How to manage stupid and highly motivated employees

“Stupid is how stupid he does it” – Forrest Gump.

The meaning: a person is considered stupid because of the stupid behaviors he exhibits.

Human principle: Every now and then doing something stupid doesn’t make you stupid, just human.

The problem: Highly Motivated Stupid People (HMSP) speak up, act out, and argue their case while dismissing any conflicting information or feedback. They are only interested in achieving their agenda, unfortunate as it may be. There is no possibility of dealing with an HMSP with logic.

Cost of ignoring the problem: The manager loses respect for motivated and competent people.

Organizational impacts: Others, hearing the “out of context”, looking for an easy solution, jump on the “stupid train”.

Brutal fact: You cannot lead a stupid and highly motivated person (HMSP) because leadership requires followers. A stupid and highly motivated person will not be influenced, so they must be “handled roughly”.

First, the manager has to recognize the faces of stupidity:

• Category # 1: People who don’t know, who have a genuine lack of knowledge. This can be any of us. Stupidity is situational and easily fixable.
• Category # 2: People who know they don’t know, but go ahead with their agenda anyway for image or power reasons. Many politicians and executives.
• Category # 3: People who, when faced with well-founded facts and arguments, say, “I don’t care what you say …”, then proceed to make preventable mistakes. that is, driving while intoxicated.
• Category # 4: People who think they know, according to “In my experience …” Someone who keeps doing things based on failed attempts, but keeps doing them believing it will work.
• Category # 5: People who are convinced they have the solution, but have not consulted or received feedback from other customers, stakeholders, or people who actually do what needs to be fixed. Most of the top management. Many people have seen it on the TV show “Dragons’ Den”. Some executive teams.
• Category # 6: People who are eager to tell you how YOU should be doing things, even if they have never done it themselves. that is, people who offer marriage counseling who have never been married. Many business consultants who have never run a business on their own.
• Category # 7: People who offer advice, but do not practice what they preach themselves. that is, doctors who smoke. Managers who do not update their skills.
• Category # 8: They are people who are so far from reality that they perceive themselves as experts and are convinced that they know what they are talking about. When employees get together and talk about senior management’s stupidity, those employees are in this category because they just don’t know. The problem is that top management has stupidly “stupid” employees by not keeping them adequately informed. If nature abhors a vacuum, stupidity flourishes in you.

A stupid person will convince himself, and try to convince others, that it is okay to jump off the roof of a 30-story building to experience the sensation of flying. A stupid person conveniently ignores the consequences of the sudden consequences of gravity.

So how does a manager deal with stupid and highly motivated people (excluding Category # 1)?

1. Punish stupid behaviors, not the person. The punishment must feel pretty intense. Stupid people have strong defenses.

2. Deliver it promptly. The person has to relate the punishment to the behavior. The mind has to make the connection. Watch the Super Nanny TV Show on How to Do This Effectively

3. Constantly punish stupid behaviors. It takes 7 times with 7 reps backed with corrective feedback each time to learn something new or change an ineffective set of behaviors. One of the biggest mistakes managers make is thinking that once is enough. It is not.

4. Don’t associate punishment with positive application. âEUR¨ When a negatively felt consequence is associated with a perceived reward, the behavior will continue rather than cease. Some employees will use the penalty imposed by the manager to gain more power. This is often seen in union situations and arrogant executive teams.

5. Punishment must not result in escaping or avoidance behaviors.. One of the most ridiculous punishments in school is suspending the student for 3-4 days. It’s basically an approved holiday for the student (and maybe the teacher, which may be why they do it).

6. Having summarized all of the above, The manager must develop and act on the belief that people have a deep desire to feel smart, fulfilled, successful, and competent.

Herb Kelleher, the retired president of Southwest Airlines exemplified that belief. This is what his pilots told him upon retiring:

“In leaving the SWA Board of Directors, the pilots of Southwest Airlines would like to thank you, Herb, for 38 years of positively outrageous service to our Company and our pilots. It has been an honor and a privilege.”

Southwest Airlines has created a smart culture that encourages people to do smart things for fun and profit.

Smart is so smart.