Working with Psychopaths

Obviously, not working with psychopaths is the best option. That, however, isn’t always practical. Additionally, it’s neither practical nor optimal to distrust everyone. So, when working with psychopaths, it’s important to:

• Acknowledge they exist in the workplace
• Know the situations, trends and cultures they prefer
• Interact safely with them
• Retard their efforts when possible

This series raises awareness. We like to believe all are motivated to pursue the best interests of the enterprise; they aren’t. Moreover, just as various animals thrive in certain conditions, psychopaths do too. Knowing these warn us and help us identify them. Interacting safely with them generally means agreeing with them, avoiding negativity and endorsing their efforts. Psychopaths often interpret neutral positions as negative.

If possible, retarding their efforts comes in implementation. Psychopaths operate very consciously, thoughtfully and methodically. They are instinctive, not intuitive, meaning they function very basically and mechanically in complex, more integrated environments. Keeping things simple is their defense.

For instance, musicians who play naturally, almost without thought, will tend to perform better than those who must think consciously about every note. Imagine trying to think about every aspect of swinging a golf club or performing a gymnastic routine while doing it. Psychopaths suffer these challenges. They have difficulty multi-tasking across unique, diverse functions or personalities. To compensate, they emphasize standardization, planning, rules and homogeneous teams and cultures.

Thus, retarding their progress means encouraging them to accept assignments with extremely integrated aspects. It means having them run meetings of three to eight diverse people, too many relational challenges. More allows them to treat everyone as a group and fewer to interact individually. Finally, treat others well as your efforts will shine in contrast to the psychopath.

Therefore, knowing all this, what does your career require?