The psychologist gave advice to Russians who faced manipulation at work

Scheming and manipulation at work can lead to stress. Maria Bogdanova, a practicing psychologist, PhD, and lecturer at the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, told Izvestia on April 4 what an employee should do in such a situation.

According to her, normally a person with a healthy mind is capable of open communication and does not need manipulation. But there are people who experience a certain pleasure from intrigues, underhanded games, indirect communications.

"Psychology describes the concept of the "dark triad", introduced in 2002 by psychologists Delroy L. Paulhus and Kevin Williams to describe three related personality traits — Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. In this context, they are not considered pathological, but people with such traits tend to manipulate, act cruelly and poison others' lives," the expert explained.

The psychologist clarified that dark leaders, bosses with dark triad traits, can cause great harm to the team as a whole and individual employees in particular: they tend to use people behind closed doors without announcing their real intentions, and they can also "play" on emotions.

"It is believed that they have problems with empathy, but in fact, they have no equal in the ability to read emotions, identify pain areas in others, and they are ready to hit a sore spot in order to achieve their goals without pity and sympathy," Bogdanova added.

Such people conceal information, and also like understatement in order to extract important information from a colleague, plot intrigues, create coalitions, and make friends against someone. The consequences of such actions are a spoiled climate in the team, burnout of employees, lack of coherence, loss of motivation, as well as the desire of employees to quit.

The easiest way in this case is dismissal. The psychologist believes that from the point of view of preserving one's own physical and mental health, one's time, this is the safest tool. According to her, it is especially worth considering the option of a new job if the boss's manifestations of the dark triad are sufficiently pronounced.

"[Another option is] the white coat principle, which involves the inclusion of inner detachment. Imagine that you are a doctor, and an intriguing, aggressive employee is a patient. In a sense, this is true, his communication strategies are unhealthy and unconstructive," Bogdanova said.

The expert noted that it is quite difficult and sometimes dangerous to uncover manipulation, it causes aggression from the schemer, and a "war" can be declared against the person. If an employee is ready for this, then it is necessary to enlist the support of colleagues, or maybe contact a special committee or HR department that are authorized to deal with issues of the psychological climate.

In addition, there is a method by which one should recognize the strength and power of the aggressor, but nevertheless win by drawing one's own line further.

"Growing armor is also a good technique, you need to try to develop insensitivity in yourself, turn on protection to the maximum and simply do not succumb to manipulation, do not allow yourself to be caught on emotional hooks. Literally, you can visualize this protection in the form of a glass cap or some other image," Bogdanova explained.

At the same time, she drew attention to the fact that manipulators themselves easily fall for manipulation. And if a person is ready to deviate from moral principles to some extent, then with a good intellect and improved communication skills, he will be able to beat the schemer.

"However, this method also has a risk. When you defeat a dragon, you risk turning into a dragon yourself," the psychologist concluded.

Earlier, on March 31, it was reported that more than half of Russians feel signs of burnout or depression at work (56%). This is stated in the results of a survey of analysts of the Kontur communications service.A lot of sense." At the same time, 20% of respondents think that a psychologist could help them cope with a difficult moral state, and another 5% are already working out their problems with a specialist.