10 Personalities That Struggle At Work
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It’s easy to manage the employees who follow the rules but what about those employees who just don’t quite fit it? Maybe nothing egregious is going on but there is something about them that causes their manager to overlook them or not engage with them on the same level they do with other employees.
Employees come to an organization with a myriad of personalities. Some of them are innate characteristics, while others are learned through past experiences. There are times when we can coach employees to a level of self-awareness where change is possible and successful outcomes are achieved, but there are other times when people get so stuck in their behavior that change never comes.
Every struggling employee deserves a chance and each chance begins with a conversation. That conversation should include the identified behavior, the expected behavior and what (if any) support the company can provide. Deeply held intrinsic beliefs/reactions won’t change overnight so it is important to recognize that and be on the lookout for progress not perfection.
Below are some of the common personalities that struggle at work:
1) The No Fair Employee: No matter what happens, this employee deems it unfair. They lose sight of the greater good and only see what is in their best interest. They don’t stop to think that there are reasons they may not know and simply deem decisions to be a violation of what they think should be. This personality struggles because they can’t get out of their own way to make things happen. With the unfair attitude they become negative, gossipy and bitter – personality traits no one wants to work with or manage.
2) The I’m Not Worthy Employee: Typically your accommodating people pleaser, these employees have lost their sense of self-worth and don’t feel that good things will happen to them. Due to a deeply rooted lack of confidence, they oftentimes they don’t put themselves in positions of advancement or open up to opportunities as they feel there is little use. They are chronic settlers who set low expectations for themselves.
3) The Manipulative Employee: These tend to be the control freaks who like to manage everyone and everything around them. They use creative means to get their way and even when people know what they are up to, it is easier to give in then to challenge them. Generally these people have chaotic work relationships and are frequently the subject of complaints to managers. They may be smart or high performers but the issues they create with others offset their value to an organization.
4) The Settler. Unlike the “I’m Not Worthy” employee, the settler just likes to stay where they are. They aren’t interested in being challenged. They work their scheduled hours and not a minute more. Their goal is to clock their time and to collect a paycheck but they aren’t interested in contributing anything more to the organization than what they have to. They are usually uninspired and uninspiring. These employees are particularly irritating because there is nothing glaring to motivate a manager to move them out so they stay, take up space while adding little value.
5) The Drama Queen/King: This employee loves a dramatic fall out and will orchestrate one given the opportunity. They over react to situations, gossip regularly, and will even exploit circumstances to manufacture drama. They spend more time stirring the pot then they do working. Typically these employees are skilled at pulling other people into their theatrics and end up scapegoating others when confronted with their behavior. Most people love a juicy drama giving these employees a lot of reinforcement to continue their behavior.
6) The Nurturer: These are the employees who want to save and fix everyone. They take on other people as projects becoming their friend, coach and mentor all in one. They give their all trying to improve others but eventually neglect their work and end up with performance issues. Their identity becomes entangled in their mission to help others so much so that they lose sight of their own best interests. Employees usually love this person and provide a lot of passes for them making it harder for managers to performance manage them. Once they stay with the organization for long periods of time, a termination is the equivalent of “shooting Old Yeller” and no one wants to live that legacy.
7) The Bag Lady/Man: This person comes to work every day with a host of personal issues. They spend their time drawing everyone into their sordid issues and dump TMI everywhere they go. They use other employees as free counseling and you typically find them in the hallways telling the same tale of the day over and over to anyone who will listen. Not only do they tend to suffer from poor performance, they distract others from getting their job done. They love for others to feel sorry for them and this includes their managers. No one wants to kick someone who is down on their luck but there comes a time when enough is enough.
8) The Cling-on: Employees who want so badly to fit in may grasp on to other relationships so tightly that they suffocate others. When they try too hard they end up pushing people away causing them to try even harder and pushing others away even further. They end up feeling alienated and think that they don’t fit in. Typically suffering from low self-esteem, when these cling-on employees get rejected by other employees they become depressed or resentful which ultimately impacts their performance.
9) The Perfectionist. Sometimes these employees come across as OCD as they are highly obsessive to details and have no problem pointing out every single flaw they run across. They have a tendency to be highly critical of their peers, can fracture relationships and erode teamwork as the obsess over every minute detail. Generally they are high performers but low on the social intelligence scale. Although they get their work done, the impact they have on other employees can yield a negative return on performance.
10) The Favorite. Oftentimes this can be the most problematic employee on your team. Not only can the favorite exploit their elite status by leveraging benefits from their boss, they cause a sea of resentment among their co-workers. It is important for Managers to understand that when they play favorites they put employees across the board in a difficult situation. Although the employee receiving favor may enjoy the attention for their boss, they don’t enjoy the target this puts on their back with their coworkers. Since the majority of an employee’s time is spent with coworkers and not managers, these strained relationships can be problematic for employees.
Sometimes the best gift you can give someone is the gift of feedback so they have an opportunity to become more self-aware and correct their behavior. If they choose not to adjust their personality, that is on them. Our goal as managers is to simply present them with the feedback and let them take it from there.
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