Episode #16: Eight Ways To Deal With Workplace Idiots

Why, why, why isn’t common sense common? We deal with people in our work lives who do dumb things. They make stupid decisions which fly full in the face of common sense. It is such a puzzle. Why don’t they get it, why can’t they see the obvious logical answer?

Here are eight considerations for dealing with idiots at work:

1. The first decision is, are we the idiot who is the cause of the problem? What if we have not properly trained these people. What if they are actually “the uninformed” masquerading as “idiots” because we are at fault by not having invested in them sufficiently? What if we have been too busy with our own work to explain the finer points of various tasks?

2. Are you a perfectionist? Are you the type of person for whom there is only the “right way” of doing things? Does your logic rule and allow no other possibilities for task completion? If the “idiot” does it differently to you, is that incorrect or just different? Maybe we need to consider there might be equally valid solutions to the same problem, including those we haven’t even contemplated or thought about.

3. If we are going to empower people, we have to empower them to screw things up as well.We ask them to take a risk with the unknown the unfamiliar, to step up to greater accountability. When we whack them because they made an idiotic mistake, we are in danger. We are double-crossing the person, because we asked them to go into this area of weakness in the first place and then we belt them for it when they get it wrong.

4. We need to provide a Reasonable Allowable Margin of Error (RAME) for the task. We need to be checking progress without buying back the delegation, we need to make sure errors are picked up early (before they blow us all up) and we need to be coaching their progress. A great start is to set the control limits for the task. This will allow the person completing the task to know where the boundaries are from the get go.

5. When the error surfaces, how do we handle it? Often we hear from someone else about the error, rather than the individual in question. This is a danger point, because our attitude and judgment can be clouded by the messenger.

Approach the situation as an objective research project – “Just the facts!” Begin with rapport, something to open the discussion, which will help them to relax. They are feeling guilty, embarrassed, nervous, uncertain, fragile, defensive.

6. Remove the personalities from the discussion. “You” must become “We” in your new lexicon and “We” are all about fixing the issue not crucifying the fallen one. We focus on the action not the person. We want to hear their views on what went wrong.

7. For the employee who fesses up, accepts responsibility and wants to recover, get them involved in the decision-making about the solution. Reassure them they have a place here, they have an important role here, that they can make a significant positive contribution here.

8. What if they don’t fess up, what if they stay in denial, engage in passive/aggressive behavior, stay locked into a defensive mindset? Take a break from proceedings, give them time to think about what you have said and then try again. If at this further point there is still no change, then they need to be changed.

Remember to: ensure we are properly explaining what we expect; accept there are multiple possible solutions not just our own; decide the Reasonable Allowable Margin of Error to apply; when things go wrong, ignore hearsay and get the concrete facts; focus on the issue not the person; involve them in finding the solution; reassure them the mistake isn’t fatal and remove resisters who won’t accept their responsibility