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“My boss ignores me!” – if this thought has ever crossed your mind, the situation at work is probably difficult. To better deal with your supervisor’s inappropriate behavior, it is important to find out what is behind it.
“My boss ignores me!” – Analyze and assess the situation
There are supervisors with whom you just click, and bosses who have a difficult relationship with their employees. If you feel like your boss is ignoring you, you should first try to understand this behavior in order to respond appropriately.
- First, think about the situations in which you felt ignored. Was your boss just in a hurry and distracted, or did they deliberately ignore you, not answer your questions, or simply cut you off? Write down what bothers you at home and see if it was just a coincidence or if it keeps happening.
- Also pay attention to how your boss treats other colleagues. If he ignores them as well, he may have poor social skills or be dealing with personal problems that make it difficult for him to communicate reasonably with his employees. If you are the only person being ignored by your supervisor, it is obvious that something is wrong.
- If you have a colleague with whom you get along very well and who you know won’t spill the beans, ask them for advice. A third party can tell you objectively whether you are perhaps misinterpreting things and taking them too personally, or whether your boss really has it in for you.
How to address your boss’s ignorant behavior
If there is no doubt that your supervisor is ignoring you, the only thing that will help is to seek a conversation.
- Ask your boss for a private conversation; don’t try to resolve the issue in passing. Describe your impressions and tell him what is bothering you. Always use “I” statements and don’t make accusations; remain calm and objective.
- Describe to your boss the specific situations you wrote down earlier in which you felt ignored. Ask him if something is wrong or if he is dissatisfied with your work performance.
- This is because there is often an unspoken conflict with the employee behind the boss’s ignorant behavior. In the best case scenario, they will now explain to you what went wrong and you can discuss the problem together.
- If your boss denies everything and does not take your concerns seriously, you should first take a step back and continue to observe the situation at work. Perhaps they will take it to heart and pay more attention to you in the future—or perhaps they will continue as before.
- If your supervisor continues to ignore you, you can also contact your company’s works council. However, involving such bodies often leads to further conflicts. You should therefore think carefully about whether you want to stay in a job where the relationship with your boss is so unsatisfactory.
