Page Updated on September 16, 2023
These ‘Identifying and Managing Narcissism in the Workplace’ training course materials are for corporate trainers to train staff who have responsibility for hiring and managing employees in managerial or leadership roles.

The aim of these training materials is for the participants to learn how to reduce the impact of narcissism at work.
This training package is:
- Fully customizable and editable
- US English & British English compatible
- Downloadable immediately
- Can also be adapted to use for online teaching and training in virtual classrooms
- and you will own the rights to edit and reuse it for as many of ‘your own courses’ as you wish

Page Contents
Samples from the Training Course Materials
Click on the slides below to magnify.
Why Is It Important to Identify and Manage Narcissists at Work?
When talking about narcissism in these course materials, we are referring to people with extreme grandiose narcissistic personality traits. The presence of these traits is technically referred to as narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).
The majority of people may have some traits that could be considered narcissistic. After all, who doesn’t want to be appreciated and made to feel important and valued? Also, many people want to succeed in life and have a degree of ambition. However, these are just signs of healthy self-esteem.
People with extreme grandiose narcissistic personality traits can be very damaging to people around them because they:
- Lack empathy.
- Act only in their self-interest.
- Use other people as tools to achieve their own goals.
- Can be very friendly when they need something from you, only to discard you when they no longer need you.
- Take credit for other people’s good work.
- Think they are better in every respect (more intelligent, more attractive, etc.) than everyone else.
- Belittle other people, because nobody else is allowed to be better than them.
- Use strategies to manipulate other people (e.g, gaslighting, tantrums, making you feel special, inducing feelings of guilt, alternating flattery with aggression) that are highly damaging to the self-esteem and mental health of the receiver.
- Can’t take criticism and become angry and aggressive when confronted with negative feedback.
- Are risk takers and can’t evaluate risk realistically.
- Have unrealistic expectations of self and others. In their eyes, everybody has to be perfect (including and especially themselves).
- Are entitled.
- Are inclined toward the abuse of power.
Individuals with a narcissistic personality disorder don’t care if they hurt others. All they want is to satisfy their own need for appreciation and attain their grandiose dreams.
The problem in the workplace is that narcissistic people are naturally drawn to leadership positions. They want to be in charge and they actually need to be the boss.
As a result, they do all they can to attain such positions and, because they are good at impression management, they often come across in interviews as charismatic and inspiring.
Genuine transformational leaders (who inspire and drive change) also come across in the same way in interviews.
So, it can be very hard to tell the difference, during interviews, between real transformational leaders and extremely narcissistic individuals.
You might wonder why it is important to spot the signs of NPD when interviewing for leadership positions. After all, can’t an individual with NPD still be a good boss, given their need to succeed?
The problem with this assumption is that a narcissistic leader does not care about the success of the organization. They care only about their personal success. If the goals of the organization are in line with their own, then fine.
However, quite often, they will take excessive risks, abuse their employees, create a climate of fear and wreak havoc in the organization, without caring. They will then leave the company and move on.
Genuine transformational leaders instead, care about the organization, share credit for success with the team, empower and encourage staff, are reliable, and are ready to learn from their mistakes.
With a genuine transformational leader in charge, the organization will thrive.
If a narcissistic leader, instead, is in charge, an organization is very likely to become dysfunctional and even, in extreme cases, fail.
Given the characteristics of leaders with narcissistic personality traits, with somebody like that in charge, staff are very likely to feel stressed, abused, disengaged, and demotivated. The whole climate of the organization is likely to become toxic as leaders can affect organizations on a wide scale because the negativity spreads from the top.
As a result, staff will likely get sick due to stress, they will be absent and eventually leave the organization. Attracting and keeping skilled employees might then be very hard.
These ‘Identifying and Managing Narcissism in the Workplace’ training course materials are designed to help organizations prevent and limit the negative effects of narcissistic leaders on their staff and the organization as a whole.
The training course materials contain guidance and tips on how to identify extreme narcissistic traits in interviews and deal with narcissism by fostering an organizational climate that discourages extreme narcissism.
Why Should You, as a Corporate Trainer, Offer Workshops on How to Detect and Deal with Narcissism at Work?
Many organizations around the world are becoming more and more interested in retaining and motivating their staff, as finding and retaining skilled employees is very difficult.
So, there is a tendency in organizations towards providing staff with a climate that encourages engagement and growth (both professional and personal).
Organizations want employees to feel happy at work, so the company does not have to deal with staff absences, hiring costs, loss of skills, and having to train new employees all the time.
As a result, training topics that aim at promoting job satisfaction, inclusion, engagement, and staff happiness are very popular.
The topic of dealing with narcissism at work is still quite new but it is gaining momentum. In organizational research, there is a growing awareness of how extreme narcissistic traits in workers and bosses can negatively affect organizations.
So, by adding a workshop on how to detect and manage narcissism in the workplace to your portfolio, you will be offering a new and valuable service to your clients.
Other training materials, which complement our ‘Identifying and Managing Narcissism in the Workplace’ Training Course Materials well and that you might be interested in, include:
- Psychological Safety at Work
- Employee Engagement and Motivation
- Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace
- Dealing with Difficult People
Why Buy Off-the-shelf Customizable Training Materials?
Whether you are running your training online or in person, there are several benefits of buying ready-to-use corporate training materials.
- You save a lot of time. We have already done the research, created a lesson plan with the activities, and designed the materials (such as PowerPoint slides and handouts).
- You can edit the materials as you like to adapt them to your audience and add your logo.
- The materials are yours to keep and use for your own courses as you wish.
- The training materials are available for you to download instantly as soon as you buy them.
- Our training materials can be adapted for teaching as an online course if needed, using platforms such as Adobe Connect or Zoom.
Who Are These Training Materials for?
These training course materials are for corporate trainers to teach in a classroom environment (either in person or virtually).
You may want to buy our ‘Identifying and Managing Narcissism in the Workplace’ training course materials if you are:
- A self-employed or corporate trainer who runs training sessions on leadership for his/her customers.
- An HR department, which has been asked to address issues with leadership, staff’s well-being, and bullying at work.
Individuals who will benefit from attending this type of workshop include:
- HR staff who are in charge of running the hiring process and of developing a positive organizational culture
- Anyone who has the task of hiring staff at the managerial level
- Anyone who is interested in knowing how narcissistic traits in individuals can affect an organization
Duration
1/2 day – for classroom training.
You can increase or decrease the length of the course if needed, by spending more or less time on activities. These are provided as part of the training course materials.
Level
Open level.
These teaching materials are suitable for learners who are new to the topic, as well as for those who would like to refresh their knowledge of how narcissistic leaders can affect an organization and what to do about it.
Outline and Objectives
The aim of these training course materials is to help participants be able to identify and manage the impact of narcissistic personality disorder at work.
At the end of the course, your participants should be able to:
✔ Identify what narcissism is and the characteristics of individuals who hold narcissistic personality traits.
✔ Appreciate the impacts of narcissism on an organization.
✔ Employ interview methods to help them identify narcissistic traits when hiring.
✔ Develop strategies and a plan to mitigate the negative impact of employees with narcissistic traits on the organization.
Delivery Method
These course materials are designed for a trainer to teach in a classroom environment, either face-to-face or virtually.
The materials are designed to allow for plenty of interaction between teachers and learners so that participants can learn actively.
These training course materials include exercises such as group discussions, Q & As, and brainstorming activities.
Topics That Will Be Covered Include:
Understanding What Narcissism Is
- Types of narcissistic personalities (grandiose vs vulnerable)
- Characteristics of narcissistic personality
The Impacts of Narcissism in the Workplace
- The effects that grandiose narcissistic leaders have on individuals
- The effects that vulnerable narcissistic coworkers have on individuals
- The impact of grandiose narcissism on teams and on the whole organization
- Explanation of how grandiose narcissistic leaders can have a knock-on effect on the whole workforce
Identifying Narcissistic Traits When Hiring Staff
- The difference between transformational leadership and narcissism
- Discussion on the best personality profiling tools to use, in order to expose narcissistic traits in interviewees
- How to ask interview questions aimed at identifying narcissistic traits
Limiting the Impact of Narcissism at Work
- How to create an organizational culture that stops a narcissistic mentality from taking hold
- Creating an action plan to identify and manage narcissism in the organization
With this Course, Instantly Download:
✔ 38 PowerPoint slide deck (includes tutor notes on each slide)
✔ 57 pages trainers workbook
✔ Course documents (including sign-in sheet, course evaluation sheet, course outline, suggested reading list document)
✔ Participants’ workbook, which includes a list of further readings.
✔ One activity handout (‘Managing-narcissism-action-plan’)
✔ Course certificate (printable to hand to participants)
✔ A PDF guide with suggestions on how to adapt the activities for teaching the course online, if you ever need to.
Documents are delivered using MS Word, PDF (in case you do not have MS Word), and PowerPoint.
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American & British English Compatible
Suitable for both American English & British English styles.
- We have avoided any words that can cause confusion between American and British English styles such as soccer/football.
- We have used terms that are common in both and we have used the American style for a few words where a ‘z’ rather than ‘s’ is used i.e. materialize.
Happy Customers Include

Price
GBP £99 (approx. USD$125) to instantly download.

Buy This Course
- To purchase click the “Buy Now” button below.
- You can choose to pay via PayPal or by Credit card.
- Once you have paid, you will immediately receive a digital link to download the zip file straight away.
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