[2024] Professional Things To Do When Your Boss Makes You Feel Incompetent

In the world we live in today many people have their definition of incompetency. It has already become a norm for people to refer to you as incompetent when you don’t deliver work or do things perfectly as expected by them. Some may downgrade your intellectual capabilities no matter how you put in your best to do the task given.

In your place of work, you tend to have an odd feeling when your boss makes you feel incompetent in executing your duties. Some bosses can act weird if they see their staff ain’t perfect at the work as they wished, not knowing that one can not be perfect but only do their best.

When your boss makes you feel incompetent continually, you tend to ask yourself the same question each day which is “what can I do to please my boss or make him see me as competent?” The feeling is inevitable.

If this keeps occurring, you may even have thought of quitting the job, thinking your services are no longer required in your place of work.

In some cases, your boss may not say to you directly that you are incompetent, but through his actions, you will know he is regarding you as such. This may include assigning a task you are supposed to do to someone else.

The feeling of incompetence arises if your boss constantly complains about every task you completed, tracing one issue or the other that makes your work inefficient.

So now you are asking what should you do.

There are many actions you can initiate when your boss makes you feel incompetent. It is good that you are searching for this and here you are in the right place. With experiences gathered from others also, I have prepared some specific actions you can take if your boss always makes you feel incompetent at your place of work.

Some Reasons Why Your Boss May Make You Feel Incompetent

1. When He Feels Insecure

People get intimidated for several reasons. And your manager, supervisor, or team leader may be intimidated by your performance, productivity, qualifications, or prospect in the company. This can make him begin to fight you back by making you feel incompetent, and talking down on you and your work.

In this case, unfortunately, you can’t help it. The problem is with him, not you.

Although, there is one psychological strategy you can use, which is to always let him know that you recognize his superiority over you.

2. When He Misunderstands You

Another reason why your boss may make you feel incompetent is when he has a mis-understanding of you.

Mis-understanding here means that he may not understand some things about you correctly, or has sometimes misinterpreted your attitude toward him, other colleagues, or your work. Until he has a different view of you, he may continue to make you feel incompetent.

In most cases, the way out of this is to engage him in a conversation. Getting to know his perspective of you, and sorting things out with him.

3. When You’re Not Meeting Up With His High Expectations

Managers at work often have a high expectations. Sometimes, these expectations are so ambitious and unrealistic, while some are justifiable and needed for the productivity of the organization.

You’ll need to have a good idea of what is expected and work towards meeting up with the target given.

In cases where there are challenges preventing meeting up with the expectations on you, these must be thoroughly discussed; not as giving excuses, but as an aid needed to help you catch up with the company’s target.

4. His Ideology or Style of Leadership

Some supervisor or manager believes that making you feel incompetent will help you to be at your best in order to help improve productivity.

As much as this is not a healthy approach, some bosses employ this style of leadership to increase employee efficiency.

So, if you happen to be under a supervisor whose ideology is to make you feel that you’re not doing enough, so you can stretch yourself, he would always want to push you, so much that you start feeling uncomfortable.

5. He’s Just Being Himself

Sometimes, bosses who make employees feel incompetent do not mean any harm. They are just being who they are.

Perfectionists always see fault with everything, and they can bear to keep quiet about it.

In fact, they believe that it is their duty to make you do some things you may consider unnecessary. They seem to make a mountain out of every mole. Bear in mind that such a manager is not picking on you, he’s just being himself.

6. When He Wants You Gone

In a case when your boss wants you gone for reasons known to him, there is hardly what you can do to appease him. You’ll have to start looking out for another job.

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Here Are What To Do When Your Boss Makes You Feel Incompetent

The majority of people, if not all working-class people, are susceptible to feeling uncomfortable in the office when their boss makes them feel incompetent.

Your chosen career job and boss should give you a sense of fulfillment, peace of mind, and utmost joy at the office. Your boss shouldn’t directly or indirectly abuse, downgrade or belittle your competency. Because, inevitably, it affects your state of mind negatively.

I commend you for getting in here to search for the actions to take when your boss makes you feel incompetent. It is better to look out for the solution than to continue to bear the feeling of rejection that comes with your manager’s idea of your incompetency in silence.

Taking no action gradually affects your mental health, your association with other colleagues, and your approach to work in the office. Furthermore, it may affect your confidence.

If by any means your boss at the workplace makes you feel incompetent, below are the right steps and actions you should take which I prepared for you.

1. Look In-ward:

First of all, you should be sure that the issue is not from your end, in other not to be insinuating that your boss is the one at fault for making you feel incompetent.

You can be sure of this by self-examination, where you check on yourself if you require any additional skills for the job to perform better and as expected.

You can also know this by asking your colleagues about your attitude and performance at the office. If by any means the problem seems to be from you as a result of any technical, professional, or interpersonal skill you are lacking. Then you should try augmenting yourself by taking on courses and lessons to improve your skills.

2. Take The Bull By The Horn:

Seek a scheduled personal meeting with your boss if after taking the training and you began to give your best in every task you do but your boss still goes on making you feel incompetent by nagging and complaining about the task you have completed.

Here you should ask him politely where you might have gone wrong in dispensing your duties that make him act the way he does towards you. Yes, you have to take the bull by the horn. However, this must be done politely.

By asking him this I believe you will get a sincere response from your boss. After adhering to what your boss says but he/she still looks down on your capabilities, making you feel incompetent then I have got a final decision for you to take.

3. Start Looking Out For An Alternative:

And lastly, if this persists, the final decision I will advise you to take is to begin the search for another job because working in a place where you are not celebrated but are always depreciated is not good for you, your health, and your career.

After getting the new job, you should submit your resignation to your former job. Doing this will give you peace of mind, working in a place where you are welcome and appreciated for the work you do.

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What To Do When Someone Makes You Feel Incompetent At Work

The vibe of incompetency doesn’t come from superiors only. Sometimes, they also come from colleagues and coworkers.

When you are thinking of what to do when someone makes you feel incompetent at work, you should also think of what is the right thing to do. Because the right way is the most cordial way to either react or respond to it.

An office environment is a place with many people of different characters and attitudes towards their colleagues and their daily duties. Even though it is known that people have different characters, it is hard to get a workplace where all of the workers have good morals, manner of approach, and character, because almost everyone in an office behaves the way they normally do.

Your client or customer may make you feel incompetent even without saying it. Your clients/customers may express that by not wanting to give you work to do or declaring that you can’t deliver what he/she wants. Such a client will always prefer to be attended to by your colleagues.

In this scenario what you are to do is to check on yourself for the skill you are lacking in delivering the work your clients want. You can do it by watching how your colleagues do the job and also by improving your skills and expertise. If your colleagues are the type who can teach you how they do theirs, then you can ask for their help.

Certainly, some of your colleagues at work may make you feel incompetent too. This is a phenomenon you can’t prevent from happening, but you can directly or indirectly stop it from getting to you by your actions and reactions.

When someone makes you feel incompetent at work by not regarding your opinion or view on a project that is ongoing in your office, and always complaining about every work you do.

The best way to react to that is to outsmart the person by improving and doing more than expected. If this continues, you should forward a complaint to the human resource officer or your boss at the workplace to look into the issue better, because it may be that the person wants to intimidate you.

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Why Does My Boss Treats Me Differently Than Others

In every organization, it is the right of the employees to be respected, acknowledged, and treated equally by their employers in terms of assigning duties, giving credits, and other opportunities for their success in their chosen career field and the organization.

An employer is supposed to motivate and inspire his employers always, doing this will boost the work environment, and working pace and increase productivity.

However, the actuality has not always been like this in most cases, some employees are been treated differently like you. They feel downgraded by how they are treated by their bosses.

Some employers may behave negatively towards their employees due to different reasons best known to them. They tend to be more rigorous on some workers than others. This sometimes may be due to the incompetency of the employee or other reasons.

You say to yourself “my boss treats me differently than others” why? As employees behave differently towards their duties and other colleagues, so do employers behave differently towards their employees. It is a known fact that can’t be disputed. Bosses may treat you in different ways as they want to based on their reasons. This rise up questions in you, which you ask what is the reason that makes your boss treat you the way he does?

Being treated differently in the workplace may be due to many reasons which may be your creativity and productivity in the office. Your boss may treat you differently if your performance is not up to the standard he/she needs.

Your boss may treat you differently because of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, educational certification, lack of certain skills and etcetera. There are many possible reasons why your boss treats you differently.

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Signs Your Boss Wants You Gone

Whenever your services are no longer needed in an organization, it is obvious that your boss will begin to exhibit some traits and signs which will communicate to you directly that your boss wants you gone.

It has gradually become a norm for some employers to not say out their minds about this but to act in some bizarre way towards you and the work you do.

Your boss may act this way because he/she thinks you are getting more recognition and applause than him/her in the organization because of your intelligence, productivity, and dedication to work. This kind of manager doesn’t want an employee who is more brilliant than they are, this now leads to the exhibition of some signs which meant you should leave the organization.

Since you haven’t bridged the organization’s conduct, your boss may find it difficult to use your fault against you to fire or lay you off, so they begin showing it through their actions.

There are many signs your boss wants you gone and I shall be unveiling some to you below. Below are some of the signs you’ll see when your boss makes you feel incompetent or wants you gone from the company 1. When your boss always assigns your project to others.

2. Less communication with you.

3. Your boss doesn’t value your presence in the organization.

4. When your boss doesn’t acknowledge the work you do.

5. If your boss doesn’t ask for your own opinion on a project.

6. You are always restricted from being part of some meetings.

7. When your boss doesn’t appreciate your achievements in the organization.

8. Your boss talks to you in a rude manner.

9. When your boss always complains about everything you do in the organization.

10. When your boss always frowns at you but smiles at your colleagues.

11. Your inferiors in the organization are the ones consulted for key decisions and not you first.

12. Your boss doesn’t always have time for you only for your colleagues.

13. You are always accused by your boss of what is not your fault.

14. You are always excluded from some incentives that are shared in the organization.

15. When you are always the one whose salary is delayed and comes last, most times paid half.

16. If your boss makes fun of your mistakes publicly among your colleagues.

17. Always insults you publicly

18. Doubles your workload more than your colleagues

19. Get others to monitor you to find fault in you

20. Condemns the projects you do, by telling you how well your inferiors will do it if it was given to them.

It doesn’t feel good if you discover your boss doesn’t like your work anymore in your office, all you have to do is to begin to look for a better job with a boss that will celebrate you and appreciate your accomplishments in the organization and not one who will sabotage your accomplishments, career and psychological state of mind.

As an employee, you need an organization that will see your incompetency and motivates you to improve and not criticize you. I believe this content gives the answers you needed and you are now aware of what to do when your boss makes you feel incompetent.