

Managers or coworkers who act in professionally exclusionary ways may have no viable justification for their behavior and may instead offer reasoning regarding a victim's falsified shortcomings.
DEFINITION OF A GASLIGHTER PROFESSIONAL
In a professional setting, in-group bias can serve to exclude employees who are otherwise capable, qualified and high-performing from advancement opportunities, recognition and professional development. With this, looping in another party to observe similar conversations may help you thwart a gaslighter's attempts at invalidation. For example, if you communicate with your manager about your feelings of uncertainty about their expectations and they get defensive, challenge your perspective and make you feel uncomfortable about bringing up the issue, such an interaction may result in you distrusting or discrediting your emotions. Gaslighting at work regularly occurs through the act of invalidation. You can overcome this type of gaslighting by modeling effective communication with your manager and continually checking in with them to ensure you understand what they expect from you. Though, if your manager's expectations continually fluctuate without disclosures about shifts, you may find it challenging to meet their expectations. In a professional setting, it's important for managers to make their expectations clear so employees understand their roles and can achieve objectives accordingly.
DEFINITION OF A GASLIGHTER HOW TO
Related: How To Deal With Negative People at Work 3. Typically, these narratives form through gaslighters' personal judgments and biases, and victims can advocate themselves by disputing claims with concrete data.

Coworkers or managers may disparage a victim's performance, skills, abilities or professionalism, even if they're actually high-performing, productive team members. Gaslighting at work can occur through the cultivation of a negative performance narrative. When such behavior occurs, it may be useful to verbally recognize your coworker's omissions and begin to rely on other sources for information. Without knowledge of information about key items like meetings or deadlines, you may find it challenging to meet expectations and blame yourself for underperforming. When a manager or coworker continually forgets to mention important information or purposefully omits it from the conversation, it may be a sign of gaslighting. With this overarching goal in mind, here are eight signs of gaslighting at work to consider: 1. From here, professionals can reaffirm their confidence, memory and judgment to advocate for themselves. The first step in overcoming the effects of gaslighting in the workplace is recognizing how it occurs and in what forms. Related: Manipulative Coworker: The Right Way To Act When People Do the Wrong Thing 8 signs of gaslighting at work Despite this, there are fundamental actions that victimized professionals can take to recognize this behavior at work and overcome its effects to safeguard their mental health. With this, gaslighting can be cyclical in nature. Even when victims advocate for themselves and express their confusion or discomfort with gaslighting, a gaslighter may act defensively, dispute factual information about their behavior and further invalidate the victim's reality, deteriorating their sense of confidence. Gaslighting at work can be challenging to recognize, especially for victimized employees who put forth genuine effort in their roles and generally have trust in their coworkers. These long-term attempts often culminate in a victim questioning their skills and ability to meet expectations. At work, gaslighting can take various forms but frequently begins with a manager or colleague discrediting a victimized coworker's performance through persistent, multifaceted efforts. While gaslighting is most common in interpersonal and romantic relationships, it can also occur in professional relationships. The term "gaslighting" refers to the act of psychological manipulation through which a particular individual or group-often referred to as gaslighters-purposefully targets a victim by making them doubt the accuracy of their memory or the validity of their judgment. Related: How To Deal With an Unhealthy Work Environment What is gaslighting at work?

In this article, we define gaslighting at work, list eight signs of this type of behavior and offer solutions for overcoming it. It can be beneficial for any professional, regardless of their position, to understand what gaslighting at work is and how to recognize it.

This is especially true when conflict occurs in the form of gaslighting, a type of targeted manipulation that results in victimized professionals doubting their own reality or ability to perform their role effectively. Workplace conflict can make it challenging for professionals to focus on producing high-quality work and meeting expectations.
