adminZachary Aldwin Milkshake in the Boardroom
Most of us have had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with people who just do not want to pull their weight and always want to make excuses to get out of having to do what they are supposed to do.
Some of the common excuses include the following. “I would have to clean my desk for us to meet there, why don’t we meet at your desk?”
“Can you bring refreshments for the event tonight? I know I was supposed to do it, but I just haven’t got the time.”
“Yes, I have my laptop, but I’d have to go down to my office and unplug it from the wall in order to show you the presentation . . . let’s just set another meeting to go over this.”
We have all heard it before. Once in a while an excuse may rock it, but all the time?
For a chronically inconvenienced person everything is an inconvenience and they shift the inconvenience back on you. This week I would like to share with you two diseased and toxic personality profiles identified by the team at Emerging Ideas as detrimental to any organisation.
The logic of an inconvenienced person
An IP subjects all around them to “I-titis,” it’s a disease that spreads their agenda, their laziness and their attitude all around them.
An IP informs you of the extent of their inconvenience.
“I’m so inconvenienced right now. . . here take some of my inconvenience by listening to me whine about how inconvenienced I am.”
Here is a thought, place a jar in the office. Every time the person says something focused on themselves, they are forced to put money in the jar.
I bet there will be enough cash for coffee for everyone until the IP is broke and leaves. Take action: shun this attitude from your team. Ban it. Refuse to speak to an IP unless you call them out about their behaviour.
When an IP infiltrates your team, everyone becomes inconvenienced, and that could start an unpleasant cycle.
It’s highly contagious in a team setting and the only cure is informing the team of this tendency and ultimately firing.
Compare this to the logic of an Entitled Person
A beggar came up to me last week Thursday. It was Thanksgiving so I was feeling a little generous.
As I reached into my wallet for a dollar the beggar stated that they expected US$2! Not a question, but a demand for extra as if they were entitled to it.
The entitled person is the ‘‘you owe me’’ person, even if you have done nothing that makes you indebted to them. This is a person who is so blinded to their own life that nothing else matters.
Remember the fuel queues? The EP is the person who would cut in at the front of the queue and ignore those that have been waiting for hours.
The EP is the person who cuts in front of the right hand turning queue at the traffic light because they are ‘‘in a hurry’’ and obviously no one else in rush hour traffic wants to get to their destination as fast as them.
The logic of an Entitled Person declares, “You are required to meet with me. You must meet with me.”
They use commanding statements in excess.
“I will be meeting with you face to face. Email is not good enough. I should get to meet with you no matter what your schedule is because I’m important and special and what I have to say is more important than what anyone else has to say.”
“It is my right that you meet with me for free even though I have no regard that this is your profession and you charge for this kind of advice.”
EPs are leeches. “Let me run this idea by you . . . it will only take five minutes.” Then they talk your ear off for the next 30 minutes and try to get a follow up appointment to attach themselves to your brain and leech all of your creativity for the next five workdays.
An EP never ever cares about giving. They won’t give you time, space or credit. It’s about take-take, shake-shake, and break-break.
This person will keep talking even after you have hinted with eyes, feet and words how you have another meeting. They will write long emails that annoy your inbox.
When you mention that you have other things to do, they pounce on like a polar bear on a seal and blurt out, “You don’t care; you need to be more of a people person!”
The Entitled Person has no regard for the value of your time. Avoid them at all costs and if you must meet with them, be clear on meeting objectives, set a time limit, and respectfully decline a follow-up meeting without an established prerequisite of what you will accomplish in that follow-up meeting.
The more you value your time, the more others will begin to respect it. Do not be rude. Do not fight inconvenience with inconvenience talk.
And please do not fight entitled speak with entitled banter.
Be cordial, professional, and courteous. But these people must respect you as a professional and they certainly must be respectful of your time.
Ban these two logics from your life, from your team, and from your world. It’s regressive thinking.
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