CaseyMiller
2-2-13, 4:11pm
Just curious if anyone else has ever had to work with someone like this and how you dealt with them if you had?
Work place manipulator - my definition is a co-worker/peer that revels in their ability to manipulate the actions of those around them. This manipulation far transcends the traits of motivated/ambitious type A coworkers or even the detailed perfectionist type that drives everyone nuts.
The workplace manipulator does not try to influence the actions of those of around them for the purpose of achieving work place goals. No, the workplace manipulator messes with people simply for the joy being able to push people to do something different. They revel in the successful manipulation in some sort of nutty control freak way that I'll never understand.
The manipulator takes any push back as a direct challenge and proceeds to make it their top priority to force change even when the change is meaningless. They keep pushing and pushing to exhaustion.
I used to manage a somewhat complex process used by approximately 30 people. All thirty, except one, successfully worked within the parameters of the process. The exception, the manipulator, consistently (almost daily) submitted requests for process change or additional functionality. Any push back from me resulted in a greater push from the manipulator. These types are adroit at their manipulation techniques so he often won in his requested changes. To be clear, the process was working good for all except this person. No one else in the process said one word about the need for change.
The interesting thing about these workplace manipulator's is that I found the more I tried placate them and do their bidding, the more they would try to manipulate me. There really is no satisfying them.
Work place manipulator - my definition is a co-worker/peer that revels in their ability to manipulate the actions of those around them. This manipulation far transcends the traits of motivated/ambitious type A coworkers or even the detailed perfectionist type that drives everyone nuts.
The workplace manipulator does not try to influence the actions of those of around them for the purpose of achieving work place goals. No, the workplace manipulator messes with people simply for the joy being able to push people to do something different. They revel in the successful manipulation in some sort of nutty control freak way that I'll never understand.
The manipulator takes any push back as a direct challenge and proceeds to make it their top priority to force change even when the change is meaningless. They keep pushing and pushing to exhaustion.
I used to manage a somewhat complex process used by approximately 30 people. All thirty, except one, successfully worked within the parameters of the process. The exception, the manipulator, consistently (almost daily) submitted requests for process change or additional functionality. Any push back from me resulted in a greater push from the manipulator. These types are adroit at their manipulation techniques so he often won in his requested changes. To be clear, the process was working good for all except this person. No one else in the process said one word about the need for change.
The interesting thing about these workplace manipulator's is that I found the more I tried placate them and do their bidding, the more they would try to manipulate me. There really is no satisfying them.