Are You Working For A Boss Who Is A Tornado?

Having a disruptive leader means you need to take special precautions
Having a disruptive leader means you need to take special precautions
Image Credit: jan jernmark

So the big question that I have for you is what kind of boss are you currently working for? Right now it is very trendy to be a disruptive leader. These types of bosses have a take-no-prisoners management style that can both ignite new trends within the company while at the same time crushing the competition. However, it turns out that there is also a darker side to these types of bosses. If this describes your boss, do you know how to work with them?


The Challenges Of Working For A Tornado Boss

Let’s face it, a disruptive boss can come across as being both charming and charismatic. However, these are the same types of bosses that can come with a dark side. They may discourage collaboration on their teams, discourage dissent, and bury their team under deadlines that don’t seem to make any sense. Disruptive bosses can be either inspiring or destructive.

Disruptive leaders have qualities that make them appealing to hiring managers. Many of these types of bosses are able to make big promises and then deliver on them. When they are facing challenges, they are able to show drive, ambition and persistence. Taken together, all of these characteristics have a certain seductive quality to them. However, the self-confidence that these types of bosses have can at times turn into arrogance. Some of the characteristics that can make them appealing can also prevent them from being able to collaborate with others like our manager training tells us that we are supposed to do. What you are going to have to realize is that your boss may not have the manager skills needed to be a team player – instead, they are a bold individual performer.

These types of bosses are often called tornado bosses because of the destructive impact that they can have on a firm. As an example, they can be in a rush to make an important decision and in doing so they both intimidate and interrupt the people who work for them. They do a poor job of team building. This ends up communicating a lack of trust to the rest of their team. What will happen then is that the people who work for this type of boss won’t really say what they mean until meetings with the boss are over. It is very easy for these types of bosses to ignore the needs of their team.


How To Work For A Tornado Boss

The challenge that managers then have is to find a way to work for tornado bosses in a way that won’t damage them. What we need to understand is that this type of boss is always going to be exposed to new ideas. What will happen then is that they will often identify an idea that they like and want us to implement it. This means that we are going to have to become skilled at having the ability to change our course quickly. If we are able to do this, then we’ll be able to keep up with our boss as they get excited about trying something new.

These types of bosses will have no problems asking us to work on a number of different things all at the same time. In fact, they may ask us to work on too many things at the same time. When this happens, we are going to have to have the courage to go back to them and ask them to prioritize what they have asked us to work on. Most of the time this should not be a problem because they have probably forgotten all of the different things that they wanted us to work on.

When you are working for a boss who is moving very fast and saying a lot of things that don’t seem to allow either them or you to work with other teams, you are going to have to be careful to interpret what they are saying correctly. What you are not going to want to do is to take anything that they say too personally. They probably didn’t mean it that way and so you shouldn’t take it that way. Instead, what you need to be doing is looking for ways that you can use your unique set of skills to complement your boss’s strengths. You want them to be more successful because you are a member of their team.


What All Of This Means For You

Rarely are we able to pick who we can work for. There will be times that we find ourselves working for a disruptive boss because that is very trendy right now. When we find ourselves in a situation like this, things can be moving very quickly and we need to be able to deal with this type of boss or else we may end up being very dissatisfied with our jobs.

Disruptive bosses have two sides to them. The first side can be very charming. The other side can be quite destructive. Disruptive leaders appeal to the people who are doing hiring at your company because they can deliver what they promise. These disruptive bosses are often called tornado bosses because they can leave a trail of destruction behind them. As managers we need to find ways to work with these types of bosses. We have to cultivate the ability to change course quickly in order to keep up with them. When they ask us to do too many things at the same time we need to have the courage to ask them to help us prioritize our work. Tornado bosses can be a bit much to take and we need to be careful to not take their behavior personally. We should always be looking for ways to use our skills to make them be successful.

Working for a tornado boss can be a tiring job. Each day is different and you never know what you’ll be asked to do next. However, these are the bosses that are able to get things done at your company. What you are going to want to do is to take the time to find ways that you can work with them successfully. If you can figure out how best to do this, then your career can rise as theirs does.


– Dr. Jim Anderson Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World IT Management Skills™


Question For You: If you are working for a disruptive boss, what can you do to improve teamwork with other teams?


Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental IT Leader Blog is updated.
P.S.: Free subscriptions to The Accidental IT Leader Newsletter are now available. Learn what you need to know to do the job. Subscribe now: Click Here!

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

So manager – are you overconfident? I’m pretty sure that we all know that being self-confident is one of the manager skills that we all need in order to be a great manager. However, it turns out that there is a dark side to this trait – we can easily become overconfident. When we are confident we act decisively and challenge other people. When we are overconfident we become arrogant and we rush into bad decisions. How can we tell if we have crossed the line from being confident to becoming over confident?