Dealing with Toxic Personality Types
At work, have you encountered individuals who are overconfident, self-centered, or have far-out personalities? It is important to be aware of these signs of potentially toxic personnel. As much as possible, avoid having such personnel affect you.? It is advisable to minimize the impact of such personnel whenever possible.
Let me tell you about my experience. I encountered a personality type that was extremely technical, however, refused to obey any standard procedures or discipline set across engineering organizations, was very loud, had a lot of attitude, and was non-collaborative. It has always been my guidance to the team to? minimize the impact by either avoiding unhealthy and unnecessary long threads or arguments or by minimizing interactions.
What are most common toxic personality types and how do you deal with them
Indifferent to their role and responsibilities, these personnel types will never complete assignments or assigned tasks or find excuses to not complete it. In order to prove their point, they will engage in long threaded, non-productive discussions. They consistently underperform, and as a result, they find fault with everything and become troublemakers for high performers or employees delivering their deliverables to the highest standards. You know you have a toxic personality.? There is nothing more demoralizing than a specific personality type throwing their colleagues under the bus instead of holding accountability.?
The underperformers take advantage of the soft personalities who do not speak up. It is better to deal with them by engaging actively with the right & supporting data, holding them accountable rather than getting involved in long and drawn out discussions. My own techniques for dealing with such underperforming peers include bringing the situation immediately to HR or supervisor's attention, documenting the situation, and providing anonymous feedback with specific examples.?
Organizations must prioritize reducing the impact caused by personnel types that have a negative impact on employees and the overall well-being of the organization. Unfortunately, I have seen these issues brought up, but no immediate action taken or even taken at all. This type of negligence needs to be avoided to ensure employees are working in a healthy and encouraging environment that will help the organization reach its goals and objectives. Taking preventative steps to reduce the impact of these personnel types is essential for a successful organization.
Bottomline here, deal with such personality types by speaking up, documenting, and holding them equally accountable to minimize impact.?
Taking ownership of a project or product is an important quality for a leader to have. As Amazon explains, leaders are owners who think and act long-term on behalf of the entire company. They don't limit themselves to their own team and take on a broader perspective when making decisions. However, there is a difference between taking ownership and being a control freak. Control freaks take ownership to an unhealthy extent, even if it is not in line with the company's goals. They may also attempt to take ownership by bad mouthing or saying bad things about others. This behavior is not beneficial to the team or the company, and it can cause morale to drop and lead to an unhealthy work environment. It is important for leaders to take ownership, but it should be done in a healthy and productive manner.
In my career, I have seen certain personality types who take control in order to please their executives, regardless of the cost. They do not care about gaining the trust or agreement of their peers, and will interfere with decisions that are outside of their own expertise. These types of people will draft action plans without any consensus, and will quickly move to implement them. When these plans fail, they will often point fingers and blame others for the outcome. This type of behavior does not lead to successful outcomes and only serves to create an environment of distrust and confusion. It is important to note that this type of behavior should not be tolerated, and that leaders should take steps to ensure that everyone is working together in a constructive and cooperative manner.
To begin with, try to understand its rationale, as well as to appreciate its potential positive intentions. However, if this is not the case, then simply refusing to recognize their authority is the best way to deal with such personnel. Before committing, stand up for yourself, ask questions, and gather information. Be self-directed and don't be afraid to voice your opinions or ideas. In case you've made a decision, explain the thought process behind it, but don't justify every single point, or you'll open up a can of worms. Getting alignment is important, but also documenting how you made a particular decision, the choices you considered, the assumptions you made will help avoid non-productive discussions, especially if you're dealing with a control freak.
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Constantly complaining and never satisfied. Personnel of this type are never happy and are always the first to voice their disapproval or criticism. They are adept at identifying the negative aspects of any situation and will not hesitate to mention them to you or anyone else who will listen. Such complainers also have a detrimental effect on those around them. Without realizing it, team members end up transferring their negative and pessimistic feelings onto others through a process of projective identification. As if they were using other people as garbage cans for their negativity, they would feel burdened and exhausted as a result. Whenever anyone within earshot does not join in and complain along with them, they quickly move on to find someone who will. This provides you with an opportunity to leave their orbit.
Most complainers are harmless, but they tend to drain your energy with their negativity. It is best to begin by accepting that it may be their communication style, or their personality type. Reforming the situation and highlighting its positive aspects. Rather than focusing on complaints, we should coach them to identify solutions. By asking thought-provoking questions, requesting supporting data and facts, this can also be accomplished.?
Two employees discussing their work and personal lives is a perfectly normal occurrence. Especially in a remote or hybrid work environment, it is beneficial to discuss personal or work situations with colleagues in order to get a sneak-peek, build relationships with them. There must, however, be a fine line between healthy discussion and gossip. It is considered ugly gossip when employees, while discussing their work situation, start chatting about specific colleagues, leaders, or companies. In my career, I have encountered gossipers. For example, during my first week at a company, I received unwanted information about a specific employee & how this gossiper might be able to assist me. I found it hilarious, as a new employee, you want to form informed opinions about your colleagues, company, and /or product.?
In the event that you realize that a normal discussion has devolved into gossip, you may want to respectfully end the conversation. For example, I have also come across a situation, in my career, where a couple of individuals held a meeting to discuss a specific employee without having their direct supervisor present in that meeting. I had declined such meetings & advised them to get with their direct supervisors first.
If you learn that someone is spreading rumors, you should bring it to HR’s attention as well as your supervisor’s attention. As there is a quote “idle chatter feeds rumors” Even if you’re not the one who started the rumor, it’s important to always tell the truth and state the facts. Rumor’s can damage someone’s reputation or hurt feelings or damage a company's reputation or customer’s trust and must be brought into the attention of the right department like HR.?
A casual conversation was taking place in an open meeting room between two colleagues. I had just walked by the same meeting room to pick up something I had forgotten. Based on one of the person's body language expressions, I could tell that they did not like my presence. It is humiliating right, but expected by such passive-aggressive toxic personnel!?
It is true that I have encountered such personnel types, and I am sure you have as well. They may be upset about anything, but they will not express their opinion verbally; rather, they will demonstrate their emotions through their actions, body language and facial expressions.?
It is usually best to avoid conflict with passive-aggressive individuals. You should remain calm as much as possible and avoid getting into a fight or being aggressive. In the event that you identify a pattern, you should deal with it with maturity and respect. To deal with passive-aggressive behavior, it is imperative to understand the rationale behind it and outline your course of action. They may not respond immediately if you ask them to do something they do not like. Feedback may instead take the form of comments and remarks. They may also delay taking action on tasks assigned to them. Getting their perspective is crucial before assigning them a task or assignment.?
At the end of the day, passive-aggressive humans are just like any other human at work. Just like any other type of employee, they seek respect and appreciation. Instead of dealing with similar aggression, you can coach and mentor them.?
Disclaimer: I am sure there are additional toxic personality types I have not mentioned in this article. If you have encountered any such personality types and how you dealt with them, please leave a comment or reply to this article. Readers will benefit from your experience.