The 4 People Who'll Kill Your Team

We're all on teams; at work and when we volunteer. Here are some of the people that will kill your team and why. Leaders, if you see this behavior, don't let it persist -course correction is required. I'm a big fan of behavior/impact statements. Even if you want to say, "You're a jerk." You'll get a lot farther if you describe the behavior and the negative impact it has.


 

Glum -this person will never come up with ideas of their own but will constantly remind you that yours won't work.
Set the ground rules . . .
If you have an employee like this make it clear that they need to stop the behavior. When you hear it, course correct quickly and privately. "Comments like that are not productive. If you see an issue, you need to come up with a solution."




The Marine Sergeant - this person is an aggressive and loud bully. They will do anything it takes to make sure you realize how great they are and their idea is. No one can defend themselves or get a word in edgewise.
Set the ground rules . . . 
If this person is your boss or someone with control over your job, the harsh truth is - it might be time to find another job. Bullies-as-leaders are rarely known to get better and they usually place more bullies around them.
If this person is a co-worker, use behavior/impact statements like, "When you raise your voice and pound on the table, it becomes very difficult to have a conversation. Let's come back to this topic when you aren't raising your voice to me."




The Critic - this person never has a positive thing to say.
Turn it around . . . 
Whether you work for this person or this person works for you, you can always ask this person, to list the things that they see working well. In other words, in addition to their criticism, find out what they think is working; in this way you'll get them to start looking at the full picture.



Tom Sawyer - this person manages to get out of doing any actual work.
Set the ground rules . . .
Keep yourself on guard for manipulation. Say, "no", when you need to. If you lead this person, then ask set clear expectations and don't reward this employee if all his/her work has been done by others.