17.10.2024

HOW TO DEAL WITH A BOSS WHO KNOWS HE KNOWS EVERYTHING

To have the confidence of this person, your boss. He always speaks as a last resort. Not just for work. About politics, football, cooking, music, whatever. He never asks for an opinion. He cannot even have a normal conversation because he is unable to listen to what someone else is saying, especially if he is subordinate to him. He likes to hear his own voice the most.

He is from the so-called toxic bosses. He is probably one of the poisonous people in his personal life as well. But that's his wife's and his friends' problem. It's yours to work with.

There are many types of bad bosses, but according to experts, one of the most unpleasant are those who sincerely profess the belief "I know everything I need to know, that's why I'm the boss".

No really smart person thinks like that - from Socrates and his maxim "I know that I know nothing" about 400 years before the new era, until the present day. A smart person understands that he simply cannot know everything he needs to know, because the world is constantly changing at a furious pace. Only a fool refuses to evolve.

It would be strange for your superior to have risen to this position if he is a fool. It's not out of the question, but it's still weird.

Therefore, your first task is to open your eyes and ears to see if your boss really thinks he is a know-it-all, or if he is largely posing. It depends on how you deal with it.

The self-forgetful one

In one option - the worse - the boss is sincere. He took himself quite seriously. He's not a fool to begin with, he's just reached his ceiling.

To climb to this position, he probably made efforts, learned new things, improved his abilities. When he conquered the cherished goal, he fell into complacency. He believes that his post makes him something more than the others, that it is proof of his superiority. Therefore, he has nothing to learn from his subordinates, their opinion is irrelevant and a complete waste of time.

Sometimes dizziness occurs as a normal side effect of the adrenaline of victory and lasts for a short time. But don't hope it's that if your boss has long since moved up.

Very often "I know that I know everything" covers business owners. Their business has taken off, they have become rich, they have gained the self-confidence of almighty and they have forgotten themselves. So much so that they ignore the main rule of the successful entrepreneur - the real talent is to find the most capable, competent, creative people and hire them to work for him. More than one owner has failed when they tried to manage a growing or new business thinking they knew it all.

"When you talk to me, you will be silent"

There's no point in trying to tell a boss who genuinely thinks he knows everything that you know something too. Or that he doesn't know something. You will make a big mistake, he will hate you and order you.

The practical advice is to obey his rule, which is to the effect of "Talking to me, you will be silent." Don't give unsolicited opinions. Speak only if you are sure he is asking you. And notice - the pause after his statement "I know that I know everything" is not for you to speak, but for him to enjoy the effect of his own wisdom. Remember that such a boss is a narcissist who will be furious if you spoil his moments of self-admiration.

Obey his rules for a while until you find another job. Because, in addition to being unpleasant, such a boss usually does not lead the team to success, and with him you risk slowing down your own career. It makes more sense to look for a place with a leader who strives to learn something from each person, tries to listen, appreciate and use the opinion of employees to make the work go better.

The second option is that your boss doesn't actually think he knows everything he needs to know, but just demonstrates this behavior. There could be many reasons for this.

The poser

This boss most often learned his leadership style from someone he was subordinate to or still is subordinate to. He does not believe that he is omniscient, but that the superior must always appear to be the most competent. Something like a part of the job description or the visible image that goes inextricably with the boss's chair.

However, the poser can be quite a clever organizer and manage to assign the tasks in such a way that the employees show competence, and he only steals the laurels. This is usually done by smart bosses who have superior bosses or owners over their heads.

Such people are quite repulsive with their management manner, but in general they are rather successful. They won't inspire you, but your professional chances aren't likely to suffer. The bad thing is that they usually like to be admired very much, so their subordinates are best placed, who do not hesitate to flatter them a little.

The overrated one

It is also possible that the boss hides his insecurity with "I know everything". He sat in the armchair with protections, by a happy coincidence or he reached the so-called level of incompetence. He does not feel sufficiently prepared for his position and is panicked that if he asks for the opinion of his subordinates, someone will turn out to be smarter and more capable than him, thereby endangering him.

Unlike the poseur, he pretends to be a know-it-all, not because he believes that the superior must always appear to be the most competent, but to cover up his inferiority complex.

When he is not intelligent enough, such a boss does not understand that the best way to hold on to the position is to make maximum use of the abilities of each of his subordinates, to unite the team and ultimately compensate for his lack of competence.

The genetically burdened

And there are people who are like that by nature and the habit of speaking out as a last resort is not related to their position. Your boss is one of them, there is no doubt that he knows not only about his professional work, but also about women/men, black holes, diets, etc. He does not admit in reality that he really understands, but something inside makes him speak so categorically.

It's very possible that after the "Know it all" demonstration, your boss will make an effort to educate himself and even step into the role of a person who learns from his subordinates, but without openly admitting it.

By the way, this type of people strongly hates their own kind. If you also have a habit of speaking up as a last resort, your boss won't like it even if it's not about work, but about some completely side topic you've talked about. According to psychologists, the reason is that by watching you, he realizes his own bad habit and realizes that he doesn't really like it at all.

"Following up on what you said"

Whatever the reasons for your boss's behavior, if you notice that he doesn't really believe in his infinite competence, there are ways to work with him without getting poisoned. At least for a while.

Pretend to adopt his know-it-all attitude. Because you are loyal to him, you are simply adding to his omniscience as much as you can.

When giving an opinion, find a way to make it look like you're continuing the original thought, even if you're saying something completely different. Don't be shy about using expressions like "Following on from what you said" literally. That's how you brush his self-esteem, and whether he's a poser, overrated, or genetically burdened, he likes it.

If you approach it right, you won't annoy your boss. However, you must force yourself not to be annoyed by his behavior. Yes, it's unpleasant. But even in this case, you have a choice - to endure or look around for a place where the manager will not be of the "I know that I know everything" type.