The Internal Saboteur....

For those of you who manage staff either as your own company or as a leader within an organisation, never underestimate the power of the internal saboteur. Yes they do exist, they are the individual who ooze’s negativity, is never happy and dislikes change. This individual will wreak havoc in the work place and put even the most positive and work conscious individual in a place of disorientation and questioning of the organisation.

How can you manage the saboteur? Well that is a hard question but is one that everyone would love to know the answer to.

The saboteur will be someone who thinks they should be in a better position, will make negative comments about those who are succeeding in the work place and at home and will try to embroil other colleagues into thinking the same.

This person or their follows, (because they will have a group of individuals who they will have influenced into believing they are right and the organisation is wrong!) if not identified and managed will damage your business or team without you realising it and when it’s too late.

The saboteur will need to be managed in such a way that they are given the opportunity to have a voice in what their perceived problem is, so ask them for their opinion on a solution. Once they have taken the responsibility for change then it is harder for them to become that negative influence and the only way forward for them is to make their ideas and solutions work.

It is very easy for staff to moan and grizzle about the saboteur’s behaviour but as a leader/manager having the confidence in your ability to challenge will potentially bring out another more positive side to the individual.

In most cases the saboteur is a long standing member of staff who has got left behind with the evolution of technology and inspirational new leaders or become stagnant in their role and just needs a new challenge. Change is hard and in some cases it is easy to take a negative stance on it rather than embrace it. So to all of you out there who has an internal saboteur, identify them and ask them the question putting some responsibility for change on that person.

7So if this resonates with some of you out there then…

1/ Brush of your conflict resolution skills

2/ Identify where the internal saboteur is located

3/ Discuss with the saboteur in a non-confrontational manor

4/ Offer the saboteur the opportunity to offer a solution

5/ Give them the green light to address the issue

The bottom line is that this may not work for everyone and in those such cases there will be a case for under performance and those procedures will need to be followed. However in most cases it really is as easy as making that challenge, allowing staff to have a voice and act on it where appropriate, this not only values your staff but relieves you of your internal saboteur.

I write this from experience and do not profess that this is the perfect and only way to deal with the internal saboteur. However the individuals and groups I have dealt with either as a leader or as a consultant employed by organisations to facilitate change, manage staff expectations and performance, I can honestly say it works.

If you would like more information or to discuss in relation to your own situation please feel free to email on confidencecube@yahoo.co.uk

Sarah