89. The Team Leader

Two colleagues are talking in their office. One of them is attending the Office Dynamics course at NILS. They are hunched over a paper and talking about a certain team leader. The paper has a list of human emotions and attributes and a row of checkboxes beside them.

A: Does he like followers?

B: Oh, definitely!

A: (Puts a mark on the paper) Alright. Is he generous?

B: With his followers, yes.

A: But not generally, that’s right. Next is sadist. Is he a sadist? I don’t think so.

B: No, that is slightly extreme.

A: But he is vindictive.

B: Y-e-s.

A: Egoistic? I guess he is.

B: He has a big fat ego. Don’t think, just put a tick. Now, manipulative? Maybe a little?

A: Manipulative…hmm…no, I don’t think so.

B: If you step on his toes, he might try to play dirty.

A: You will do the same. He is not manipulative. May be slightly insecure, but who isn’t?

B: Yes, the higher up you are, the more insecure you feel.

A (thinking): He likes to brag about how good he is at work. Do you think that is a sign of insecurity?

B: No, I guess that is plain narcissism.

A: What? No. That is too strong. I would say it is either insecurity or overconfidence or a mixture of both.

B: Probably a mixture. Put a tick on both.

A: I think we have quite a few points about him. Now what?

B: Now we consult this document (takes out same papers). This has a list of do’s and don’ts for all different attributes. This basically tells you how to go about people having such natural traits.

A: (Counting marked checkboxes in the list) we have marked nine boxes for him. Nine attributes. Do we have do’s and don’ts for each one of them.

B: Yes. But, we have to combine them now. Finally there should not be more than five do’s and five don’ts altogether.

A: That is the homework?

B: That is the homework. Create guidelines for interactions with your colleagues.