7 types of coworkers who poison the work environment

1. Bully

The team can be generally friendly. But if he gets a badass, almost everyone suffers. Vegan he will constantly send supposedly funny pictures of killed animals. For a sports fan - to be interested in the outcome of a match, but only unsuccessful for his team.

The bully will harshly ridicule you for any failures in your work. He will remember all your interests and weaknesses, and then use them against you. And even with a fleeting meeting in the corridor, he will not miss the opportunity to laugh at your hairstyle or clothes.

All this, of course, is not presented as blatant aggression, although it is.

If you try to answer the bully harshly, you will find yourself “to blame” because “you don’t understand jokes” and, in general, “

if it hurts, then it's true». Naturally, the fact that you are constantly in the combat zone, and an enemy bomber is diving over you, does not add joy and happiness.

How to fight

The problem with the bully is mainly that it is not clear how to react like an adult in this kindergarten situation. She instantly takes you back to the playground, where an unfamiliar boy with no front teeth shouts out meaningless name-calling. You seem to be offended, but also strange too. And it's not clear what to do about it.

Perhaps in childhood, in such cases, you went to your mother, who advised not to pay attention, “the boy just has a problem”. And the badass from work clearly has some problems. But they do not become yours, so the most reasonable thing is to act like a troll on the Internet, namely "ban".

Communicate exclusively on business issues when necessary. Otherwise, just ignore, don't feed the troll.

2. Strategist

Every action of this person is aimed at self-promotion. It would be nice if it motivated him to work better - everyone would win. But, as a rule, he pays minimal attention to work, and spends most of his time on undercover intrigues.

A strategist can easily blame failure on someone who gets to hand, just to whitewash himself in front of his superiors. He can easily assign the success of the entire team. This employee will spend a lot of effort to get a high-profile project or an eminent client. He will do everything to win the corporate battle for leadership, even if only competing with himself.

For the rest of the employees, this behavior, of course, is demotivating. First, they do most of the work while the strategist advertises itself. Secondly, the point of trying is lost if merit can easily be stolen.

How to fight

Much depends on the authorities. If you are led by a sane person, you can agree on the introduction of a rating system that will help you to really see who did what. For example, formal personal performance indicators. But if the boss himself is a fan of undercover games, it is unlikely that it will be possible to outplay the strategist.

In any case, you need to learn how to record what is happening. Always duplicate written agreements and proposals. Save letters, messages and documents. In general, save evidence in case you have to fend for yourself.

3. Procrastinator

This employee seems to be good and harmless, but he lives at his own pace. Working in a team with him does not work at all. Deadline any project in which he participates is at risk. Even if the procrastinator ends up turning in everything on time, colleagues have time to get nervous.

Worst of all, if it is not involved in the last stage of production. He is late with the delivery of his segment, and the rest are forced to stay in the office and work overtime in order to be on time. And the saddest thing is that this is repeated over and over again.

How to fight

The manager will be able to cope with this most effectively, namely - get rid of from such an employee. Usually the team regrets the colleague to the last and covers it in every possible way, because he is not bad. Moreover, he always has a story at the ready about misadventures that did not allow him to do everything on time. He will sincerely ask for forgiveness and promise that this will not happen again (spoiler: repeat).

But a good person is not a profession. In the employee, other things are still valued. And punctuality is at the top of the list of required qualities.

If you're ready to give the procrastinator a second chance, try to leave a time gap between his personal deadline and the present. Of course, he shouldn't know about it.

4. Gossip

The problem with such collective members is not even that they are spreading information that the person may not have wanted to divulge. It is much worse that in the process it can transform and become overgrown with speculation.

However, the gossip as a whole is talented in thinking out. Let's say you chatted with a cute colleague of the opposite sex at a corporate party, and the next morning the whole office thinks that you have novel. The gossip told, he is sure, he saw it himself.

This can be taken lightly, but only until the unpleasant "truthful" gossip about you begins to circulate in the team.

How to fight

You can't stop the gossip from thinking. But at least minimize all contacts with him, do not give him any data on your own, and even more so do not be frank.

5. Negative

Employees of this type don't like anything. For them, the leadership is bad, the rules are stupid, the work is meaningless. They are hostile to all innovations. Most of the time, they complain and moan, or, conversely, tell how they will fight the system. The negativist, however, will never do the latter.

It is important not to be confused here. Sometimes the team has obvious problems: and the boss is not veryand the tasks are strange and the salary is low. All murmur. But only one or a few employees dare to voice their grievances out loud to colleagues and management. That is, they literally risk their place in order to defend their rights and the rights of other employees.

The process of whining and resistance to the system is more important for negative people. But you do not have to listen to all this and be sad, just like doing the work of such a character while he is "rebelling".

How to fight

When a person has problems, it is humane to let him be sad and complain, costing without phrases like "stop whining, go for it." But this approach cannot be your weapon of struggle against the negativist. He does not need support, but the resource that you spend on him while he whines. So shower him with advice and encouragement, actively nudge him into action, and he'll lag behind you.

6. Helpless

Mutual assistance makes life in a team much easier, but only when it is mutual. However, there are employees who seem to be unable to handle literally anything on their own. Such a colleague is no longer a beginner, but still constantly follows others and asks for help. And they eventually reach the point where it's really faster to do someone else's work, to finally start their own, than to explain something. But you, of course, were not hired to work for two.

How to fight

Prioritize your work. Explain why you cannot help right now. For example: “I urgently need to finish the report, and then I will write to you. If you still need help by this time, I am ready to provide it. " Don't do someone else's work, but explain how your colleague can do it himself. If this is a typical helpless one, then he will stop talking to you all the time.

7. Pseudo-relative

Some colleagues believe that the collective is such a large family with very blurred boundaries. That is, they think they have the right to ask personal questions, take something from your table without asking, use your personal thing.

How to fight

Declare firmly their borders in plain text:

• “I don't like you taking my cup. I'd rather you ask first. "
• “I am not ready to answer such questions. They are too personal. It seems that we don't communicate so closely here. "
• “I don’t think I need such advice. We don't know enough and you know too little about me to recommend anything. "

Do it kindly but firmly. Sooner or later, a colleague will understand that you cannot do this. Well, if not, at least by expressing your firm position on the issue, you can quickly end an unpleasant conversation.