A Survivor's Guide to Toxic Managers
When Your Boss Makes Work Hell
What to do, what to say, and how to protect yourself.
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35-page PDF · Instant download · By Philip Lye
What to do, what to say, and how to protect yourself.
35-page PDF · Instant download · By Philip Lye
Maybe your stomach drops when your manager's name appears on your phone. Maybe you replay their words at 2 a.m. You are not weak, and you are not alone. This book is written for you, not for the manager and not for HR.
It helps you answer three questions:
For anyone whose manager is making work miserable: through bullying, constant criticism, micromanagement, taking credit, twisting the truth, or quietly trying to push you out.
Shouts, belittles, threatens and mocks. Uses fear to control.
Checks everything, trusts nothing, redoes your work and demands constant updates.
Presents your work as theirs, and passes their failures to you.
Denies what they said, rewrites what was agreed, and makes you doubt your memory.
Ignores your emails, cancels one-to-ones and gives no direction, then blames you when things go wrong.
Wants you gone without being seen to fire you, so makes your life difficult or builds a paper trail.
Each type comes with what it sounds like and what actually helps.
Tough boss or toxic boss, the six kinds, and why it hurts so much.
Your first seven days, building your record, and scripts for the hardest moments.
Managing up, going over their head, and what to do if they're pushing you out.
Stay or go, leaving well, and getting yourself back.
Where to start. In crisis this week? Start with Chapter 4, Your First Seven Days. Need the right words? Chapter 6. Worried you're being pushed out? Chapter 9. Thinking of leaving? Chapters 10 and 11.
Calm, ready-to-use words for meetings, emails and reviews, so the right words don't vanish in the moment.
Short, realistic stories showing each situation, and what helped.
What stress is doing to your brain and body, in plain words.
One page per incident: facts, exact words, witnesses and evidence.
For any difficult one-to-one, review or meeting with HR.
A simple thinking tool to help you weigh staying against leaving.
Also included: a 14-day plan with a daily checklist, where to get help, and selected research.
A 35-page PDF you can download straight away and read on your phone, tablet or computer. You're welcome to print the workbook pages for your own use. Please keep it off work computers and work accounts.
No. It offers general information, and employment law differs between countries. Where the stakes are high (your job, your health, a legal claim), the book points you to a qualified professional, a union or a workplace rights service.
This book covers the gaslighting boss as one of six types. For a deeper look, see Healing from Gaslighting at Work: A Survivor's Guide.
There are optional "For readers of faith" boxes. Every tool in the book works without them, so feel free to skip them.
What to do, what to say, and how to protect yourself.
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