office-horror-stories

October 25, 2021


Office horror stories

Halloween has arrived! This means that offices and houses begin to fill with pumpkins, candy, costumes, skeletons and cobwebs. Trick-or-treating has the green light, and speaking of green light, the perfect week to start playing green light , red light, although we recommend that you do not invite the doll no matter how badly you like your companions. Yes, we are in the scariest week of all and, after a year and a half combining pajamas and tracksuits, it is time to dress up and play haunted offices.

Although it is a specific date, we know that many organizations live inside the house of terror 24/7. The horrific environment in organizations and its consequences annihilate any climate organizational, and it doesn't matter how hard we try to manage talent if there isn't a healthy and solid foundation to build on. Who can take this? Not many people, the turnover of these companies is more difficult to manage than the reconciliation of JLo and Ben Affleck after 17 years.

And there are people who always do their best so that their organization goes down the drain, let's see if any of these roles sound familiar to you!

1. The robot doll from The Squid Game and the Micromanager

The Robot Doll - HRider Blog

Control every gesture of the team, every task, every decision, every sentence. What is that for micromanagement? Music to it's ears. People who micromanage slow down productivity, lower team members' self-esteem -because they feel that they are not trusted- and generate a very toxic culture of control.

If the role of a leader is to support and guide, guaranteeing a pleasant environment, that of a micromanager is just the opposite. And beware! There are also very controlling colleagues. Green light, red light, don't move!

Solution? It promotes the acquisition or improvement of the skill that every manager must have, the art of delegating!

2. The twins from The Shining and procrastination

The Shining Twins - HRider Blog

Who does not know the typical colleague which does their best not move a finger? The twins in the Kubrick movie are very still, they don't do anything, but they scare you so much that you can't look the other way. Also, like Danny, they ask you if you want to play with them. How about procrastinating a little? One coffee after another coffee, a tiktok, a tutorial on how to peel a mango... The day goes by without you even being able to check your inbox. Damn!

If you don't want your team to be terribly attracted to procrastination, allow each person to rest when they need it. The more they can oxygenate their head, the less they tend to be distracted. They will be much more focused on their tasks and will be able to flow.

3. The girl from the exorcist and the feedback

The Exorcist's Girl - HRider Blog

She turns everything upside down, ensuring that there is not a single colleague, client or supplier who does not fear for their motivation and even for their mental health with so much stress and anxiety. They knocks down every idea, he don't like any proposal or project, they have very bad ways of communicating, it seems that their comfort zone is a complaint!

But calm down! With a transparent feedback culture we will not only be able to detect these problems in the equipment, but we will be able to act as authentic exorcists.

4. Gremlins and burnout

The Gremlins - HRider Blog

If the Gremlins got wet, they messed things up. In this case it is just the opposite, if a collaborator burns their fingers, they can get so involved that you will regret not having detected it in time.

All the responsibility for a person on our team suffering from burnout syndrome doesn't lie with them . Why should we fool ourselves, in very few cases it is due to poor management by the collaborator. The burnout syndrome is usually linked, in the vast majority of cases, it is due to a bad relationship between the employee and their manager, leading them to leave the organization.

The good news is that it is a problem that all companies can solve and avoid by having a good talent management: a lot of communication, transparency, feedback, active listening and, of course, evaluating the work climate.

5. Morticia Addams and vertical leadership

Morticia Addams - HRider Blog

Morticia is the matriarch of the family, she is highly educated, she is the heart, the soul of the house. But when the soul is rotten... And who doesn't know in her work someone who loves to sow chaos and that she has a carnivorous plant that she feeds with human eyes? Well, maybe not the second one.

There are people who undermine the motivation of an entire team from their superiority, from a very bad leadership that is completely vertical. Fortunately, nothing like 270º evaluations so that employees can tell how they are being guided by their managers and detect their strengths and areas for improvement.

6. Demogorgon from Stranger Things and the rotation

Demogorgon from Stranger Things - HRider Blog

If you are one of the few human beings who have not seen Stranger Things, we will summarize it for you: AdDemogorgon is the one who makes village poeple disappear, taking them to the Upside Down dimension. Who is the Demogorgon at work? Clearly rotation, so, it is the consequence of all the factors that we have mentioned. Bad communication, authoritarianism, micromanagement, bad work environment...

Do you recognize any of your colleagues or managers in one of these characters? And if you don't identify any of them, could it be that you are the colleague who scares everyone? Oops!

Lots of laughs because we are celebrating Halloween, but if these comparisons have not sounded as much of a joke to you as they should, if you really do not want the environment of your organization to make anyone's hair stand on end, we invite you to meet with our Talent Team all the secrets of good Talent Management, which makes the Employee Experience flourish like never before:

Take a Free 30-Minute Tour

 

To make the wait of the TOUR more enjoyable, we also invite you to listen to our special Halloween playlist:

 

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