Have you have ever worked with people affected by personality disorder called Narcissism? Narcissists contribute to create a toxic environment and compromise healthy teams.
Narcissism has become a real social plague in the last years, unfortunately only people who dealt with narcissists are aware of how dangerous those people are. Narcissism is not a personality component, like arrogance or shyness! Narcissism is a proper personality disorder that needs to be cured with proper therapy. The narcissistic disorder causes tremendous problems in several areas of life: friendship, romantic relationships and of course at work as well.
Let's check together how to spot a narcissist. Please note that I just picked the signs I have seen in other people more frequently, the five points below are not exhaustive. Moreover they can become stronger and stronger when working pressure is higher.
📍Steal credit: narcissists are well know for stealing recognition, they take disproportional credit of the hard and smart work someone else did. In a team, the narcissist usually works way less than the others (and worst than others) but he/she will sell ideas to the upper levels as if those ideas were his or hers.
📍Break rules: narcissists feel like God, entitled to do whatever they want showing no respect to their peers and/or supervisors. They love to take shortcuts to trick coworkers and the system. This could lead to stealing office supply, falsifying reports or committing white collar crimes.
📍Blame others: the narcissistic pathology implies that those individuals are highly adverse to criticism. You can never have a constructive discussion with a narcissist. He/she won't try to find a common ground and will turn an insignificant disagreement into a real fight. Even a normal feedback undermines the fragile ego of the narcissist who will never admit the mistakes but would rather blame others for their failures. Narcissists have very low self-esteem.
📍Manipulate: at the first sight, before the mask falls down, narcissists work hard to be liked by people around them. They want to gain followers and build a space where they can dominate. Narcissists are extremely manipulative, they have the rights skills to create favorable impressions to persuade the others to get what they want. They will convince people that they got valuable experience in order to get their unrealistic scheme supported.
📍Spread toxic emotions: they enjoy to spread around bad vibes to make sure there is chaos and instability that will allow them to dominate the stage. As someone said "Some people try to be tall by cutting off the heads of others"... this quote precisely describes how narcissists approach situations.
A narcissistic co-worker is a lot to deal with and sometimes his/her toxic behavior might become a real challenge. The question now is: how to deal with narcissists? Well, there is no quick fix for this kind of personality disorder unless the person affected by it will get help from a psychologist / therapist. Usually narcissists have no clue they have a major problem.
It is already a big step if you are able to recognize narcissists, at least you know the potential danger that might arise from those personalities. If you can, avoid to deal with narcissists as much as you can. If you are obliged to work closely with a narcissist, be aware of their tactics and in extremes case escalate misconduct to your supervisor. If it is your boss to be a narcissist, do not hesitate to speak up and report the situation to the management.
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