Take a hypothetical situation of two guys working in the same place who find out that they used to work for the same employer in the past, were stationed at the same place in the military at different times, or had some other similar experience.

Most people that work with Guy #1 know he’s a slug. Although he can speak well enough about his job, when something actually needs to be done he’s always looking for someone to lead him by his nose – even after years of what should have been “experience” - not to mention that when a little defecation hits the oscillator, he panics… deer-in-the-headlights scared - panics.

Guy #2 is in a position of authority. Having never met lazy Guy #1 before, Mr. Authority is actually able to reminisce with him about the past and enjoy his company, since he doesn’t have to actually work alongside him. This isn’t bad. We should all be able to enjoy our work day, right?

The problems begin when Sluggo starts getting opportunities from Mr. Authority that he otherwise would not have gotten from people he’s worked for before – opportunities that could lead to putting this someone with zero people handling skills into a supervisory position.

The mistake is not premeditated. Mr. Authority rightfully feels that he’s a good judge of character – otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten as far in his career as he has – and he’s just trying to help someone along, someone whose previous life experiences he can relate to.  His intentions may be good in his own mind.

The reason why this becomes W-R-O-N-G is that Mr. Authority is basing his decision on “I like you” or because he can relate to the employee’s past employment (which is fine for choosing dinner guests or golf buddies)  & he’s not using any of the corporate tools already in place for exactly these decisions (i.e. Current or past supervisors’ observations about Sluggo’s work ethic; looking at previous – and possibly enlightening – poor evaluations; etc) or even wondering why this guy has made no effort to move beyond mediocrity on his own. The criteria he’s using are no indications of performance.

We all can relate. It happens all over. Everybody in the department sees it, but nobody says a word. How could they? ”Doing the right thing” is not always black-and-white when you consider that some people aren’t really in a position to say anything and the ones that are in a position are being taught that their input is not welcome. Let alone that most have families to support, so the belief that it’s better to just come in and get your check than to do good gets proliferated like a bad virus.

Since Mr. Authority has now completely circumnavigated his subordinate managers, he’s single-handedly undermined his own potential support structure and doesn’t even know it. Why should his managers believe they’d be part of anything relevant if their input is not worthy of the asking?

The situation gets worse: Sluggo is becoming more and more arrogant because he knows he’s got “an in” and he’s becoming untouchable. And it doesn’t just affect the incumbents. Even the up-and-comers see the writing on the wall and realize that nobody who is any good at what they do or care about their work would want to:

1. Work long-term alongside someone who’s gotten promoted because of friendship or sucking-up and is proud of it, or
2. Work for someone that isn’t intentionally building a solid, performance-based management team

so the performers begin looking for other opportunities elsewhere.

The shame of it is that most people in charge don’t generally intend for this kind of network to be created. ["Intend" being the operative word here.]They thought they were just trying to help someone, but the problem is that they don’t actually “intend” success either.

Given all the relevant information, I believe most people at this level would make the right decisions and deliberately build a successful team. But given this unearned opportunity, Sluggo is going to perpetuate the slothfull, Good-Ol’-Boy network in the workplace and try to promote his friends and Mr. Authority won’t get to build the kind of successful legacy that he might otherwise have the potential to create. It’s a shame.

Tags: Management

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