people who are a nightmare but good at the job, or people who are rubbish but nice?

chubsta

I work for a large organisation, we are split into teams and work shifts. The job can be very complicated, stressful and extremely technical.

I am currently working with a married couple who are an absolute nightmare from a personal point of view - they are extremely confrontational, monitor every bit of work others are doing and use every opportunity to either criticise them to their face or, usually, write emails to managers about how everyone else is not doing the job properly, no-one wants to work with them at all, to the point where during a major restructuring of Teams they were the very last ones to be chosen, despite the fact both of them know the job inside out and are very good at it  - you really cannot fault their work at all, and it would be a brave person who tried as they certainly bear grudges! I should also point out they are constantly picking apart each others work too, although they draw the line at 'grassing each other up' to management and prefer just to have arguments in the middle of the office!

Prior to working with them I was on a Team with some very 'nice' people, easy going, personable, generally no personal conflicts within the Team at all - the problem was most, not all, were very happy to just come in and do the very minimum and if anything tricky came up they would keep their heads down until someone else, usually me, had volunteered to do it, as a result I ended up doing most of the complicated and high-stress work and it really got to me in the end, I don't suffer from stress etc but the overall workload became ridiculous.

When the opportunity came to move Teams I didn't care where I went and ended up with the 'nightmares' (no-one else would work with them and the Team were very short) - for weeks I had people coming up to me and saying they couldn't believe I had 'volunteered' to work with them, with most pointing out problems they had personally had with them.

The thing is, I am ok working with them, for the first time in years I don't have to be the one doing all the high-risk stuff whilst others sit by - if they challenge me on something they think I am doing incorrectly I just point out why I am doing it that way and that I disagree why they think their way is better, if it is a triviality I explain that it is such and that the impact is zero or even makes things better (often what we are told to do is inefficient but they are real sticklers for 'if it is written down it must be done that way'). Ultimately I have no problem working with them and just ignore the 'confrontation' - at this point they both seem to have realised I do actually know what I am doing, in many cases more than them, and have started to lighten up a bit. I now feel far less annoyed at work and we have a much more evenly distributed workload and I am confident that if I do ever struggle with anything then they will help me out, this has been demonstrated a couple of times when we have been woefully understaffed and the proverbial has hit the fan. likewise, I have also been in the position to help them out when they are in a similar position. I was thinking about retiring early but now feel I could go on for a couple more years as I don't mind work so much.

So, the point to all this ramble?

Would you rather work where you feel you are in a lions den but with people who are knowledgable and highly motivated, or would you rather have to work harder and be surrounded by people who you constantly have to cover for but who are very easy to get on with in a friendly atmosphere?

MovingForwards

I work better with motivated people who know how to do their job, adds a slight competitive edge to always do better and keep learning.

I've worked with people who never volunteer for projects, don't want to learn new things and also moan they get passed over for promotion, larger bonuses etc. 

My resignation went in a few weeks ago as I was sick of doing everything for rubbish pay, knowing I had gone as far as I could in the company, got fed up with having yet another new manager who didn't know what I did and had no management skills, plus numerous other things. I'm off to new pastures in a few weeks.

74jax

I prefer positive people, I can't abide office gossip or moaners. So people coming up to me like they did to you would be a pet peeve of mine. I don't talk about people behind their backs and won't have people gossip about others to me. 

I like to go in, do the job, come home and get paid. If people complain about me to management and management want to discuss it with me, fair enough, if not again I'm easy.

I've never worked with extremely incompetent people, but definately some who didn't do as much as me. But it didn't bother me, if management were aware (they were) and let them do it, who am I to kick up a fuss. I'm very laid back, have upmost respect for what I do and professionalism, other people I can't control, but I can be the best employee I can be. 

Savvy_Sue

I'd hope I can do either: in fact I have both at work now. 

The real nightmare is incompetent people who are also difficult. Especially difficult incompetent managers who don't realise how incompetent and difficult they are ...

AskAsk

this is very tricky.  i am confrontational myself but only because i want to fight my corner and won't take any rubbish from anyone else.  being told that i am doing something wrong would just start me off and wind me up. 

i would not be able to work with that couple as i would be having an argument with them all the time instead of working.

i wouldn't care how good they are at their work, the fact that they annoy me would be enough for me to avoid them.  on the other hand working in a team where the members are weak means it can be very stressful for you to bear the load, but at least you won't be fighting and arguing all the time.

it depends on your personality.  you have a disposition where you are happy to discuss with someone who confronts you so you would be fine working with the couple as they are more of an annoyance to you than a real hassle, and you get the result you want, which is less stress and not having to paddle the boat yourself and carry passengers.

for me i would prefer to paddle the boat by myself if it comes to it than to have someone else paddling with me that i would want to throw overboard, then in which case i would end up paddling by myself anyway.

Thrugelmir

chubsta said:

I am currently working with a married couple who are an absolute nightmare from a personal point of view - they are extremely confrontational, monitor every bit of work others are doing and use every opportunity to either criticise them to their face or, usually, write emails to managers about how everyone else is not doing the job properly, no-one wants to work with them at all, to the point where during a major restructuring of Teams they were the very last ones to be chosen, despite the fact both of them know the job inside out and are very good at it  - you really cannot fault their work at all, and it would be a brave person who tried as they certainly bear grudges! I should also point out they are constantly picking apart each others work too, although they draw the line at 'grassing each other up' to management and prefer just to have arguments in the middle of the office!

Organisations normally have a policy to deal with such situations. Resulting in one party being reassigned elsewhere. Discrete word with your line manager wouldn't go amiss. No one goes to work to endure such a climate. As results in loss of productivity and alienation. Nor will anyone senior consider you to be a "grass".  Totally the reverse. 

Barny1979

Unfortunately I have one person who is a nightmare but rubbish at the job, or conversely, they are rubbish, but not nice at all.

MalMonroe

Yours appears to be not just a very large but also a very strange workplace. How come people who aren't your boss are telling you what to do and how? How come that married couple gets away with being rude and disruptive and also, dominating?

I've worked with some very awkward characters before and also some who thought they were 'in charge' of me when they were not. 

I'm now retired but self employed. However, when employed, I was always aware that I was there to do a job, MY job. MY way. My employment contracts always clearly outlined who was my line manager and who was not my line manager. Anyone else attempting to tell me how to do my job was given short (but always polite) shrift. I'd simply say "well, I work for X and until she/he lets me know I'm doing it incorrectly, I'll carry on as I am, thanks". 

As a Personal Assistant, though, I normally had my own office next door to my line manager and so not many people were able to assess my work. All the managers I had throughout my working life were happy with my work and I am still in touch with some of them now and I consider them to be good friends.

If you are carrying out work that's approved by your manager, it really doesn't matter what anyone else says or does. If they keep on harassing you then you should report them.

If it really gets to you, then why not look around for another job? I know it's not easy to find jobs these days but some people are managing to do it. There can be such a thing as staying at a place too long. I'd really not prefer to work with either groups you mention because not all work places are like that. If I wasn't allowed to do my job as described by my job description and my line manager, I'd always look around for something else. Life's far too short to spend your working days surrounded by idiots of any calibre. 

AskAsk

MalMonroe said:

Yours appears to be not just a very large but also a very strange workplace. How come people who aren't your boss are telling you what to do and how? How come that married couple gets away with being rude and disruptive and also, dominating?

I've worked with some very awkward characters before and also some who thought they were 'in charge' of me when they were not. 

I'm now retired but self employed. However, when employed, I was always aware that I was there to do a job, MY job. MY way. My employment contracts always clearly outlined who was my line manager and who was not my line manager. Anyone else attempting to tell me how to do my job was given short (but always polite) shrift. I'd simply say "well, I work for X and until she/he lets me know I'm doing it incorrectly, I'll carry on as I am, thanks". 

As a Personal Assistant, though, I normally had my own office next door to my line manager and so not many people were able to assess my work. All the managers I had throughout my working life were happy with my work and I am still in touch with some of them now and I consider them to be good friends.

If you are carrying out work that's approved by your manager, it really doesn't matter what anyone else says or does. If they keep on harassing you then you should report them.

If it really gets to you, then why not look around for another job? I know it's not easy to find jobs these days but some people are managing to do it. There can be such a thing as staying at a place too long. I'd really not prefer to work with either groups you mention because not all work places are like that. If I wasn't allowed to do my job as described by my job description and my line manager, I'd always look around for something else. Life's far too short to spend your working days surrounded by idiots of any calibre. 

often in a team there will be members of different seniority.  the couple is probably more senior than the OP. 

in a team structure like this, the senior members will have the say of how things are done in the team even though they won't be your line manager.  often you never actually work with your line manager and he doesn't know the technical details of your work so your day to day life revolves around the team structure.

i find people will try to pull their rank and tell other people what to do as they think they know best.  some people are more pragmatic in how they go about doing this, whereas others can just be bully.

funnyvideo

I once worked with someone who was ridiculously good at his job. He then became my manager and as a person and manager he was a complete nightmare. I ended up leaving because of him and I know others did too (they told me). 

At the next company I went to there was an open position which in terms of skills and experience my former manager would have been perfect for. It took them months to fill that position, but there was no way I was going to recommend him.

From my old companies perspective its a question of what they lost from people leaving vs what they'd lost if he left.

Depending on what you do a good personality can only go so far in my opinion. I work in IT and my view is as long as you don't have an attitude problem it's your ability to do the job which really counts (though some employers will disagree). If you work in sales for example then personality would be very important. 

TELLIT01

I once worked with somebody who knew the job inside out and was happy to help anybody out if they had any questions about the work.  Unfortunately they also refused to change the way they worked when the process was changed.  The new process cut out a lot of unnecessary elements but still produced the same end result.  This individual would not adopt the new methods no matter what was said, or by whom.  Their productivity was about half that of those who had adopted the new system, but they had been with the organisation so long it would have been almost impossible to get rid of them. 

I wasn't in a position to change anything so, although their lack of productivity was irritating and it put more work on others, I simply got on with my job.  It was a problem for our manager to resolve - or not.  I certainly didn't pick up any of the additional work effectively created by a manager's inability to manage.