If You’re a Manager, These 9 Personalities will Give You the Most Trouble

Who doesn’t want to work with the best team for the job?

The most qualified people make your life a lot easier and work a lot simpler to deal with. But when it comes to troublesome personalities, you have no option but to work with them.

Sometimes it’s your employees and other times it’s a client.

When it comes to clients, there is a sense of letting go after a while, as you start to focus on deliverables and ensuring client satisfaction.

But when it comes to employees, that’s a whole different ball game.

Not only do you have to spend 4-5 hours a day dealing with them in some capacity, you also have to rely on them to do the job right. That’s a feeling that can leave a lot of room for insecurities, miscommunication and failure.

Here are 9 personalities that might give you the most amount of trouble –

#1 The High Potential, low Motivation worker –

This is the type of person who has great potential and are able to achieve a moderate amount of success on most tasks.

They are friendly, outgoing, and are able to capture the attention of most people with their intelligence and friendly demeanour. However, like most “superstars”, they get bored and lose interest. After losing interest, they get frustrated with a feeling of being stuck in a job or a 9-5 rut.

They’re not reliable and often don’t follow through with their tasks.

This type of workers must be avoided or dealt with accordingly. Give them tasks that require creativity or critical thinking and not something focuses solely on execution.

#2 The Rebel without a cause –

Another impediment to the workflow of an organization, the anarchist or rebel will often try to focus their attention on defying authority rather than finish the assigned task.

They fuel their ego with mini-battles and create hassles and ruckus within an otherwise smooth employee base. Their behaviour, if left unchecked, can get uncomfortable for other workers.

This type of worker should be given tasks that require them to be by themselves or allowed to function as individual contractors instead. Keeping them in the office environment lowers morale and difficulties in management.

#3 The Drama seeker –

A lot of people love drama and a bit of office gossip never hurt anyone.

Many others crave drama and create problems for others with their penchant for disharmony. They thrive on problem creation and want to be in the spotlight all the time.

Some work hard, but many fail to achieve even the simplest task assigned to them.

They get fuelled by validation and others’ approval, which could create delays, motivational gaps and workflow disruption. It’s best to retain them as entry-level employees as they might cause problems when assigned larger tasks.

#4 The Low EQ person –

These workers go from zero to hundred fast as their emotional states are all over the place.

Sometimes they are reliable and friendly, while other times they are rude and disrespectful. Because their attitude is skewed all over the place, they don’t get assigned larger tasks.

They also don’t get assigned any team members under them, because of their tendency to make impulse based decisions. They fall into irrational thinking, and refuse to ask for help when they need it. It’s best to leave them alone and focus on growing your team from the inside out.

#5 The Narcissist –

A classic narcissist is someone who holds up a fake image of themselves and rely constantly on compliments and appreciation. They expect colleagues to look highly upon them, and they ask for upper management tasks when they’re clearly not ready for them.

They may be confused for high talent, low motivation workers.

However, they’re low motivation and low talent at the same time. Not only are they focused more on brown-nosing and giving fake appreciation, they can’t get the job done half the time.

#6 The Control-Freak –

The control freak is someone who wants to have everything in perfect order.

In business, and in life, not many things go according to plan and there are unpredictable areas in which we function. The control-freak is someone who doesn’t understand the meaning of the word flexibility and needs everything to be spelled out for them.

They need hand holding in many areas and are hence best suited for repetitive tasks.

#7 The Chronic Procrastinator –

A great example of a chronic procrastinator is someone who has little ambition and has been working in the same position for 5+ years.

They avoid tasks and come off as rude and cold.

They tend to avoid work-related functions and like to live in a private manner.

It’s best to spend one on one time with them to understand their ambitions and try to create a positive work environment in which their talents can flourish. Otherwise, they must be let go or reassigned to an area that they enjoy.

#8 The Grinch –

Nothing is more cringe-worthy than having a conversation with an employee after work, and realizing that they’re still in work-mode after-hours. This is the kind of employee that’s never satisfied with their work-life balance or their priorities.

They’re too afraid to ask for what they want and resort to be being obnoxious to get their point across. The Grinch has a heart of gold, but they don’t know how to express themselves well.  

#9 The Insecure and Needy –

You might encounter this archetype of worker when you’re in a high-stress job environment.

When your deadlines are approaching, and you need the help of your employee base, these workers might come up to you and talk about their fears and insecurities.

Sharing them is not a problem in most work situations, but these workers chronically share them to a point of needing approval and validation. They like to manipulate the people around them so that they don’t get judged or criticized about their work.

Conclusion

If you’re a manager and if you have an employee that fits within these archetypes, then you’re in trouble. Deal with them respectfully or reassign them to other departments.

You’re better off creating a team of superstars than a lagging team who brings everybody down.