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5 Difficult Types of People at Work: How to Deal

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Benifys took shape with a view to provide cost effective, quality HR solutions to partner organizations. We believe strongly that HR can add value to any organization – irrespective of size, industry vertical, nature of operations or geography. Unless HR is able, and willing, to participate as a strategic partner in business, the journey to growth is tedious and time consuming. Check out their blog! http://blog.benifys.com/

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The Timid Kitten

“… but I’ll need help with that too, I wouldn’t want to mess it up…”

Instructing someone what to do is not always enough, like you would like to believe. Sometimes you have to also explain how to do it with excruciating detail, the timid kitten is a gentle unassuming person who only has one real problem, which is that he needs to be supervised on an hourly basis (minute basis in worst cases). In most cases this condition of the person stems from their apprehension of getting it wrong. Even if you know they won’t, you literally have to hold their hands and guide them through work. These are the sort of people whom you sometimes have to teach a task over and over again. Although good in their intentions, this method of working can really get on the nerves of the supervisor, and the fact that he has a busy schedule does not help.

The only way to handle this guy is to refuse to help – point blank – even if it seems rude. If someone has to be micromanaged, the overhead that he brings to the business is probably not worth anyone’s while. Train and coach people, build their confidence, never spoonfeed. Constantly required attention is not only bad for the supervisor’s calendar, it is also a roadblock on the learning curve of the timid kitten. Since these guys are well meaning from within, don’t take any drastic decisions about their tenure in the organisation, all that they need is space, confidence and the ability to accomplish a task. Coach them, and they’ll surprise you over a period of time. They are also the most loyal folks, if you help them gain confidence in themselves. No-one can forget the fact that you helped them rise in their own esteem, and they’ll go to any length to stand by you in tough times.