THE FOUR MOST DANGEROUS PERSONALITIES AT THE WORKPLACE

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When it comes to success in the workplace, it is not about skill and performance. It is a lot about understanding the workplace dynamics and how to navigate them.

Let us talk about the most insidious personalities in the workplace:

1. The silent saboteur:
   
   This one doesn’t confront you or challenge you directly. Instead, they create roadblocks that are designed to make you fail while keeping their hands clean. Somehow, they conveniently forget to include you in key meetings or fail to pass along key information. They pretend to be supportive, offering help which turns out to be misleading or incomplete. When things go wrong, they always have a perfect excuse that ensures that their hands remain clean, and they never take the blame. The danger of this type of colleague is that their sabotage is often subtle making it difficult to call them out without seeming like you’re paranoid or overtly oversensitive.
   
   
2. The credit thief:
   
   This is the one who closely watches your hard work, not to support you but to take credit for it when the time is right. They repeat your ideas in meetings as if they were their own. They downplay your role in key projects and conveniently position themselves as the face of success whenever possible.  If you do not establish a visible presence in your work, they can easily erase your contributions, leaving you unnoticed whilst they reap the rewards. The best way to counter this is to take ownership of your achievements, take credit for your achievements, speak up, send updates via email to ensure there is a documented trail and when necessary, subtly highlight your role in projects without appearing confrontational.
   
   
3. The gossip monger:
   
   Unlike the other two who primarily affect your work, this particular type of person can damage your reputation, and ultimately your professional image. They thrive on knowing the latest office gossip and drama and they are experts at twisting stories to fit their own agenda. They would pretend to be a trusted confident, encouraging you to share personal or work-related frustrations only to use them against you. Their influence is built on information which they spread selectively to cause tension, confusion or distrust. The best way to handle this type of personality is to keep your personal details private. Limit what you share about your work, your personal life, and avoid engaging in gossip even as a listener, because when they tell you about another person, be 100% sure that they will tell another person about you.
   
   
4. The blame addict:
   
   These are colleagues who shift responsibilities constantly and blame others for not getting the work done. When things go right, they quickly position themselves to take credit. However, when things go wrong, they find it so convenient to point fingers at others. They will never accept their own faults, mistakes, poor decisions and bad performance. Such people want every good thing to come to them, and they do not mind using the skin of their colleagues as a currency to buy their power or influence. They can be very friendly, sympathetic and understanding when they want a favor from a colleague. But once the favour is given or denied, their real colour is immediately revealed. They are also expert liars and can easily convince others that they are right, even when they are not. Instead of engaging in their blame games, the best way to deal with this type of personality is to redirect attention towards verifiable and genuine facts. Ensure that every collaboration, agreement, work request, that you discuss with them is captured in a follow-up email. Traceability is the key to keeping blamers at bay. When going to a meeting with such a person, visibly carry a notebook and a pen and ensure that they see that you are writing down all the key points that are discussed. At the end of the meeting, establish the highlights by making statements such as, “to ensure that we are all on the same page, let me quickly read a summary of what we have agreed.” Do not let the blamer push you around and make sure you establish boundaries. Focus on your own safety and show them their limits through careful words with verifiable facts.

When it comes to office politics, these personalities can silently derail your progress without you realizing it until it is too late.

The key to survival when it comes to the workplace is possessing a keen awareness. Know who to trust, how to protect your contributions and when to distance yourself from those who seek to manipulate the workplace to their advantage.

Much of the above information is compiled by Trophy Kiprono of Kenyan.