If this is happening within a formal , structured meeting then the walk out option is good . BUT , I would ensure that another high up would also leave the room , making the meeting pointless. A simple statement of fact , along the lines of 'Shouting at me is pointless and does nothing positive " followed by a swift exit . I have done it . Bit different as i was blatently lied to in a meeting . I called out the liar , they refused to retract so off i went . I am not going to sit in a meeting and be lied too , waste of my time.
If people want to sit in meetings and kid themselves that something that happened .- didnt then they are crazy .
As for shouty man, if there is n-one there who is he going to shout at ?
Also , I have been Mr shouty , but only when I have relayed specific instructions , that have been acknowledged , then ignored
I'd probably go with something like "who do you think you're talking to?"
@theotherjonv nailed it on the first page. Just walk away. They can either conduct the conversation later on when they've calmed down, or with a HR representative present.
I've had these types in workplaces in the past and I have zero tolerance for it. It's a job, you're not paid to be abused. I had enough of bullies at school, I'm damned if I'm putting up with it as an adult.
See, I knew you were the guys for the job.
Apologies for the delay, I've taken the day off to ride!!
Thanks for all the help and experience especially bikebuoy and fuzzywuzzy. It's quite a small company which is good but bad in the way we don't really have an hr dept it's just the accounts lady and she works part time!!
I'm a relaxed person so when he starts shouting I just put up with it, some other have been reduced to tears. I will try the walking out method. But I did broach it with him yesterday calmly where he denied shouting at me as his voice started to get louder.
Buying in, is good for all of our futures. The company has a really good name in our industry, all of the consultants know us etc but he has mentioned we're not going to have the majority. It's all still up on the air at the moment, we're having a sit down later this month and are being given the terms then so we'll know more. Just need him to sort himself out!!!!!!
Thank you all
but he has mentioned we’re not going to have the majority.
What happens when he retires?
Do you have to buy in again for his share?
Does he sit in retirement and cream off the lions share of the profits whilst you do all the work?
That’s the situation I’d want clarity on.
We buy him out when he retires so it becomes our company
tc but he has mentioned we’re not going to have the majority. It’s all still up on the air at the moment, we’re having a sit down later this month and are being given the terms then so we’ll know more.
So if there is 3 of you and 1 of him and you are bit getting a majority then I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. You need a really good solicitor and probably accountant to set that bit out. Because depending on how the "shares" are arranged you could very well end up buying him out at way more than you paid for the other 3 and way more than the business is worth.
As for shouty people, the calm repeat thing works wonders. Get everyone who he shouts at to simply say " when you shout I feel we don't communicate well, we should come back to this later" but don't walk away. He will continue shouting. Repeat, over and over, as calmly as possible. Eventually it will stop. You'll find a lot of the better trained call centre employees use the calm repeat thing on callers a lit to good effect.
If that fails, administer a swift bitch-slap.
You need to start establishing a new hierarchy.
When I started working for a new company around 10 years ago, the number 2 was a bit of a shouty . Day 2 , he started kicking off at me in earshot of the big boss. I held my hand up, said hang on a minute, then walked past him,along the corridor to the next office , where the big boss was sat rolling his eyes. I said to him you better put that **** on a leash or I shall be off ( and yes, I did use those exact words). Seemed to do the trick ( they needed me more than I needed them at the time), as he never shouted at me again.
No one should have to put up with that sort of shit at work FFS
This won’t be helpful, sorry OP. I too have suffered the wrath of the shouty man baby boss. I employed the tactic of seeing how angry and red I could make him. I calmly stood up in a meeting once and proceeded to adopt a confused look. Touching my clothes and looking bewildered.
Shouty McShout face asked me what the hell I was doing. I explained that I was confused as work seemed to have turned in to basic training for the military in the 60’s. He didn’t like that and got louder and redder.
Asked for a day off at short notice, he went apoplectic with rage. I sauntered off in the middle of his arm waving and shouting. Came back with two pieces of A4 with yes and no written on them and slowly moved one towards him then the other whilst whispering pick one.
My long term goal was to break him, but I left for a different job before I could complete my plan. The man was an utter incompetence arsehat.
Three of you are buying in, yet you won't get a majority?
You need at least 51% between you so you can outvote Boss No.2, otherwise Boss 2 will be Boss 1 until he retires, and even then may not sell up, and take a backseat while you do the work for him to keep 50% of the profits.
I'd be making plans now to start a new Company when the other Boss retires. You have contacts for your customers, have a quiet word with them, see if they'd come with you when you do a new start up.
Cromolyolly thanks I'll give that a try
Funkmasterp, that's hilarious, maybe I'll save that one if all else fails
He has said he wants to retire at 66 (4 years from summer 19) and so far we know that he wants the same buy out price as the other director plus inflation (which with brexit, he will probably owe us money 😁)
Insure of % shares at the moment will find out in the meeting later this month. fingers crossed
Agreed. My dad bought into a company where 3 partners had 49% and one MD had 51%. It was a a shitshow - they couldn't get the MD to do anything.
Appreciate it's a different context, but with angry, shouty students my approach is to stay as infuriatingly calm as possible and just point out there's no need to shout and it makes it REALLY difficult to discuss the issue at hand in any kind of adult and productive way if it carries on. I then won't continue the conversation until I get the conditions I want.
Despite having worked in industry before teaching, I never encountered this type of boss so no real idea whether there's any mileage in a calm, mature (but ultimately stubborn) approach to defusing these situations.