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March 1, 2010

Protect Yourself from Toxic Colleagues

By Blaine Loomer

Every office has one (or two, or more). You know the types. Those toxic coworkers who only look out for Number One, no matter what the cost to their coworkers or the company. The kind who, when you are next in line for a promotion, raise, or simply the next pat-on-the-back from the boss, won’t hesitate to steal your thunder by brown-nosing their way into the boss’s good graces. Basically, they’re the people who will step all over you and your coworkers if it means getting what they want (with as little work as possible).

Is it possible to get ahead when your office ne’er-do-wells are trying to bring you down? Yes. The trick is recognizing these negativity-spewing colleagues before it’s too late. Understanding these dysfunctional types is a key to successful human resources management.

Greed, laziness, selfishness, and backstabbing are all-too-common in many company cultures. Often, the people who personify these behaviors within organizations step on the backs of colleagues who are just trying to put in an honest day’s work—so the villains can get ahead or get out of pulling their load. Let’s call them out.

If your memory is flooded with all of the toxic colleagues you’ve encountered in the past (or are dealing with right now), you aren’t alone. The days of simply having to grin and bear them are over. Here are nine common, crappy colleagues to watch out for and how you might be able to work around them.

The Politicians

Promotions based on merit are not the province of these schmoozers. Instead, they participate in pernicious office politics—popping into the boss’s office every five minutes, declaring their indispensable worth. The Politician is consumed with company politics. Her work life becomes a game in which she is constantly trying to “win” the next job, the next promotion, the next project. However, she spends little or no time fulfilling her current responsibilities.

How to protect yourself? If you’re looking to earn the promotion you deserve without playing the office politics game, first evaluate your boss. If your boss has a huge ego, then the Politicians will be tough to beat because they excel at stroking egos and kissing up to get what they want. If your boss isn’t an egomaniac, she will soon tire of the grandstanding.

Once you have determined the boss’s motivating factors, you can adapt your behavior to combat the Politician without losing focus on your job. State the facts. Documentation and accountability are to the Politician what kryptonite was to Superman. Create a paper trail. Save all of your emails and voicemails, if possible. You may need them for later reference.

When it comes to documentation, though, keep in mind that Politicians abuse email. They ask you to forward documents to them for review, then send them on to the boss without your knowledge. They create the perception that they did the work. A favorite tactic is to reply to you—“cc”-ing the boss, of course—but taking credit for your work. Make sure the information stream to the boss flows directly from you. Don’t give the Politician an opportunity to put her name on work that originated with you.