Managing a narcissist

Managing a narcissist

A lot has been written about having a narcissistic boss. What if you actually have a narcissist in your team who has passive-aggressive tendencies and is slowly destroying your team?

I have four direct reports who are all team leads. About two years ago my boss recommended I hire someone who has worked for him in the past for one of the team lead positions. The resume was good, he interviewed well and I hired him. The first six months were great, he invested in the team and the results have improved. However, soon I started noticing that he does not get along with his peers, is very self-promoting and every time something is not good with his team somehow it is never his fault, he thinks he did the best he could despite somebody else not giving information or making the process complex, etc. He also is pretty good at outside networking and making grandiose gestures to other departments and being very vocal about them, including copying my boss on his "achievements". The problem is that it has become somewhat excessive and also not related to his main work. In the last mid-year performance review I pointed some things he needed to improve while recognizing the help he has given others outside the department. I also pointed out that he needs to work on his communication with his peers. It all fell on deaf ears. He stated that he clearly exceeded expectations, blamed others for the shortcomings, described communication issues as minor, etc. When I discussed this with my boss, I didn't get a lot of support as apparently they are buddies from the previous place and it all became somehow my fault. I realize that I need to start documenting everything to show a pattern, but it has become exhausting.

I started to wonder, is this even a battle I can win? Should I quit?