While a motivated employee will embrace new challenges with enthusiasm, Welch says that “a boss hater is not enthusiastic about new projects, new clients, new technology or the new boss.” Boss haters work against the group’s best interests, and management will notice.
“Any decent leader,” Welch says, “sees how negativity can ruin a team’s productivity.”
Even if boss hating employees are smart or produce great results in the short-term — which actually, Welch says, is often the case — their inability to develop or maintain positive relationships will hold them back.
Simply feeling lukewarm about your manager doesn’t make you a boss hater. Many employees report having a bad boss at some point in their career, and poor managers take many different forms.
And if you do realize that you’re a boss hater, says Welch, there is an upside: You’re probably meant to become an entrepreneur.
“Some of the best company founders in the world are probably boss haters,” she says, adding that Steve Jobs may have been one himself.
Finally, if you have to work with or manage one of these negative employees, it’s essential to create boundaries that will allow you to maintain a healthy, realistic perspective on your work environment. Don’t invest energy listening to a boss hater’s complaints.
“Try,” Welch advises, “not to get sucked into their negativity vortex.”
More from Suzy Welch: