I’ve seen brilliant, high achievers lose the ability to articulate their value after an extended time under a senior leadership who doesn’t have healthy boundaries. A surprising number of smart, accomplished clients report to me confusion about knowing how to position themselves with an unhealthy manager or senior leadership.

A senior leadership with unhealthy boundaries or who micromanages can lead to your dissatisfaction and feeling burned out at work. But –it doesn’t have to be this way and nothing brings me more joy in career coaching than helping a client leave behind a stifling work situation.

Particularly in middle class work environments the veneer of “everything is fine” can be confusing when you’re actually in a difficult situation. Lucky for you I’m bringing the the power analysis today–

Some of the subtle ways you might experience a Senior Leadership being inappropriate or overly controlling:
They demean you
They are condescending
They draw contrasts between you as lesser and themselves as superior
They have poor boundaries
They are incredibly long in talk or email

There are many more overt tactics like isolating you from the rest of the staff and entirely rewriting all of your work projects under the guise of “editing”, but today we are working on the confusing, low-key tactics.

If your senior leadership doesn’t have healthy boundaries, it can suffocate your spark and initiative. In my capacity as career coach and leadership development specialist, I see brilliant, high achieving clients who have lost the ability to articulate their value after extended time spent with a bad boss.

Its like they’ve been hypnotized.

Now, most of us are not perfect enlightened beings and make mistakes at work. We bring our own experiences, flaws, and ways of managing difficult conversations to the table when a work relationship goes bad.

Because not all of your techniques will be on point, here’s a few key field notes if you feel like we’re talking about your life today:

Keep healthy personal boundaries: You know you have a bad boss, so don’t engage him. You are not his therapist, his judge, his police officer or his nemesis. You are just a person who he doesn’t like or respect –so leave him alone.
Do not burn the bridge: Amend your behavior based on the statements and signals from the senior leadership concerning what about you freaks her out. Now that you’ve identified that you have a problem, your only remaining goal is to not burn the bridge while setting yourself up to move to a healthier situation.
Begin your job search: You need a new position, either transfer within the organization if your reputation has not been damaged or you’ll need to leave and work elsewhere.

During the times you are meeting one on one with your micromanaging senior leadership, here are the golden rules:
Be deeply restrained and affirm your value.

You can affirm your value by referencing the body of achievements you are proud of to date and mention how glad you are to be contributing to the success of the project, organization, etc. This is a pro move because you are framing the conversation in positive and healthy terms.

Whether you need to support navigating difficult performance conversations at work or you are ready to learn some senior level interview strategies to get back on track with your full and wholehearted life, I’m happy to connect and learn more about your current choices.