Mentoring with Mitch – Episode 16: How to deal with an insecure boss

In this episode, I give you three counterintuitive ideas for managing an insecure boss who’s behaving badly.

Here’s the question:

“My boss who’s been with the company for many years has been constantly putting me down and finding things to criticize me and rarely praise my achievements. He often speaks down to me and points out issues that he’s not raised before in meetings in front of other colleagues. When I have a conflict or some sort with others, he never takes my side to support me.

I end up doing most of the work and he takes a lot of credits of mine and upper management is not very aware of this due to the reporting structure. I don’t want to speak bad about him to his boss. Can you advise how I can handle this? I have tried to give him feedback also to build relationships around and it feels like the more I try, the more toxic it gets.”

Dealing with an insecure boss can be a formidable challenge and these three tips can help foster a more productive, harmonious and empowering working relationship.

Remember, the first step is always to move towards the tension through a respectful and authentic dialogue.

I’d love to know your thoughts and hope it helps.

Enjoy the episode and please share it with your friends, colleagues and leaders you know would benefit from the lessons within.

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Due to the many requests I get for support of all types, we created “Mentoring with Mitch” as a way for you to get your questions answered. Every fortnight, I’ll be fielding specific questions from leaders like yourself and posting the answers as videos. If it relates to management, any facet of leadership, teamwork, engagement, leading at home or in the community, we want to hear it from you.

Submit your questions via www.mentoringwithmitch.com

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Until Next time…

Find the passion.
Develop the skills.
Make the numbers.
Make a difference.

Paul Mitchell
“APAC’s most respected transformational leadership performance coach”

Paul Mitchell (@Paul_S_Mitchell) is a speaker, author, transformational leadership coach and founder of the human enterprise. Through leadership coaching, leadership development programmes, keynotes and facilitation, Paul works with organisations to build cultures where everybody leads.