12.2 THE SKILLS YOU NEED TO BE A GREAT BOSS: The Overconfidence

(SHORT NOTES FROM TEAM MANAGEMENT:

Difficult Management Situations at http://www.mindtools.com)

 

Overconfidence is surprisingly common.  Some overconfidence may have been a good thing in the past.  The problem with overconfidence is that it can be damaging, and even dangerous, in the workplace.

It sometimes seems that there are three types of people in the workplace:

·        The highly self-motivated – people who work hard and exceed expectations because that's their nature.

·        The noncommittal – people who do the right thing if managed reasonably well.

·        The "Rogues" – people who won't do what's expected, and seem to do the minimum necessary to keep their jobs.

It’s not easy to deal with people who perform usefully, but cause trouble in some way.  This is a significant challenge.  They can impact how others work and harm the efficiency of your team.  Dictionaries use terms like unprincipled, unreliable, mischievous, and dishonest.  In the animal kingdom, rogues separate themselves; they live alone and behave unpredictably.

Rogue workers meet both of these definitions.  They can be described using any number of other terms:

·        Poor work ethic.

·        Negative attitude.

·        Insubordinate.

·        Lazy.

·        Destructive.

·        Unmotivated.

·        Wasteful.

·        Egotistical.

The roguishness varies from person to person.  The behavior of rogues, and the severity of this behavior, may vary.