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When It Seems Like No One is Noticing … Don’t Worry, They Will
When you are dealing with someone who is incompetent or conniving, often it can feel like you know something about this person that everyone else doesn’t. Like maybe other people just aren’t paying attention or maybe this person is actually tricking them.
The big thing here is to have some faith in human nature. If they’re dumb, sooner or later they’re going to dumb in front of everyone else and then the secret’s out. If they’re mean, sooner or later they’re going to be mean in front of everyone else and then the secret’s out. Same goes for being rude, aggressive, clueless, ignorant, etc. Patience, grasshopper.
When Faced With a Screw-up … Forgive First
Yes I realize I just got a little woo-woo new-age-ish on you, but the bottom line is, everyone screws up. Do you want people to freak out at you if you screw up? The answer is either yes, because you hate yourself, or no, because you’re normal. So you give yourself a break and do the same for the other guy.
Furthermore, if someone placed him in a job that’s over his head, that’s not particularly his fault either. Would you really respect him any further if he said, ‘Stop, wait a minute, I’m not smart enough for this?’ Probably not, and that’s not even considering the fact that if he’s not smart enough to do the job, then maybe he’s not smart enough to realize he can’t do the job. So blame the guy above him.
What’s best for the goose is best for the gander
Despite the multitude of people who are incompetent at their jobs, when it actually comes time to fire someone, everyone gets trigger shy. On the one hand, this is totally normal, totally human behavior. This guy is nice. He’s got kids. He’s going to feel bad. What’s he going to do now?
It’s not good for the business to have someone incompetent. In addition to the work not getting done, other people have to pick up the slack, you might be losing customers and it’s bad for morale. But it’s not just about the business. The thing is that people are not happy when they are not performing well. It still might be enough for him not to leave just because of complacency or whatever, but that’s not the point.
Maybe he’ll find another job at your competitors (win) or maybe he’ll finally realize he sucks at that job and follow his passion for … whatever (win) The point is that it’s not for us to predict the future, it’s just to say that when we’re all at our best and happiest when we’re productive.
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Comments
08.07.09
The annoying thing is when everyone knows a person is incompetent but nothing is done about it (manager ignores it as it's too much hassle to deal with or whatever). Why is it fair that this person gets away with it? This leads to motivation (and other) issues for the rest of the team. As the saying goes "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link".
08.07.09
The biggest challenge is working with incompetent people when they don't know that they are incompetent. There is a rare breed which is incompetent and has never been shown the mirror or given a good performance review which was not sugar-coated. I think everybody has their strengths and weaknesses and everyone has a place in the workplace, but it takes a certain amount of skill to place people at right positions. Firing is hard, but necessary for good of the individual taking the heat as well as the organization making the bold move.
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08.07.09
Very good post. I like the 'faith in human nature' and 'patience' concepts when dealing with incompetent, conniving, rude, aggressive, etc. people as time will make these things evident to (most) everyone and show the degree of the problem.
As mentioned in the comments above, it is also critical to have competent management. Management has the responsibility to minimize incompetency by selecting and placing people with work that makes best use of their talents and the person actually performing the work has the responsibility to be competent and professional.
08.07.09
Wow, that's zen. But it's also easier blogged than done.
Besides, what do you do when someone makes you responsible for that incompetent person? Especially when the incompetent isn't not really accountable to you?
08.07.09
@Kat I completely feel your pain. It's that much more frustrating when you're not only working your butt off, but even have to pick up the slack for said incompetent person. In my personal experience, they tend to get theirs ... it's just always a long time coming.
@Ryan Your comment reminds me of Peter's Principle (I think it's called) - that people get promoted so long as their competent, until they're incompetent.
@Mark and @CT Thanks for the compliments about the post, but you're both right that it's easier said than done. You both bring up a related point about management. It would be nice if upper management could always come sweeping in "fix" everything for us, but as we've all seen, it just doesn't always happen. I wrote this post from the standpoint of a co-worker to an incompetent person, to help combat that feeling of futility and frustration. However, I think there's a whole different set of concerns when you're the manager. It doesn't mean they're off the hook, of course, just that's it's much easier to bash it until you're the one responsible for doing the hiring & firing.
08.07.09
I say, work around them. It works for me.
08.07.09
Working around them may actually be the best thing to do because in reality one has very little ability to control anothers behavior; even in the workplace and especially if you're not the hiring manager. It's very difficult to actually make others do what you want them to do if they're not willing to make the effort. One note, however, is that they may not be making the effort because they've not been encouraged to be creative and proactive in their work(read...micromanaged). I agree with Ryan about HR placement - the right person for the right job is critical. Sometimes, though, it is a trial and error process for both employee and employer. Thanks for listening and for great comments ~
08.12.09
After having to work for someone who was so willfully ignorant, incompetent and bold enough to be proud of making decisions that got people killed needlessly, working with or around the people that Amber describes, is actually a relief.
01.06.10
Try to avoid them!
11.13.10
Thanks for sharing this information, keep up the good work.
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11.14.10
Despite the variety of people who are incompetent, when it actually comes time to fire someone, no one likes to pull the trigger. This is totally normal human behavior for every employer. wow accounts for sale
12.03.10
Definitely! Incompetent people are everywhere. But I don't think a person will forever be incompetent for as long as he worked hard. snowmobiles for sale
12.06.10
I believe that a person is the only one who's in charge with his/her own fate. It takes hard work to recover from poverty and submit yourselves to education which is the only way to eliminate ignorance. dating advice for women
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