Managing Away Bad Habits

We all know of star performers who are held back by a seemingly fatal personality flaw. But there are proven tactics that managers can use to help these otherwise valuable people get beyond their psychological limitations.

by James Waldroop and Timothy Butler

We’ve all worked with people who are star performers but have one serious personality shortcoming that makes life difficult for everyone, limits their effectiveness, and often proves to be their professional undoing. One person, for instance, constantly takes on too much work. Another scorns the behind-the-scenes politicking needed to win support for most projects. A third sees the downside in every proposed change. In the words of one executive we worked with, such people are "95% brilliant, 5% disaster."

We call these destructive behavior patterns "bad habits" as a shorthand way of referring to deep-rooted psychological flaws. In other words, we’re not using the term to describe compulsions like smoking or nail biting. Nor are we applying it to people who—at one time or another—bully coworkers, struggle with self-doubt, or drive themselves too hard. No one is perfect; we all wrestle with demons and make mistakes. Instead, we’re using the term to talk about employees whose psychological makeup translates into consistently problematic behavior. Their "bad habits" are a central part of their personalities and inform the way they behave from day to day. At best, such people create their own glass ceilings, limiting their success and their contributions to the company. At worst, these otherwise highly competent and valuable people destroy their own careers.

Although the psychological flaws of such individuals run deep, their managers are not helpless. There are tested, effective ways to help people recognize and correct their bad habits. Over the course of almost 20 years of research and practice as business psychologists and executive coaches, we have identified 12 discrete patterns of behavior, or habits, that lead to these career troubles. Managers have a greater degree of leverage helping people whose behavior fits the following six patterns:

The Hero

Always pushes himself—and, by extension, subordinates—too hard to do too much for too long.

The Meritocrat

Believes that the best ideas can and will be determined objectively and thus will always prevail because of their clear merit; ignores the politics inherent in most situations.