There is a manager that seems to be emotionally unstable. She is disrespectful and communicates poorly. She is accusatory and has a general problem with communicating clearly. She will put people that work for her in the middle of a situation that she should handle. We are a small company of under 15 people and do not have a HR department. Everyone is afraid to speak up. Please help us on how to handle this issue and how to respond to this person when things seem to be getting out of control. Thanks.
The Team Doc Says…
Where is the owner in this whole debacle? Is he / she ignoring what is happening? Someone must speak up or you can expect this behavior to continue — and the bad news is that it may even continue after you speak up.
One thing you might want to try is to attempt to help this person. If you feel safe enough, offer to provide this person with some feedback and help her understand how her behavior is impacting the entire organization.
Otherwise, sadly, the only option for a fix to this problem is that you leave or she does.
About Denise O'Berry
Great post! These are really useful thoughts that can be used by everyone. Thank you.