It happens. That person that joins your team and you immediately sense that something just isn’t quite right. You dismiss those early signs of them appearing ‘bossy’ as newbie nerves. But then as time goes on you notice other more disturbing behaviours. Today I’ll investigate the signs to look out for so you can stop narcissists in their tracks and maintain harmony in your team and in turn continue the flow of good stuff.
- Lots of questions. Now don’t always take this necessarily as a bad thing. We absolutely want our new people to ask as many questions as they need. But when the questions start to turn to why natured, then you know you potentially have a problem. It’s not for them to question a system that works. If their questions start to deviate away from where to find answers, who people are within the team, what they need to be doing then it’s likely they are starting to believe that they can improve on the system and that is rarely a good thing.
- Asking to contact others within the team. This is the absolute breeding ground for pity parties and you want to really dissuade people from doing this. If they meet up at an event and decide to keep in touch then obviously it’s not up to you to stop this but I always like to keep a bit of mystique and intrigue around how many are in my team and who they are as people will tend to form judgements which then turns to doubt which again is rarely productive nor helpful.
- Receiving e-mails from those within your team (mostly from those you don’t have contact with) sharing other opportunities. You want to nip this one in the bud real quick. Many people sadly suffer from ‘shiny new object syndrome’ and are always off to the next ‘awesome’ opportunity. Sadly, if you allow them to do this (and believe me it isn’t difficult to find people’s contact details) then you will lose a percentage of your team. It’s not that everyone suffers from this particular affliction, however once the seed of doubt is planted, it’s very, very challenging to assure people to stay on track.
- Team members telling you they have the very marketing method that will bring on heaps of people yet you see no evidence. This is always a very telling sign of a narcissist. They want to demonstrate to the team their intelligence, their sophistication and ultimately teach everyone that you are not competent to lead. You need to be very, very careful of these sorts of people. They are prime manipulators and their only aim is to steal your team. They will mask themselves under the illusion of being very helpful but their ultimate goal is to subvert, manipulate and eventually divide and conquer. They will question your ability to lead behind your back and garner support from others in your team that you are just not up to the task and that they have more superior knowledge that will bring them the success that you are not. Once again, another reason to protect your team members at all costs.
I’m going to leave it there and hopefully you see a pattern here and will recognize the signs. Once your organization is large enough you will start to see these people’s personalities emerge and it’s really important that you protect the integrity of your team. You will never be able to remove these people completely, but what you can do is see them for who they really are and alienate them as soon as your suspicions are confirmed. Our job is to encourage and nurture and that takes time. Sadly, these people can un-do all of that good work in much faster time. Retention is a key ingredient in building your residual income. Protect it as you would a child. People depend on you.