10 Troublemakers to Avoid at Your Company

(MoneyWatch)  Every company in every industry has its stars, its losers, and everything in between. Employees in big companies follow a bell shaped distribution curve, so the mediocre middle dominates. But in startups and relatively small companies, employees at either extreme can really stand out.

Just as one or two geniuses can turn a startup into a successful enterprise, a few problem employees can take it down. To avoid that, you all need to learn to recognize troublemakers to avoid at your company. So here's the top 10, based in part on a post by venture capitalist Don Rainey.

And while their impact is indeed greatest in a small company, these 10 Troublemakers will plague any company of any size:

1. Strategy Guy. Capable, driven, and articulate, will meet any need for execution by engaging you in a longwinded discussion on strategy. Actions may speak louder than words; but talking is way easier than doing, right?
2. Goldilocks. Most people join startups because they love to reach for the stars, take on broad responsibility, and grow. Not Goldilocks. Getting stuff done is "beneath her" and serious responsibility is "beyond her pay grade." Nothing's "just right."
3. Organization Builder. Regardless of the company's situation and needs, the measure of success is how big and fast you can grow the organization. It's all about scale. How about slow, steady growth? Nah, real men build fast.
4. Perpetual Designer. No matter what the market requirements document says or customers want, this guy just can't stop designing. Hell, that's his goal. As for budget and schedule, well, if your goal is to perpetually design, then sky's the limit, right?
5. Passive Aggressive Guy. He'll sit in a meeting, nod his head in agreement at the appropriate times, concur on a plan, then go out and do whatever the hell he wants, even if it contradicts what he just agreed to. And if he has authority over resources, look out.
6. Overly-Optimistic Forecaster. Every potential deal is huge, 100%, for sure. You see, when he was at Cisco, he made a fortune selling to all the big-name customers. Good luck telling him this isn't Cisco, or nailing him down on probability or next steps to close.
7. Peter Pan Founder. Of course, VCs would never admit to this, since founders are their lifeblood. But there comes a time when a company needs to grow up and, sometimes, the founders just can't pull it off. Still, they hang on, and way longer than they should.
8. Champion of the People. There's always a self-proclaimed voice of the people with an inside scoop that the troops are upset because "Paul got that big raise" or "we're not getting off for President's Day." If he only knew, the troops think he's a self-important jerk.
9. Angry Support Person. Let's face it; some people just shouldn't be in customer service or internal support functions. They're mean, they're angry, and it takes tremendous effort to undo the damage they do. So tell me, why are these people always taking support jobs?

Wait a minute, that's only nine. Hmm -- can you come up with number 10?

Image CC 2.0 via Inti at Flickr