We all know that they exist, there are one or two in the news quite a lot currently, you may even have had the misfortune to have been in their company.
It was not until I had the opportunity to learn from Dr Holly Andrews from Henley Business School about the ‘Dark Triad’ made up of those for whom psychopathic, narcissistic & Machiavellian traits are the norm, that I appreciated just quite how prevalent & destructive these kinds of individuals can be.
Interestingly a recent meta-analysis of a number of studies on psychopathic traits in the workplace, concluded that whilst just 1-2% of the general population exhibit a significant level of these traits this multiplies to 12.9% when looking at organisations (particularly the more senior the level).
Concerning, yes?
So, what can you do as a leader to influence the behaviour of this type of colleague?
- Creating a culture of accountability, transparency & honesty makes it difficult for them to operate in their chosen manner.
- Having a business environment where ethical practice is the norm rather than the exception also sets a consistent standard.
- High involvement management – delegating, being clear on advancement & rewards systems are all motivating to these individuals.
- 360 Feedback can be a useful way of highlighting & managing these behaviours
One thing to be mindful of though is to avoid using this as a way of labelling those with difficult behaviours as it can victimise them & mean you stop short of developing a more holistic way of managing them.
If you want to hear Holly talk more on the topic she did an excellent lecture on the subject that can be found at the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlUmdQ_cAY8
…& if you want to talk further about how you can create the kind of culture where accountability, honesty & transparency are the norm, then drop me a message at rupert@strongerhumans.com
