Overtime: Colleagues behaving badly

By: Sacha Cohen
From: UPI Workplace – August 2002
From the Business & Economics Desk
Published 8/23/2002 12:37 PM

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Every office has at least one. You know. The co-worker or boss from hell. The person whose behavior is so atrocious, sometimes you're not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Early on in her career, Sunshine Morrison, now an account director at Parker LePla in Seattle, had an overbearing, micromanaging boss whose behavior could only be described as "dysfunctional." She asked to read Morrison's outgoing e-mail, looked through her garbage after hours, and expected Morrison to stay late at least once a week so that she could talk about her troubled marriage.

When Morrison left the company, she requested her exit interview to be with the head of Human Resources and gave him a detailed account of her experience.

"I'm happy to say that I have since moved on and now enjoy a wonderful work atmosphere with supportive colleagues who are all self-managed. Through the grapevine, I learned 'Mrs. M' has lost all managerial duties, and now only manages projects -- not people. I have a good idea why."

Although Morrison did end up having her just desserts after she left the company, it's a good idea to tackle the problem head on as it arises, not when you're already on your way out the door.

"She did what most people do with a micromanaging, dysfunctional boss. She jumped ship. Could she or should she have done something before she bolted? The answer is a loud 'It depends," says Sharon Jordan-Evans, an executive coach and co-author of "Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay" ( Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 236 pages, $17.95).

If her job was really great otherwise, that can be hard to replace and it may have been worth some effort to turnaround the horrible boss relationship. But if almost everything else was wrong with the job anyway, then the dysfunctional boss was probably not worth the time and effort she would expend in trying to "fix" it, explains Jordan-Evans.

People who are in a similar situation -- and who really like other aspects of their job -- might want to have a serious talk with their boss. "Ask for a meeting, specifically to talk about 'effectiveness' at work. Suggest that both of you jot down some ideas (like a wish list) for behavior shifts from the other person," advises Jordan-Evans. "What would you like the other person to keep doing, do less of or do more of, in order to increase your own work effectiveness?" she adds.

"If the talk doesn't work out and you still want to stay in the job (but change the bosses behavior), you might consider involving a Human Resources expert to be a facilitator in a meeting much like the one you have already tried," says Jordan-Evans.

Mankato, Minn.-based Karen Wright worked in a small public relations department in a large hospital and had a colleague that constantly bad-mouthed the boss to the others in the department and would then "rally the troops" to "do something about the horrible treatment we received."

This co-worker spent much of her time going from person to person to express how unfair she and her colleagues were being treated and how they needed to stick together to make changes. She suggested setting up meeting with the boss to confront him about his awful behavior.

Says Wright, "Since we all felt we were 'in this together' and could have some influence as a team, we set the meeting. Each of us went around the table and expressed our concerns and how it was affecting us and our productivity."

When it came the co-worker's turn to share her experience, she acted as though she didn't know what any of the rest of group was talking about and that it was all a big surprise to her, and acted like she didn't know why they were even having the meeting. "She also expressed that she thought we were all blowing things out of proportion and that 'couldn't we all just get along'."

In the end, the boss began confiding in her because it appeared she was sticking up for him. Meanwhile, says Wright, she continued to bad mouth him just as much as before behind his back, but she began getting better assignments and favoritism.

"This person was able to convince us all that she could be trusted completely and was on our side. After this incident, I distanced myself from her and had already lost favor by the boss at that point."

In situations such as this, the first step is to "do your due diligence in ascertaining whether the backstabber, micro-manager, etc., behaves this way with numerous people, or just with you," says Susan Battley, a leadership psychologist with more than 20 years of experience advising Fortune 100 companies.

"If the behavior is generalized, then you're likely looking at a personality-based issue," she says. "Personality traits are difficult to modify. In fact, the person's 'problem behavior' may actually be something that he or she admires in themselves. On the other hand, if someone only micro-manages you, then it's more likely a sign of lack of confidence in your work, communication problems, etc."

What might Wright and her colleagues have done differently to deal with the troublemaker? Like Jordan-Evans, Battley recommends arranging a private meeting with the problem person to discuss the issue calmly and with specific evidence and examples.

"Signaling that you're on to someone's bad behavior often will solve the problem," she says.

If the situation does not change, seek advice from your manager, or, if the manager is the problem, from another trusted source such as an HR professional or corporate ombudsperson.

Says Battley, "Framing the issue as a serious productivity problem, rather than as an interpersonal one, tends to get the attention of even the busiest managers."

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(The \"Overtime\" workplace column appears monthly through United Press International. Its author, Sacha Cohen, is a Washington-based writer is a longtime chronicler of workplace and career issues. She can be reached at sachacohen@att.net)