Toxic people are pretty much everywhere, even in our own families, but working face them every day can be full torture. They are cunning, mean-spirited, and super-competitive, clashing with you and creating an awful workplace. Sometimes you can even think straight, and you are feeling like drowning there. Sadly quitting your job is not the solution because you need it, so how to deal with this kind of person? Today we will show you how to recognize them and some tips for selling and facing them. Keep reading!
Characteristics of the toxic people
Sometimes recognizing toxic people can be hard because they play with you and your thoughts. Still, there are a couple of traits that can tell you their poisonous personalities and trust us. Many people are fighting these persons in many aspects of their lives. According to Mental Health America, 84% of women and 75% of men have a toxic friend at some point in their lives, and three-fourths of employees had dealt with toxic coworkers or bosses. So Mental Health outlines eights traits of toxic people:
- Manipulative: they use their knowledge about you to get you to do what they want, plus they threaten you with certain stories.
- They make you feel bad about yourself: the best way to accomplish this is with insults, but normally they have perfected this into a subtle way to make you feel bad about your appearance and achievements. They often play to be smarter than you portraying you as dumb.
- Being judgmental: in human nature, we tend to be critical from time to time, but toxic people do this all the time. They see the world as black or white there is no middle ground. If you don’t fulfill their beliefs or opinions, they criticize and don’t approve of anything that you do.
- Negativity: life is not easy, but sometimes there are these people that see the bad in everything and apply negativity to every aspect of their lives. It’s good to be realistic, but face life pointing out every negative thing is just a toxic behavior. These people only make you feel bad and sad even when you’re happy. But be careful. Negativity tends to be confused with depression, so talking with them is not bad at all. Maybe they are depressed and need help and support.
- Passive Aggression: here, people show a terrible way to deal with their problems, and the only answer for them is to express feelings through hostility which is a subtle way of aggression. Among the behaviors, there are snide comments, sabotage, and doing or not doing some activities to enrage people around them.
- Self-centered: toxic people are also self-centered, which means that they only care about themselves, don’t compromise, and don’t like other people’s points of view. Their actions don’t affect others, and they think that they are better than the rest.
- Bad management of their anger: these types of people don’t know how to control and manage their anger, so even a little thing can trigger their offense, and that can make them say and do hurtful things to you. Working every day taking care of what you do and say can be exhausting. The same applies to their apologies because they are insincere.
- Controlling: one of the most dangerous traits of a toxic person is their controlling tendencies. These can be applied to personal relationships but also the working environment. Sometimes supervisors and bosses want to control what you do, say, and even how you dress, going far away from the company’s rules. This trait can become a physical, verbal, and mental abuse and needs to be stopped right now
Identifying toxic people is the first step, and the next step is to erase those people from your life and job. But this is easier said than done, so consider our advice on how to deal with them.
How to deal with toxic people at work
We must understand that these people won’t disappear thanks to magic or that suddenly they will become their best selves. They will need to work on that type of behavior, seeking professional help, and start taking care of their mental health. Also, we know that you can just quit your job just for one person, you earn that position by yourself, plus you need your job. So the best way is to learn how to deal with those people and their toxic behavior, follow our advice.
Set Boundaries
This can be seen as a hard task, especially if you are an open person, one that is ready to help everybody and always portrays a smile. But even when many consider their job places as a second home, actually separating your persona from your professional self is the best way to avoid toxic coworkers. Don’t show too much of yourself and try not to give so many details about your personal life. When the toxic person is your boss, this can be a little more tricky. The best here is to keep everything short, from answers to interactions and always with a stony face, of course with high respect. That way, your boss will feel that it is better not to mess with you.
Employee Cleansing
Listen in many teams, when one person has a toxic attitude, this can ruin the entire team. Image is highly important in the business world, and if that toxicity damages the idea, the whole company can suffer, so the best thing to do is to make a cleansing. Terminating the contract with that person having proof of their toxic behavior is the best course of action. Every employee must know that they can talk even to the higher-ups, about certain problems within the workplace. All is for the best in the company.
They Hate Being Ignored
One of the major traits of toxic people, as stated above, is their self-centered personalities, one that doesn’t like being ignored. Trust us. They hate that because they are looking for a response from you, and if your reactions are stronger, they will fuel their feeling of superiority with those. The best way is to ignore them and don’t overanalyze what they say. Moreover, many of those things are not true or are baseless rumors.
Look for Positivity
In a toxic environment it is hard to find positivity. Still, just as there is a toxic person, you can also find in any workplace that positive person that can brighten your day and they are exactly what you need in your life and to face the toxicity around your job, remember happiness can be shared and spread quickly.
Focus on Yourselves and Your Job
If you are happy with your life and love what you do, why do you let that toxic person get to you? Focus on what is important and the amazing performance of your job. After all, this can prove the excellent professional that you are. If you are concentrated on your goals and the happiness in your life, toxicity can have space there.
You will always find toxic people in your life. In some aspects, it is harder to get rid of them, but it’s possible. Never be afraid to ask for help. Many people are ready to help you even with the smallest of things. Keep in touch with the magazine to find out more advice from us!
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