This is a continuation of a series from LinkedIn regarding calling people on our teams, “Difficult Colleagues.” I want to question why we’ve come to these conclusions about people and open up the area for thinking differently.
Understanding we might be wrong is a possibility that we don’t usually think about. We are usually the heroes in every story we tell.
But let’s think differently about our teammates and ourselves so that we can see our own potential problems with them that might be right in front of our noses.
For the previous post in the series, click here:
· Difficult Colleagues? Introduction to the Series
We started discussing “Difficult Colleagues.” Somehow, we’ve already vowed to change these colleagues, or even get rid of them entirely (as in the email I received).
Instead, let’s look at some reasons why we may perceive people as “difficult.”
Possibility 1 – Paradigm Shifters
Sometimes a “difficult colleague” is really a “Paradigm Shifter.” Find out how to spot these priceless people later.
For this post, I want to introduce you to Joel Barker, a Futurist who used his Paradigm expertise to help major organizations (IBM, 3M, & others) innovate differently during the 1980s and 1990s. (A note on Joel Barker: Joel passed away in January 2025. Celebrating this man, whom I only got to know in his later years, has been a huge blessing for me, but I was sorry that it had taken me so long to discover his body of work. You can search for him on any browser to find his legacy and books. Read my homage to him on LinkedIn: Joel Barker-LinkedIn)
His definition of a Paradigm: “A paradigm is a set of rules and regulations (written or unwritten) that does two things: (1) it establishes or defines boundaries; and (2) it tells us how to behave inside the boundaries to be successful.” (Barker, 1992, Future Edge/Paradigms, p. 32)
Shifting the current paradigm, then, refers to how the rules/boundaries are changed to form new kinds of success. Innovation demands Paradigm Shifters. We don’t usually notice new paradigms unless we have Shifters point them out.
Sadly, we’d rather label and dismiss these colleagues who don’t think the same way we do. This does two things:
- it elevates us to “better, smarter, normal,” while it
- devalues them as “not normal, emotional, challenging” – Difficult.
But this also creates other problems:
- We fail to question other possibilities.
- We vilify Shifters so that WE don’t appear to be Difficult ourselves.
- We negate potentially great ideas because they came from a person we’ve dismissed as Difficult.
Humans resist paradigm shifts unless we see convergences in other areas at the same time. Later on, we might grudgingly acquiesce to the shift. Shifters, on the other hand, seek out disparate information constantly to pair with possibilities for something unusual; they inherently search for new paradigms. But they also look at what’s at risk.
Successful organizations understand their need for natural paradigm shifters: they are bleeding-edge possibilities + risk reducers. Our failure to understand them magnifies our problems with them – therefore, they become “someone to fix.” Instead, they are invaluable resources, brilliant gems, and the best innovators because they care about their organizations enough to try to change them.
How to spot natural Paradigm Shifters from Joel Barker’s book (pp. 55-70). Look for them in only four scenarios:
- An employee with any new degree,
- A new employee coming aboard our ship,
- Employees who have been on our ship for a while (years). (“Mavericks” work at the fringes of their normal departments, easily spotting new paradigms), or
- An external person who has played around with a problem long enough to work it out, even if it has stumped others for years (a “Tinkerer”).
The next time you think of someone as a “Difficult Colleague,” ask yourself the question, “Are they really difficult or am I missing their genius?”