Alicia has over 15 years of corporate experience and has been helping professionals, managers and executives identify and develop extraordinary powers they didn’t even know they had, for over 5 years.
To find out more view Alicia's full bio or visit Alicia's website www.keysteps.com.au April 21st, 2008
Workplace Psychopaths - How To Deal With Them?
By Dr Alicia Karwat, KeySteps Pty. Ltd.
Workplace psychopaths, some estimate that there are about 3% of them in the workplace, and some say that their number is on a raise, but if it is the first time you are working with one and if you are a target of their attention you may start to feel like a paranoid freak. On the other hand workplace psychopaths with milder forms of psychopathic behaviours could be useful if managed properly by organisations.
However, to deal with workplace psychopaths, employers and employees have to know how to recognise them and assess whether they are dysfunctional or can be utilised.
You will be mistaken in thinking that if you meet a workplace psychopath you will spot him or her straightaway. In fact it is not obvious if you had not come across one before. We can be easily fooled and often charmed by them. We do not suspect anything until we start to feel trapped and controlled by them. To make the situation worse, they might be highly respected by their superiors because they usually have a drive, high level of energy, are highly intelligent, appear as natural leaders and they get things done. The paradox is that if you start to complain about their behaviour you may appear as an incompetent underachiever who cannot cope with stress or the demands of work.
Imagine a situation that you are a manager working on a project. You think that you are doing well and the project is well on track and under control. You have scheduled few meetings with clients and your boss says “I will go to these meetings – you have such a good attention to detail, could you do some paper work for me in this time. My PA is too busy today to do it.” You have not expected that, never seen it before, you are speechless. You start to think that your boss is taking over your project. You find yourself in such absurd situations day in and day out. Does not matter what you say or do, it is always wrong. Your confidence is completely shattered and you start to feel like a paranoid freak defending your existence. Does the boss think that I am incompetent?
Actually, it might be quite opposite, you may be a high achiever and you are a target because the boss wants to take credit for your work.
Bosses are also often targeted by workplace psychopaths. In the background, the workplace psychopath will try to undermine the boss and will complain about him/her to senior management at the first opportunity. By the time the boss expresses his/her concerns about the workplace psychopath, he/she is not taken seriously anymore. That happens usually but not exclusively when the workplace psychopath wants their boss’s job.
What makes workplace psychopaths different from the norm is that they are manipulative, impulsive, egocentric, callous, ruthless and remorseless. They use superficial charm, manipulation, intimidation, and aggression to control others and satisfy their own needs. The usual assertiveness does not take us far in dealing with workplace psychopaths. The more you recognise them for what they are the more you will become the target. If you try to deal with them by telling how you feel, the more they will attack you. This is exactly how they want you to feel.
So, how to deal with workplace psychopaths?
Some suggest to document every incident and take it to someone higher than your boss, but to be prepared for consequences such as being managed out or forced out with redundancy. However, based on experiences of others, I would advise to get out of the situation as quickly as you can before it gets out of control. Apply for another job either within the organisation or outside.
I had a discussion recently about workplace psychopaths with an HR manager from a large corporation in Europe. He said that workplace psychopaths do not have emotional intelligence. However, many of them could be utilised in a very effective way. In his organisation, once workplace psychopath character traits are spotted in an individual, he/she is not placed in a leadership position to manage a regular team. He/she is assigned to work and lead on a project basis.
Because of their drive, intelligence, ambition to achieve and ability to get things done, the workplace psychopaths can be very effective in strategic and high impact projects. The people on these projects do not stay usually long enough to become victims of the workplace psychopath’s tactics. Most importantly, the workplace psychopaths want to achieve within very tight deadlines, therefore do not have much incentive to victimise people who work with them. Even more, many people said that they learned a lot from them. The danger is that some might adopt some of the destructive behaviours, believing that that will ensure progress within the organisation.
Have you ever worked with a workplace psychopath? How is your organisation dealing with workplace psychopaths? Maybe you would like to share your thoughts with others. We would love to hear from you.
Further reading:
1. Working with Monsters: How to identify and protect yourself from the workplace psychopaths, John Clarke, Random House Australia 2005
2. The Pocket Psycho, John Clarke, Random House Australia, 2007
3. Snakes in Suites: When Psychopaths Go To Work, Paul Babiak & Robert D. Hare, Regan Books, 2006
The articles appearing on this blog may be copied in full or in part and used in other sources provided the user acknowledges the author of the material, the name of their organisation and that the material was sourced from the CareerEQ blog site.
Jun 1, 2008 at 1:01 am
I CURRENTLY WORK AT A LARGE LARGE HOSPITAL. ONE OF THE MANAGERS FITS YOUR PROFILE OF A PSYCHOPATH PERFECTLY AND CONSEQUENTLY LOTS OF VERY VERY EXPERIENCED STAFF ARE LEAVING .THIS PERSON DOES TARGET ANYONE WHO IS MORE EXPERIENCED THAN HER WHO WILL CONSEQUENTLY EXPOSE HER LACK OF CLINICAL EXPERTISE(THIS I MIGHT ADD IS JUST ABOUT EVERYONE).THE PROBLEM WITH YOUR ADVISE TO JUST LEAVE THE ORGANIZATION IS THAT IT IS THE PATIENTS ARE AT RISK AS THERE ARE PRECIOUS LITTLE EXPERIENCED STAFF LEFT.WE HAVE HAD MEETINGS WITH MANAGEMENT AND WHICH WAS DISASTROUS AND WE WERE LEFT IN NO DOUBT THAT THE DIRECTOR OF NURSING IS HER “PERSONAL”CLOSE FRIENDS SO GOING ABOVE HER HEAD JUST MAKES YOU MORE OF A TARGET.HOW DO WE DEAL WITH THIS AS I REALLY FEAR THAT THIS IS GOING TO LEAD TO A DEATH OR SERIOUS OUTCOME AS THE SENIOR STAFF THAT REMAIN AS AT BREAKING POINT
HELP!
Jul 7, 2008 at 3:27 am
Hi Anne,
I was the victim of a psychopath, it cost me my job, and for a while my sanity.
I applaud your desire to change things, I tried this too, feeling somehow responsible for the wellbeing of those I left behind but my sanity took priority. Especially in your situation where lives are at stake I understand how you may need to know that you did absolutely everything you could to remove this person from her position.
Alone you will seem like someone with a personal gripe. Try to contact those that have left, and quietly and VERY carefully scope out others inside the organisation who may be having the same problem with this person. Be very aware that all psychopaths have enablers at a lower or equal level of power when you do this, you cannot let these persons know what you are up to so be very careful how you speak to people until you know you are talking to a fellow victim.
Form a plan of action together, document all the relevant actions of this person, dates, times, circumstances, events, people involved. Write up a clear and concise complaint that includes facts and your concerns. Then go and talk to a trusted person in HR, your union, a patient safety advocate, or other health industry watch dog organisation and submit your complaint.
You may well risk your career doing this, so be prepared for the fall out.
If you do not wish to risk your career, then please get out for the sake of your own well being. You can do good work in other places. Sooner or later this person will fall on her face. You have to know in your heart that there is a limit to your responsibility in these circumstances. You have already tried to bring it to the attention to those who can make a change – if they do not act, they are ultimately responsible.
Aug 27, 2008 at 12:29 am
I worked for a workplace psycopath for three years. This was before I even knew what he should be called. I did know, however that his behavior just wasn’t right. He has risen to be the president of the company - I was his target, fall guy actually, and it cost me my job.
My old boss has committed embezzlement and fraud.
I felt like I was in a cult, it cost me a lot of sanity and I have been prescribed several SSRI’s because of it. I am now currently on Effexor.
If you’re being bullied get out! It will not get better you will just get more damaged.
Feb 1, 2009 at 5:40 am
hello,
i have been working with a manager at work who is extremely volitile and aggresive but now reading i come to realize im dealing with i workplace psycho, he fits all the criteria!!!!!! if anyone has suggestions to deal with this further please email at dragonflyjoes@bellsouth.net
May 15, 2009 at 2:29 pm
WOW I´m shock! My boss is a workplace psichopath and today was the first time I hear about the concept,… feeling not so lonely tonight. I commit the mistake to tell my boss that I was leaving the job to work in another institution with whom we have some business contact. My problem is that this person has focus her psychopathy in the person who, I hope, is going to be my boss. She is trying to destroy him and I am desperate. She is using the most vicious startegies to annihilate him cause she said he wants to steel me just to bother her. She is the boss and I´m the one who make all the job cause this women doesn´t know how to make an “o” with a tube, so she knows that when I left she is trouble. But for some reason she thinks I belong to her and has the right use me anyway. My future boss is offerning ALL, the actual say I earn too much so I have to work 7 days a week 12 to 14 hours a day, no benefits, nothing!!! The new position is not still open and my concern is she is doing anything to avoid I be hired. What can I do? Any suggestion most well come to druidax@hotmail.com Sorry for my English!!!
Jun 10, 2009 at 10:05 pm
I worked at a company with a psychopath, and in the end she tried pulling the “poor me” card which in turn made me look bad for pointing her out.
I never socialized with anyone, worked quietly and had 1 friend who got made redundant. I ended up being micro managed so I just quit. I justified to myself that if no one else can see through her tactics, there’s no point in pointing out her wrong doings, so I left.
It was so unnatural too, I became really depressed and couldn’t face going to work anymore because the boss was staring blankly at anyone who had problems with her.
Now I’ve decided to leave this profession, but am thinking of writing a book about it to make people more aware. These are highly intelligent ruthless people who will sacrifice alot more than you ever will, so BE VERY CAUTIOUS and dwfinately seek some professional help and don’t remain QUIET - that’s their meal ticket.
So long as your atmosphere is open, involves everyone respectfully and you get into the habit of CCing or even BCCing someone higher up, you should be safe. Also, nothing scares a bully more than being exposed.
Do everything in your good nature to remain open with them and your work environment.
Good luck!
Jun 29, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I have been dealing with a psychopath at work now for a month. It’s a new job for me, and he obviously sees me as a threat. He’s systematically undermined me, turned people against me and done a whole host of underhanded things. I’m actually lucky in that, I’m not the only person he’s done it to. So now, there’s a little clique of victims that can compare experiences and build alliances against him. He’s actually leaving for a management role in a bank and has claimed “I’m going to make the people I manage lifes’ hell”, which I can believe!!! These people aren’t human, there is no boundaries to which they adhere and no lines in which they wont cross to defeat their ‘enemy’ or percieved threat. The thing I’ve found is, you can’t give them an inch, or anything inwhich they can use against you; as inevitably, they will. Death to psychopaths! << Irony
Jul 23, 2009 at 12:07 pm
This article has so clearly identified exactly what I went through. I was being supervised by one of these “workplace psychopaths”, she again took credit fo my work, insisted that she give me all instruction not anyone else, thus eliminating my communication with others. She gave wrongful assessments of my abailities, avoided training me on areas I was supposed to be trained on. For one person she even acccused hi of taking kick-back when he ignored her decisions which she had no bearing over his dept. )of course neither he nor I are still wuth the company). Above all she lied about many of her life and professional experiences. But this not to rant, my concern is how the victim is affected. I felt I must have been crazy, I was frustrated, could not express the problem to others, and started to feel completely lacking in ability. An former colleague of mine were speaking about it recently and he said I should have gotten out earlier, there is no other option with these people.
Aug 31, 2009 at 6:38 pm
After three years I realize I have been completely fooled. They are very clever and when you realize what it is happening there is not much you can do. You may try, but their bosses already have been convinced otherwise. The more you try to resist or fight, the worse it will get, and it will destroy your career, undermine your self-steam and your family. They will push you to do something illegal, then you get trapped. In fact, you would be surprised of how deep the infiltration has gone. Hope the best, prepare for the worst. Keep your head down, focus, and leave before it damages your health.
Sep 2, 2009 at 2:53 am
I had an experience with a Workplace Psychopath a year ago and it still has me feeling crazy. This article and the above comments have helped me so much. I now see that I am not the only one who has experienced this and that there is a name for it. My friends and family wonder why I haven’t gotten over this but it was such a traumatizing experience. The guy told a bunch of lies and actually tried to frame me for crimes. He also told people I was a tranvestite and all sorts of other disgusting things I am trying to forget. He actually took the situation outside of work and tried to destroy my life in my community too. It was really difficult situation to live through. Thank you for putting a name to this experience.
Sep 4, 2009 at 11:49 am
I always love it when the experts tell people to just leave the job there in because the ‘workplace’ nutcase is too much to deal with. Yes they are deadly, but it’s not easy for everyone to just walk out on their jobs. So I don’t bother reading too many books written by these people becasuse you get to the last chapter and inevitable there it is: ‘Just leave your job’.
Sep 18, 2009 at 8:00 am
I am not even sure what really happened. It seems as if I was working with a workplace psychopath for about a year - I started as her superior, actually. I think I was targeted because I was an acheiver. Or was there an overall plan to get all of the other managers out, to be replaced by younger folk? The abuse shifted from me to others in the company, which is when I recognized the pattern and started talking with the owner about it. It seemed that he had talked with other victims and was going to let her go. There was a lot of drama in that place. A lot of yelling at people who were working crazy hours for her projects.
Things came to a climax when I finally asked for an additional benefit (more time off - I was feeling very sick concerning her behavior coupled with a bad reaction to going off the pill — incidently she had been asking me about when I was thinking about having a baby almost from day 1 — I don’t know but can guess that this caused me to start missing them, which is when my husband and I decided I should go off them for a while — not realizing the kind of reaction this could cause) that she had suggested earlier. Then there was motivation for the owner to be really upset with myself (or was there?).
OK - given the working conditions I was perceiving, I had more and more difficulty finding it within myself to send the company work from my personal connections (they have about 4 projects now that started from my connections). This was probably perceived as helping competitors. In a very passive way, maybe it was.
Then I was let go. If it was planned that I would be let go, couldn’t it have been done more honestly?
Is it cheaper for the employer to have you quit than go on unemployment? If that was what was going on, then a lot of resources were expended and a number of projects were risked and sabotaged towards that endeavor.
Is this what is actually heppening in this economy?
What now, after my confidence has been shaken and I’ve already been managed out? Accept contract work? Try to find a new position? Do a volunteer project ot regain my confidence? All of the above?
Is it even safe to put things on a board like this? Who is reading it?
My life is definitely not being destroyed in the communities I am involved with. This could be because I have earned too much trust for that to be possible.
Nov 10, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Well the stories are really scary. I am also involved with a workplace psycopath in the medical field, and this guy is really a clever guy. I spotted him directly, and for years he has been confirming all my darker second thoughts. Going through his CV, he has tricked his way up in the system for years and now he is using his title to push down any resistence to be found. Apart from substantially harming patient after patient he is also surpressing any kind of criticism relating to that behaviour, by having a firm grip over the adminstrative bosses above him. The nearest one earned her whole career and her PhD by his assistance, so how sane she ever might be, he has his grip on her. Apart from all the clinical misconduct, we also know that he is heavily involved with a specific medical company, and systematically evading taxes through second and third hand routes.Also this is strongly biasing his scarce scientific production, but he never ever displayes any conflicts of interest. I could go on writing page after page on this persons activities, but in short we are talking of a person who sees everybody as a tool for his own career, lack of remorse, lack of sympathy for patients and clients, no limits or borders when it comes to revenge any resistence and so forth. Personally I am still weighing between putting up further strong resistence versus leaving the field. The point is that if I leave, his destructive conduct will continue until he has destroyed everything around him, so I am not without hope in that aspect. In 2-5 years he will for sure be removed by very strong forces, but do I have the strength to wait and see those days coming or should I just watch the total downfall from a safe distance ?
Dec 19, 2009 at 11:31 am
For anyone needing assistance and more information please go to the lovefraud site, that site is for people struggling to deal with psychopaths in their lives. The book “Without Conscience” is the best I’ve read on the topic. Very thorough - and has a survival guide. The author has studied P’s clinically since the 1960’s.
I don’t imagine there are too many P’s that do not lie on their resumes. If you can - do a full check on their resume then send in your concerns anonymously to hr. Never ever attach your name or you’ll become a target. Often Hr people are sucked in by them. They’re crazy, not stupid.
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Dec 29, 2009 at 5:18 pm
After reading all of the comments, the question is still very clear and yet unanswered as for most of the people can’t take decision between standing up to the psycho or to leave the field as advised in the article.
Leaving the field may seem cowardly and attachment to workplace or love for the work may seem to come in way. However, I feel is that personal safety and sanity comes on top of pyramid of life.
One should choose that against everything. Because, standing up may seem heroic and the right thing to do, one single mistake would destroy the very work or job for which the person is standig up.
In recent times, a wise person should go for the least risky option and that has been shown in this article very clearly. If anyone has thought of any kind of innovative ways, kindly share.
Jan 14, 2010 at 9:49 pm
He was a psychopath boss. I was an ideal target. I got rid of all the chains he put on me (emotional psychopatic bond, respect to his superficial knowledge, ambition to get a degree) and only went for money. It did not work. He spotted my independent willing, hated my independence. I often chose to do washing up in the lab, but that was my decision, he could not tolerate it, he felt it is a lack of his control. I felt he tried to steal my thoughts and would make me complete victim similar to the others. He actually declared that I was not a woman, as I could not love him. You have to stand up and say,it could cost a lot, but I will keep my vulnerability alive.
The day when I left, I felt he was afraid of me, as he supposed that i knew his condition, however, I never gave him any clue. My suggestion: leave as soon as possible in silence, you could not help the others. They are under hypnotic sociopathic control. They prefer to stay. Even if they believe in what you say, it would be hard for them to tolerate it. But the chance of belief in you is low, they are extemely sophisticated manipulators and cruel predators. They really like real games. I am happy now, I can smile again, I work twice as much as previously, but finally I am mentally free again. I am out of the hell.
Feb 6, 2010 at 2:28 am
We had a team manager who fitted this description perfectly. At first she spent much time with me discussing operations and individuals professional talent. This was before I knew what she was.
She then turned on me quite quickly and made life unbearable for many. We had four resignations in two months. Well paid individuals with good benefits. Only one had a job lined up when he left.
Management also refused to acknowldge a problem.
I eventually became submissive and carried out my work in the subservient manner she required and the heat was off. Leaving that kind of a package behind is not done lightly when it’s paying for the mortgage, cars and kids education..
I also knew it was only a matter of time before she self destructed.
And after two years she did, having a drunken accident in the ladies restroom at a high profile event, senior management finally saw the light and she was escourted from the property.
Interestingly she has been employed by one of our greatest competitors (I suspect at the recommendation of some one at our company who knows full well how destructive she is) and they are going through the same torturous hell we went through.
In the time I spent with her it became apparent that she had few if any close friends, no remorse, always got what she wanted in her home life and enjoyed bellittling her staff and was brutal if crossed by a member of her team.