Twisted Advisor

Dear Twisted Advisor,

I supervise an employee who is rude and abusive to his co-workers and insubordinate with me. I'm beginning to sense that the other employees are angry because I have not corrected him. What should I do?

Restless in Rochester

Dear Restless,

Your problem is not unique and consequently there is a time-tested way of handling the matter. First, you should ignore the employee's behavior for several years. During that time, be sure to give him high performance evaluations. You can choose to base those ratings solely on his technical work - most supervisors do - and pretend that the episodes of screaming, sulking, and swearing don't count. This inaction on your part will drive many of your good employees over the edge. The finest ones will probably leave but that simply means there are fewer looks of disgust when you arrive in the morning and you'll probably feel less guilty about your inaction. It is far better to encounter looks of disgust than to grapple with a Tasmanian devil and so you will have made a wise move. If the problem employee becomes especially obnoxious, take all of those inflated evaluations to your HR people and announce that you want to fire him. Get ready for another look of disgust. It's been going around your organization.

Dear Twisted Advisor,

I have been assigned to a committee. Our task is to develop a new recruitment strategy for our field offices. At our first meeting, one of the committee members, Sally, just jumped up and started listing the group's ideas. Who named her pope? I'm miffed that she is so aggressive. What do you advise?

Seething in Seattle

Dear Seething,

These malcontents exist in all organizations. Rather than accepting the common knowledge that committee meetings are best used for answering email or sharing gossip, they try to identify a clear goal and mobilize the group to achieve it. Needless to say, this could cut into your leisure time. My advice is to do what the rest of your colleagues will do: Sit back and let Sally do most of the work. In several months, she will be angry at carrying the load and will fall into a state of depression. She may even say some harsh things to the rest of you. Now this is crucial: At that point, you must join with the others and blame her for the lack of progress. It only takes a few well-chosen words to do so. Note how her aggressive behavior stifled your creativity. Be sure to feign anger and/or disillusionment. Return to your BlackBerry. All will be well.