They all have the potential to wreak havoc, but the Saboteur is different in that he/she will actively seek to do damage and also seek to do it below the radar. An Overt Enemy is clearly not a desirable member of the team - but at least you know where he/she stands ... Likewise with the other animals. An ninja in the ranks? Not a good thing methinks.
Toss up between sycophant and saboteur but I would go with sycophant on the assumption that saboteur would be found out while steady stream of compliments and self-serving praise could lead to very bad management decisions. Beware of the yes men.
The sycophant is the only one who doesn't challenge (i.e. negative feedback) the boss directly. As a boss you may know they are a suck-up, but they won't question you like the others.
All of us tend to like hearing how well we're doing. Too many of us do not have enough self awareness to critique ourselves honestly. As a result, the sycophant can blind a manager, rendering him or her completely ineffective.
Great observations. I regard the sycophant as the most dangerous because you may not detect the danger. An Italian diplomat once told Mussolini that the most poisonous gas is incense. As I recall, shortly afterwards Mussolini forced the man to retire.
Hmmm, Interesting choice of two here if we assume a general level of competence on every players part. Thus the bully, weakling and overt enemy are not big threats because the competent manager can identify them easily. By the same logic the sycophant is the next least lethal subordinate... However if the manager can identify a team comprising an overt enemy, a weakling, a bully,a sycophant and... he's not sure about the other one. Then rampant paranoia suggests that this last must be (at the very least) one of Fortify Services' notorious ninjas and it's time to bite hard on the cyanide capsule.......
6 comments:
They all have the potential to wreak havoc, but the Saboteur is different in that he/she will actively seek to do damage and also seek to do it below the radar. An Overt Enemy is clearly not a desirable member of the team - but at least you know where he/she stands ... Likewise with the other animals. An ninja in the ranks? Not a good thing methinks.
Toss up between sycophant and saboteur but I would go with sycophant on the assumption that saboteur would be found out while steady stream of compliments and self-serving praise could lead to very bad management decisions.
Beware of the yes men.
If I have to choose one.
The sycophant is the only one who doesn't challenge (i.e. negative feedback) the boss directly. As a boss you may know they are a suck-up, but they won't question you like the others.
All of us tend to like hearing how well we're doing. Too many of us do not have enough self awareness to critique ourselves honestly. As a result, the sycophant can blind a manager, rendering him or her completely ineffective.
Great observations. I regard the sycophant as the most dangerous because you may not detect the danger. An Italian diplomat once told Mussolini that the most poisonous gas is incense. As I recall, shortly afterwards Mussolini forced the man to retire.
Hmmm, Interesting choice of two here if we assume a general level of competence on every players part. Thus the bully, weakling and overt enemy are not big threats because the competent manager can identify them easily. By the same logic the sycophant is the next least lethal subordinate... However if the manager can identify a team comprising an overt enemy, a weakling, a bully,a sycophant and... he's not sure about the other one. Then rampant paranoia suggests that this last must be (at the very least) one of Fortify Services' notorious ninjas and it's time to bite hard on the cyanide capsule.......
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