Narcissist people exists around the globe .You cannot avoid them but you need to deal with them tactfully. So here in this article, I am going to discuss how to handle narcissists at workplace. We all have faced that rude and presumptuous person in our workplace who finds nothing but our fault in any activity we do.
Now in a highly competitive environment or industry, narcissists exist in large numbers. He/she is basically person who always boast his/her achievements, his /her superiority over others in the workplace. Now the question comes if your co-worker or your boss happens to be the one, you need to be extra careful. You can never avoid them but need to deal with them smartly. Lets first identify the traits of narcissist in a work place.
- Bragging about their past achievements
- Treating the co-workers or employees with contempt.
- Bullying the co-workers.
- Blatantly lying even when they have done some unethical activity at work
- Demeaning the self worth of fellow workers.
- Never satisfied with co-worker.
- Always suspicious about the co-worker .
- Impulsive decision taker which can give a detrimental effect on the project/team involved.
Now how to deal with these narcissist people at work ? I am putting the following tips by which you can manage narcissist at workplace.
#1 Never argue with a narcissist
Never argue with a narcissist. Initially you may be enticed to argue with the narcissist but never do that. It will land you nowhere if he is your boss/senior co-worker. It will waste your energy and it will have negative impact on your work. That’s the reason learn to groom your own personality. Are you able to deal with the narcissists around you? Are you patient enough to work with them ? If you don’t have these traits, you need to develop the traits within you that you can deal with these people. It takes some time initially but within short time you can smartly deal with them.
#2 A Narcissist guy/girl can never be your friend
Don’t fall into the trap of sweet spoken narcissist around your work place. You may think, that person is so good with you .You think he/she is in good terms with you . The very next moment , you may find yourself in receiving end of your supervisor because of the narcissist guy at work. You will soon realize the narcissist guy bad-mouthed about you to your manager although you felt he/she was nice to you all the time.
#3 Talk to the narcissist guy with patience
A narcissist guy won’t give time to you but when they talk you must listen to them and praise them even if you don’t like. So when projecting or delivering important project related information or tasks to narcissist , be patient enough to talk him. He may not listen to you but you need to convey every bit of information to him politely as the project needs teamwork. You patience and politeness will be the key factors in dealing with the narcissist guy.
#4 Keep a record of all the communications
This is probably the best way to deal with them for your own safety especially if that narcissist guy happens to be your manager, always keep track of all the communications happened between you and your narcissist manager. If he/she tends to mislead you or disagree with you in future, the communication records will come handy to you . You must record the discussion- minutes of meeting and save in your email in that specific date.
#5 Don’t talk too much
Simply discuss work related stuffs and get away from the narcissist person. If he/she is asks you to have discussion on any non-work related stuff, simply avoid or just say ” I have some task to do ” and move on. Never indulge in meaningless talks with him/her.
#6 Praise him in a shrewd manner
You must use this tactic as they like being praised by anybody. Simply say good words to them in front of everyone in a shrewd way. Make sure the narcissist can only see your appreciation for him/her. This can motivate him to work more and the outcome of the project will be great. Narcissist guys/girl generally try to hog the limelight, so put him forward to pitch the proposal to the client and there can be either of the two outcomes, the project may be appreciated by the client and if the client not satisfied with the pitching of narcissist guy, then nobody can blame you for that. Either ways, its beneficial for you.
#7 Maintain your self worth and dignity at any cost
This is the most important point . You need to ensure your dignity, self-worth is maintained in workplace. If the narcissist guy/girl becomes too dominant and unethical in nature, demeaning and bullying you consistently and you cannot argue with him/her, you must complain to the human resource department or the boss of your manager if your manager is a narcissist one. Now when you realize they don’t take proper action or curb this narcissist guy/girl ‘s attitude towards the employee/subordinates or co workers, you need to take a call on your career on that organization.
Conclusion
Are you going to deal with the bully, demean yourself from that narcissist manager throughout your career in the organization. If you have the endurance, go ahead and live with it. If not, the world gives you lot of opportunity , find a better job in other organization with better pay and move on in life. But a narcissist can exist anywhere, you already have experience in previous organization and use that experience and deal with the new narcissist tactfully and excel in the new organization. That’s law of life and career. You cannot run away but smartly deal with it.
