By Terry Hill (UK)
Matt, the new telesales guy had a great talent for putting himself down. “I’m just useless at this!” he would wail when things were not going his way or when assigned a challenging goal. His manager was the nurturing kind, responding with encouragement, compliments and extra support, though quietly wishing Matt would ‘just grow up”
James was the super-agreeable guy around the office. Everyone loved his cooperative attitude…well initially. James was enthusiastic about everyone’s new idea and agreed to every request. The problem was, having always overcommitted himself, he rarely delivered on his promises. However heartfelt his apologies his manager was getting tired now.
Sarah was the senior administrator with the permanent scowl. An office fixture for 20 years, she was efficient at the basics of her job but had become a harsh critic of all things new. Her constant put downs of anybody or anything positive was affecting morale. Her manager, under pressure to “do something with her raged“ She can always find reasons not to do something! The annoying thing is that she is sometimes right, which only makes her worse!” Sarah’s usual retort was, “I just tell it as it is… of course people don’t like it!”
The Pareto principle suggests 80% of workplace stress comes from 20% of the people, so it’s worth spending time to explore what’s behind the problem behaviours of the few. When the right rewards are applied in the right way, most of the “bad guys” can actually come good.
Source: iCN Issue 18 (Career Coaching); pages 7-9
About Terry Hill
Terry Hill is the author of ‘The Inspiration Code’ and a performance coach and trainer, with over 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, where he has held a number of sales, management, training and coaching roles in major market-leading organisations, winning a number of awards in the process, such as Trainer of the Year and Performance Coach of the Year. A registered Business Psychologist, Terry is currently Lead Consultant at Mindscape Associates. His passion is for motivation and communication skills, which include leadership, coaching and influencing science.
