middle ground suggests that the boss try to please everybody as a way of staying in good graces. This often means speaking from both sides of his mouth. When this happens, the cowardly boss comes across like a bumbling, inept politician. Hence, the yellow-streaked boss loses credibility. And, just as nobody would want to follow a bumbling coward into battle, no professional wants to be led by an inept boss who lacks inner conviction, fortitude, and the gumption to take a decisive stand on an issue.

As with all cowards, fear controls the spinelesss sensation's actions. The antidote is courage through persistence. Use the chain of command as a means to encourage the cowardly boss to take a stand and make a decision. Make the spineless boss realize that attempts to find the safe middle ground are futile. You may not be able to change your timid lamb of a boss into a roaring lion. However, through persistence you may be able to modifr your boss's cowardly ways.

Turncoats, Backstabbers, and Accusers (TBAs)--In the U.S. Army, loyalty is the most important value. All other values-duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage-are built upon a foundation of loyalty--loyalty to the nation, chain of command, and subordinates. Without loyalty, you have nothing!

Sadly, there are many bosses who believe that loyalty is a one-way streer--from the bottom up. As such, these bosses routinely sellout their employees to save their own skins. Hence, it is extremely difficult to remain professional when you work for a TBA. For one thing, you never know when you'll be sold down the corporate river.

TBAs are the mirror image of explosive bosses. That is, they normally approach you with an [insincere] smile instead of a distasteful snarl, a polite greeting instead of an oafish grunt, and honey-sweet words instead of vinegar-sour vulgarities. Even though TBAs come across as more pleasant and personable than their explosive counterparts, make no mistake about it: they are extremely hazardous to your career.

While an explosive boss will engage an employee face-to-face, a TBA prefers to spread rumors and innuendoes clandestinely throughout the organization. TBAs are treacherously sneaky and can never be trusted. Information that employees share with TBAs in confidence becomes public knowledge in no time at all.

TBAs construct a volatile house of cards within the organization--cards containing all the lies, rumors, and disparaging comments that TBAs have spread throughout the workplace. TBAs are quick to find fault with their own staffs. They regularly bad-mouth their employees to other members of the staff; thereby making it difficult either to get a transfer to another department or to secure a promotion. They blame their staffs for everything that goes wrong and, although these bosses did very little (if anything), they are quick to point out that their personal involvement and commitment to a particular project made it a huge success.

Regrettably, no organization is immune from these sneaks; they exist in every kind of organization. On a brighter side, however, their tenures are shorter than usual. Eventually, senior executives, managers, and other supervisors read through the TBA's facade. But we still have to work with (or for) them while they remain in the organization.

TBAs are extremely insecure and paranoid; they are always fearful that their house of cards will come tumbling down upon them. Their position is so fragile that "it must be protected by a wall of lies" (with apologies to Sir Winston Churchill). When working for a TBA, employees can either ignore the comments that were made or confront the TBA boss about them. Ignoring the bad comments and letting other people make their own assessments could take a long time. Furthermore, the bad comments about an employee could linger within the organization long after the TBA boss has departed. It is hard to remove information from the "corporate archive."

On the other hand, the employee could calmly and professionally confront the TBA boss about the comments. The employee should let the boss know that he or she is uncomfortable about the backdoor remarks and that the employee would rather have the boss speak to him or her about workplace issues or concerns instead of hearing about them from another person. As a final note, the employee should prepare a memorandum for record and give the boss a copy.

Zombies--In George Romero's horror classic, Night of the Living Dead, the recently deceased wake from their eternal sleep to feed off the brains of the living. Working for an office with a zombie in charge is no different.

For whatever reason--total bureaucratic burn-out, the ravages of office politics and political wars, overpowering personal problems, or sheer laziness--zombie managers are professionally lifeless. It is easy to recognize an organization with a zombie in charge. The employees lethargically go through their daily routines like mindless machines. The office has all the ambiance of a haunted house: dust-laden, antiquated materials in the bookshelves; old, mildewed files in the cabinets; and obsolete, dull-colored office equipment and furniture that would have made personalities like Damon Runyon and Walter Winchell cringe in horror. The stench of apathy saturates every square inch of the workplace. Typically, employees are indifferent to demands from their customers.

This is the most insidious type of toxin because it takes time to completely engulf an organization. Productive, energetic workers need to be careful while working in this graveyard because over a stretch of rime, they will find themselves merely existing among the walking dead.

Living-dead managers thrive on status-quo complacency Therefore, the antidote to complacent behavior is enthu-siasm. It is up to the vigorous employee to rekindle the flames that have been extinguished and breathe some new life into the organization. Some ideas include the following: holding weekly staff meetings to encourage feedback, attending motivational seminars or programs like ASMC's Professional Development Institutes to jump-start the organizational engine, or putting together a morale- enhancing, ream-building event for the organization.

Conclusion

There are few perfect bosses in the work environment. Each boss has his or her own idiosyncrasy. The worst of these peculiarities lower morale and productivity, cause abrupt personnel turnover and lengthy hire lag, and generate complaints and grievances. It takes a lot of effort to be a bad boss. True professionals, however, have used the proper antidote to make a potentially bad situation more tolerable, and, at times, even more rewarding. Truly bad bosses will eventually be flushed out. As Groucho Marx once said, "Time wounds all heels."

RELATED ARTICLE: How to Recognize a Toxic Boss

1. Never trusts anybody, especially his or her employees. Has a personal lackey on staff to do his or her bidding and to keep an eye on the rank and file.

2. Takes credit for employees' good ideas and hard work. Never recognizes their contributions.

3. Sticks to his or her guns. Being decisive is more important than learning from mistakes. Changing one's mind is a sign of weakness. Other points of view just undermine authority.

4. Doesn't train employees. Keeps them trapped. Makes it difficult or, better still, impossible for them to get other jobs, to be promoted, or to simply do their assigned jobs with skill, competence, and enjoyment.

5. Rewards proper format, punctuality, and diligence. Punishes innovation and ingenuity. Can't have anyone upsetting the apple cart!

6. Keeps secrets. Has lots of closed-door scheming sessions; emerges after each, looking pompously self-important and mysterious.

7. Runs a tight ship. Micromanages. Monitors everything: e-mail, pencils, pens, notepads, photocopies (especially around tax time), phone calls, etc. Squashes any type of team building. Believes that fear and intimidation on the job are more important than respect.

8. Makes clear distinctions between senior staff and the rank-and-file employees. Is pompous. Talks down to employees whenever the opportunity presents itself. Is loud and sarcastic. However, knows his or her role and place in the organization; doesn't step on the leadership. Blindly goes along with leadership.

9. Frequently finds fault with employees. Never praises them and always criticizes and humiliates them publicly.

10. Doesn't promote (from within). Isn't concerned about high turnover. It is the employee's fault that he or she does not measure up to his or her high standards. (One supervisor actually told me, "Perfection is my standard." Of course, nobody ever reached his standard.)

Additional Tips to Overcoming a Toxic Boss

* Consider your boss's short-and long-term goals. Only by knowing them can you intelligently decide your own priorities in working for him or her.

* Analyze the pressures that your boss's superiors are putting on him or her.

* Attempt to match your work style to your boss For example, if he or she is the formal type, communicate at scheduled meetings and by memo.

* Watch your colleagues who do get along with the boss. They've learned how to cope. Ask them for some tips and advice.

* Never take his or her criticism as a personal attack, even if it's out of line. Try to sort through the nasty remarks and find the real work-related feedback (if any).

* Never gossip about your boss to co-workers even if he or she is a TBA boss. Your comments will always come back to haunt you. Additionally, others who know your boss will admire you for your ability to remain loyal and professional.

* Offer to take responsibility for a task that your supervisor dislikes. Demonstrate to your boss and to his or her boss that you are a real team player.

* Keep track of your boss's mood swings. Observe the times of day and days of the week when he or she is most receptive. Make sure you ask someone close to the boss about his or her temperament before making the approach.

* Never jump the chain of command! Don't go over your boss's head. Violating the chain of command almost always backfires. You'll be seen as disloyal, a complainer, and not a team player. All of these could potentially hinder your career advancement or, if overseas, a tour extension.

* Try to find a redeeming virtue that will make working for your boss at least bearable. Almost everyone has at least one redeeming feature. If you cannot find a good thing about your boss, either he or she is an incarnation of pure evil or, more than likely, you might not be looking hard enough.

* Before accepting a new job, do some homework. Ask current or former colleagues and subordinates about your potential boss's personality traits and managerial style. Ask your potential boss the same questions. You're better off finding out that you and the boss are incompatible before accepting the position. If you get fooled, then shame on you.

John Di Genio is a management analyst at Headquarters, Eighth United States Army, Assistant Chief of Staff, Resource Management, Yongsan, Seoul, Korea. He is the 2001 Resource Management Outstanding Author of the Year.