Continuing with the series of managing difficult behaviours that may be part of your team.

AGREEABLES

Agreeables hate committing themselves when faced with difficult decisions and therefore stall and delay for long periods of time. They are very agreeable and say everything is great yet they do not move ahead. They are super sensitive and have a strong need to be liked and approved of and will often do whatever it takes to gain that approval by becoming super nice. However they agree to do things that they may not or cannot support later.

They are nice to people so that people will be nice back and when they say yes they really mean ‘maybe'. They tend to have a hidden agenda in being nice to everyone. Usually this means that they have insecurities and have a great need to be liked and approved of. Sometimes colleagues will delegate tasks that they want to get rid of to agreeables, because they know they find it hard to say no.

HOW TO MANAGE AGREEABLES

Reassure them. Set a safe environment for them to disagree or bring up problems they see. Help them with decisions without taking over. Assist them to identify priorities when they get bogged down in their decision making process. Manage their work load and keep tabs on what they have agreed to. Do not fail to follow up agreeables by monitoring their performance.

Check their work load to ensure that they are not taking on their colleagues work load.

SUBJECT EXPERTS

These characters present their opinions as if they know all there is to know about a subject - "know alls". They often know a little about a lot but are not experts (except in their own minds) on everything they have an opinion on. They tend to speak in a condescending tone and appear superior. They leave little room for differences of opinion and are quite closed minded on their own opinions. Once they have stated or formed an opinion or made a decision they are difficult to persuade to think differently - stubborn. If their decision or opinion back fires on them they tend to blame something or someone else. If they are argued with they will demean their opponent and if disagreed with in public are likely to try and make their opponent seem stupid. If anyone brings up a counterpoint of their ideas they are likely to be barraged with facts, details and figures which may or may not be correct. They tend to be intimidating to others and many team members won't discuss their ideas in case they are made to feel foolish by the ‘subject expert'.

HOW MANAGE SUBJECT EXPERTS

Because Subject experts are ego driven they need to be handled intelligently.
To try to be a counter expert will only challenge them to become more critical.
Make sure you have your facts right before disagreeing with a subject expert. Therefore research any subject that is going to be discussed ahead of time. Paraphrase back to the subject expert what you heard them say to confirm what they said and meant. Position your counter points to them as questions rather than statements and present alternatives in the form of related but not oppositional ideas. Use third person examples where possible. Give them credit for the knowledge when credit is due before moving on to another subject. Be careful not to embarrass them and do not sound unprepared or unsure otherwise the subject expert may use this against you.

Managing teams is exciting and rewarding the more that you understand the personality traits of your people. Next month we will discuss two more personality traits so watch this space.