Copyright Inc. Magazine
Psychology researchers from the UK performed a study on varied forms of narcissism in the workplace, and the results make interesting reading that may affect how you manage your teams. The scientists note that “instead of running surveys in a lab,” they followed a different track and “took narcissism into the wild” by closely studying “more than 100 people locked in commercial escape rooms, racing the clock to solve puzzles together.” Writing at science news outlet Phys.org, the researchers called the results “striking.” Teams “high in narcissistic rivalry performed worse than others,” and actually made around a third less progress on escape room challenges. They solved fewer puzzles and said they felt less unified and more frustrated than other teams. They looked at why this happened, and the reasons seem clear: rivalrous behavior harms the glue that keeps teams cohesively working toward a shared goal. Pressure tended to make these people withdraw and dismiss teammates’ suggestions, sometimes even withholding information that was critical to finding a way out of the escape room. The researchers said these characters “didn’t always start arguments, but their defensiveness quietly slowed the group down.” Meanwhile, charismatic and “admirable” workers went through a slightly different transformation in the eyes of their teammates. Early on, they may have boosted the morale of the whole group, by seeming “likeable and ready to lead.” But at the end of the challenge, team members saw these characters as “more arrogant and less empathic.” Charisma may impress team members at first, the scientists wrote, but that “soon wore thin once teamwork required genuine give and take.” Researchers described it as a classic case of the office “self-promoter who dazzles in the meeting, but frustrates everyone by the project’s end.” But by analyzing this sort of behavior scientifically, the investigators actually generated some useful insights into how company leaders can keep polarizing “narcissistic” behavior from some of their employees harming the way co-workers achieve workplace tasks. The trick is to carefully look for charismatic, highly admired colleagues and people who thrive on workers generating rivalry or conflict for the sake of competition. The trick to stopping these confident people from subverting team tasks isn’t to sideline them, though researchers pointed out the risks of mistakenly rewarding assertiveness over people who are good cooperators. Instead you should “value good listeners as much as good talkers,” and encourage team members of all sorts of different character to feel like it’s safe to speak up — it can help “counteract the corrosive effects of ego.” The take away from this for your company is quite clear: It’s not so much about forcing that cocky guy from accounts to stay in his lane, nor is it about rewarding your assertive employees over the shyer ones. Savvy leaders will see that quieter, more calm team members are as important to successfully achieving team tasks as louder, brasher ones, and then work to create a workplace environment where everyone feels like they can speak up — whether it’s in a group Zoom meeting or a “tiger team” that has to tackle an urgent project.
