I was thinking about this recently. People are difficult to work with. Thankfully, they are predictably difficult, if you know what to look for.

3-10-2013 11-22-00 AM

I tweeted this yesterday: Dysfunctional organizations are the norm. It takes a herculean effort for dysfunctional people to be functional together. It was just on my mind after class on Friday.

I had a group of solid management students in an upper-level organizational behavior class meet with me in a “board meeting” for a semester-long class project.

The class project is a simulation on steroids. They actually create and launch real products while they manage their classmates.

It is very different than your average class where you read your chapter, take your quiz, and get your grade. These students sink or swim together. It is much more like the life they will experience in the real world than the artificial world they have experienced in school.

It’s Crunch Time.

Get your MBA Now from Charleston Southern UniversityTheir products are due and the managers met to report how things have been going. Some students delivered. Others can not even be found — they don’t reply to texts, emails, or calls although we know that  college seniors go through withdrawl when they are separated from their cell phones.

The managers were shocked even though I told them in the first week of class that this would happen.

On balance, these managers are doing a good job. Let me say that again. They are doing a good job managing the project.  They translated the vision into concrete steps, they have communicated to their people, and they have worked out a lot of problems on their own. They are on the cusp of success. I am proud of them.

But this is exactly the time that they run into the most resistance. It happens every semester.

It Always Happens At Crunch Time!

Predictably IrrationalYear after year I see the student managers deal with the same problems. People may be irrational, but they are, in the words of Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational If you know what to look for, you know how to react.

A certain percentage of the class will just make it happen. It really does not matter what obstacles are in the way. Some people are simply indomitable. These people will go a long way in life (and if you are looking for some of these students as employees in May, I would be happy to recommend a few).

Then, there is a second tier. They get most of their work done–perhaps in a sloppy fashion–but they are impressed with themselves for having gone this far. Rather than recognize that they have failed to deliver, they expect praise because they are comparing themselves with those in the class who have not done anything.

A third tier consist of those who are aware that they have not completed their tasks and they become invisible. They promise the world but fail to deliver, leaving one of the hard-chargers to pick up the slack.

Finally, most classes have one or two that will do the least amount of work possible. They work hard to do no work at all.

Does this sound familiar? Does it sound like your office? It should. These people are in every organization.

Can’t Something Be Done?

Yes. The task of leadership is to overcome the dysfunction that naturally exists. This is a very difficult task for students who have, by and large, only read about managing people. Most simply do not have the experience to see what they need to do differently.

Here are a few things that young leaders can do to prevent difficulties at crunch time:

  • Develop relationships with employees at the outset.
  • Work to continually develop commitment
  • Manage deadlines so that when things go wrong, you still have time to recover
  • Identify those most likely to drop the ball and provide extra support
  • Create a Plan B
  • Create a Plan C, D, E, F, and G
  • Remember that when you delegate, you must follow up with your people
  • Recognize that at crunch time, you need a mechanism to overcome exhaustion
  • Remember that people are not rational. They have agendas, motives, emotions that may thwart your best laid rational plans.

Now, this group of managers has really done a great job, but as they found out, people are maddening. Organizations are more likely to be dysfunctional than functional, and leadership is more difficult than it appears from the outside looking in. They simply lacked the experience to prevent some of these problems. These are lessons that they will never forget.

What have your experiences? Have you found these dynamics in your organization?


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Dr. Gerdes is the Director of the MBA Program at Charleston Southern University (opinions expressed on www.daringerdes.com are my own).