. The Transom .

Monday, July 16, 2007

Wanting to be here

Have you ever worked with someone that you knew didn't really want to be there? They showed up day in and day out, did their job more or less and went home. They'd occasionally make snide remarks and usually had a pretty bad attitude about the company in general. Their work was just good enough that you didn't want to see them go.

This kind of person can kill a company culture faster than you can blink. When things are good, they feel so-so. When things are bad, they go into overdrive with negativity. For management, it's sometimes hard to spot these people right away. Usually it takes that person's co-workers to come forward and either call them out, or help them change for the better. This is not dissimilar to the military. A drill instructor can identify the problem and as a result of the problem, the entire unit gets punished. It's then up to the unit to 'motivate' that person. It could work the same way in corporate America (minus the military forms of 'motivation' of course).

Final thought: When things are good, everyone takes credit. When things are bad, your best people work harder. You worst people complain.

1 Comments:

  • Oh, man, I so agree. Those kind of people are so hard to deal with. It's practically impossible to change their outlook, and they're just flat out difficult to deal with.

    Ha, you're depressing me just writing about it. :)

    By Blogger lcreekmo, at Friday, July 20, 2007 8:27:00 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home