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At some point in your career, you will probably have to deal with a brilliant jerk at work. Brilliant jerks are everywhere, getting praised by management while making everyone else’s life a living hell. Sometimes their overall jerkiness is recognized—even endorsed—by management while other times, their toxicity goes unnoticed by the people at the top, but not those who work with them directly.
If you are one of those who works with a brilliant jerk, dealing with them can be extremely tricky, especially if you aren’t in a position to change anything. However, there are certain strategies you can employ to either mitigate or eliminate the toxicity.
Remember jerkiness can be subjective
Some people are clearly toxic. Other times, their status as a jerk can be a little more subjective. We’ve probably all been a jerk throughout the course of our lives. It’s important to factor different personalities and styles into your assessment of what is going on.
“Is it just because we see the world differently or we have a different approach to our work or are there elements to their style that are legitimately destructive?” said Eric Pliner, author of the book Difficult Decisions and CEO of YSC Consulting. “Every dynamic is mutually created.”
This is not to imply that your actions are somehow causing the toxic behavior or that it is somehow within our power to get a jerk to stop their behavior. However, context does play a role, and if a jerk’s behavior goes unchecked, then it’s probably not going to get better any time soon.
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What leaders can do about brilliant jerks
If you are in a position of power to do something, it’s important to consider the impact of a jerk’s behavior on the work environment. As productive as the jerk might be, there’s a good chance that their overall impact on the company is detrimental. If they’re productive but making their colleagues less productive—or even driving them away from the organization—they’re not really that productive, are they?
“When you think about the emotional and psychological effect on other people, it can actually be reducing the productivity of the rest of the team by even more than that person contributes,” Pliner said. “It’s also important to look at the impact of their negativity on the productivity of the system, especially other individuals.”
Environment also makes a big difference for either enabling or discouraging toxic behavior. “If, as a leader, you’ve created an environment where people feel confident speaking up in the face of discomfort or injustice or unethical behavior, then that kind of behavior won’t generally continue,” Pliner said. “If people don’t feel comfortable speaking up, and that behavior goes on and on, there’s something about the environment, and those who have created the environment, that is contributing to it too.”
What we can do about jerks at work
Most of us are not in a position where we can make any big changes to the work environment. Still, there are still some strategies to survive and maybe even make things a little better.
One way to deal with a toxic co-worker is to intentionally seek out co-workers who make your life better. “One of the ways that jerks can operate is to make us feel isolated,” Pliner said.
The more you can surround yourself with people who are positive and encouraging, the less alone you will feel. “It’s much easier to be successful in a system when you align with the positivity rather than just reacting to, responding to, or avoiding the negativity,” Pliner said. These co-workers can also help you process the situation and come up with potential solutions.
Secondly, think about what actions might help change the situation, like bringing up the behavior to a higher-up. This does come with a risk of retaliation, so it is very important to proceed cautiously.
Pliner advises if you are going to approach a higher-up about the impact of a toxic co-worker, it helps to frame your concerns as a request for help, such as describing the impact of the behavior on your own work, rather than as a complaint about another person.
Most of all, it’s time to let go of the erroneous idea that if a person is brilliant, then that somehow gives them the right to be a jerk. “You just don’t have to be a jerk to be brilliant,” Pliner said. “Elevate the examples of people who are brilliant and kind.”
