Comment by lordnacho
7 years ago
There's another point that's relevant. If someone isn't producing the goods, they need need to make themselves liked somehow. Joke around, pat people on the back for whatever they do, generally act positive. That way people might not notice they're not pulling their weight.
This happened at a place I worked at, and it was compounded by the others being too agreeable to call him out. When I eventually did it ended badly for me.
> If someone isn't producing the goods, they need need to make themselves liked somehow
In competitive work environments, I've seen this heuristic overcorrect more often than be right, i.e. the nice person is assumed to be incompetent. Having worked on a trading floor, where niceness was not valued, and on teams with nice people with whom one could vent, reconsider interpersonal disputes or bounce ideas off (in terms of how others on the team might see a proposal), I strongly preferred the latter.