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The Dark Strategist – Type 2

Some of the most difficult people at work aren’t disruptive or emotional. Instead, they treat others like chess pieces, objects to be moved around in the dark, in service of a grand plan.

In this short video, I talk about the Dark Strategist, Type Two in The 9 Types of Difficult People.

Dark Strategists are often insightful and ambitious. They like having a clear plan and working behind the scenes to perfect it.

Problems start when the plan begins to matter more than the people. Colleagues can be moved around without consultation, information may be withheld, and decisions taken quietly without buy-in.

The impact is often people feeling manipulated, excluded, and undervalued.

You’ll also hear what helps. How leaders and coaches can role-model inclusive collaboration, and why remembering that the map is not the territory can make such a difference. I also touch on how to influence a Dark Strategist by speaking their language and engaging with the big picture, the strategy, and the wider business model.

With the right coaching, Dark Strategists can become powerful, insightful leaders that people actually want to follow.

Article: Scary Specialist – Difficult Person Type 1

Some of the most difficult people at work are difficult precisely because they’re so good at what they do. They deliver, they set the standard and they make it very clear when others don’t meet that standard.

In this article I’ll explore the Scary Specialist: type 1 in my 9 Types of Difficult People. I’ll look at:

  • The core pattern behind the Scary Specialist
  • The paradox at the heart of their behaviour
  • Practical ways to respond, whether you lead them or work alongside them

 

Who the Scary Specialist Is

The Scary Specialist is the expert who really isn’t afraid to let you know that they’re the expert.

These are people with deep knowledge and serious capability. They care about competence, pace, quality, and they set the bar very high for themselves and for everyone else.

At their best, they can really be the engine room of your business; driving results and driving success.

When it Starts to go Wrong

But things get difficult when anything threatens their ability to deliver.

That might be a weak process or a colleague who isn’t pulling their weight. Or a change that threatens their independence or threatens their control over their domain.

And when that happens, they become even more critical and even more demanding, and they will say exactly what they think no matter how brutally honest.

The Impact on Others

So you might notice people starting to tiptoe around them, or that new joiners to their department don’t last very long, and that other people start to leave the organisation because of them.

And this is the paradox, of course.

The Scary Specialist values competence above all else. But under pressure, their behaviour creates fear and silence and withdrawal in others.

And so the overall performance of the organisation, your organisational competency starts to suffer.

Leading a Scary Specialist

So if you are leading a Scary Specialist, you need to be very clear about any negative impacts they’re having.

Vague feedback or hoping they’ll somehow get nicer rarely works.

Above all, as a leader, you need to demand that your Scary Specialist continues to raise their level of competence. But not just their technical skills or their know-how, but also their competence in their own leadership and their competence in how they relate to other people.

Working with a Scary Specialist

If you’re working for, or alongside a Scary Specialist, two things really matter.

  1. Raise your own standards where you genuinely can. Become really good at your job. That’s all they really want from you;
  2. Be clear about your boundaries and be prepared to stand up for your boundaries.

 

Scary Specialists, respect, drive, and independence. So just tell them directly whenever their behaviour crosses some kind of a line for you. And the more direct you are in this, the more likely you are to get a good result from them.

At Their Best

At their best, Scary Specialists are not really scary at all.

They’re the experts whose drive and standards lift everyone around them.

But that only works, of course, when their expertise serves the whole organisation and not just their small patch of it.

About Me

I’m an executive coach helping leaders and senior teams turn challenging dynamics into great working relationships.

My first full-length book, The 9 Types of Difficult People, published by Pearson, is an Amazon and WHSmith best-seller. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1292726067

My new flagship programme The Shift is a team development experience for senior leadership teams who sense they’re not yet working well enough together, maybe not firing on all cylinders, even if no one has said it out loud. https://www.nickrobinson.org/the-shift-leadership-team-development

The Rock – Type 8

That “stubborn” colleague slowing everything down? They’re not blocking progress – they’re protecting the foundations.

Meet the Rock – Type 8 in The 9 Types of Difficult People

Rocks are the calm, steady figures who keep everything running smoothly… until change threatens the stability they’ve built. Their resistance isn’t negativity – it’s caution born from responsibility.

In this short video, I explain:

🎯 Why Rocks hold back when others want to move fast

🤝 How to earn their trust and turn them into allies

🏗 The leadership moves that make progress possible without breaking what already works.

You’ll learn how to lead through trust, not pressure – and how to build teams that balance safety with change.

From my book The 9 Types of Difficult People – helping leaders and teams turn challenging dynamics into great working relationships.

Video – Boundaries at Work

Video – Difficult Conversations at Work

Business Book of the Month Webinar

I was recently interviewed by my publishers Pearson for their Business Book of the Month webinar on LinkedIn.

We talked about my book, The 9 Types of Difficult People at work and had a great Q& A session. I presented some of the most important themes from the book, including:

  • How to get your headspace right place for dealing with a difficult person at work
  • What it costs the business if you do nothing
  • Why people become difficult at work
  • Tools and strategies for dealing with them with constructively, effectively, and compassionately.

Click the play button to watch the video of our webinar.

How to Stop Being a People-Pleaser at Work – My Book in Stylist Magazine

More great coverage of The 9 Types of Difficult People in the press, including this super article in Stylist Magazine on How to Stop Being a People-Pleaser at Work

Here’s some of the highlights from the article, which I’ve linked in full below.

🔍 Acknowledging the Issue
Realising that being a people-pleaser can hinder your professional growth in quite a few different negative ways.

📝 Preparing for Difficult Conversations
Techniques for handling those necessary but challenging conversations effectively.

🚫 The Art of Saying ‘No’
Strategies to assert your needs and priorities without adding to the conflict, so enabling healthier workplace dynamics.

💪 Reclaiming Your Power
Emphasising the importance of authentic communication and setting boundaries for personal and professional development.

Click here for the full article in Stylist Magazine.

 

Why People Become Difficult at Work

Ever experienced someone being really difficult to get on with at work, and wondered WHY?

There are four key reasons:

  1. Unconscious Reactions to Stress
    They’re reacting to what’s going in inside the organisation and its operating environment (and it’s likely there are things beyond their control that the organisation itself needs to fix)
  2. Positive Intentions
    They’re trying to achieve something but are having the wrong impact
  3. Self-Doubts and Self-Sabotage
    Their own thought-processes are piling on more pressure and more rigidity in how they behave
  4. Inflexible Approaches
    They’re not switching the focus of their intentions to suit the people and circumstances around them.

When things aren’t going smoothly, if we can understand what’s behind the way someone behaves at work, it makes it much easier to help them and others to get along well together.

There’s still a lot to do, and it’s important not to jump to blaming or shaming. But understanding Why can be a crucial first step.

To discover more practical tips and strategies for dealing with a difficult person and quickly improving workplace relationships, please check-out my book The 9 Types of Difficult People or explore more of the articles and resources on this website.

My Book in Stylist Magazine: 9 types of difficult people you’ll come across at work

Very pleased to see that we’re getting some great coverage of The 9 Types of Difficult People!

The latest to appear is an article in Stylist Magazine, which bills itself as:

“… the UK’s leading media brand for professional women; talking to 5 million UK women a month and making up 40% of the women’s lifestyle sector.”

I like this article because it gives a good overview of each of the 9 types of difficult people at work. And it features really practical hints and tips to turn things around and create great working relationships for everybody.

Here’s the link to the full article in the magazine:

➽ There are 9 types of difficult people you’ll come across at work – here’s how to deal with each

The Most Committed Managers Are the Most Difficult: The Challenge of the Workplace Martyr

If you’ve ever walked the tricky tightrope of high standards and uncompromising values set by a leader who sees any deviation as a lack of dedication, then you’ve met The Martyr!

To find out how to deal with a difficult Martyr in your workplace, please read on, and check out my book, ‘The 9 Types of Difficult People’.

The Martyr is a highly-principled person with a strong work ethic who builds fiercely loyal teams. They can become judgemental, uncompromising and disconnected from people they regard as less principled or less self-sacrificing.

Whilst their dedication is inspiring, their inability to compromise can stall progress, create friction within teams, and stifle innovation.

Their judgmental outlook and disconnection from ‘less principled/dedicated’ colleagues can lead to a divisive atmosphere, undermining team cohesion and productivity. And if you work for a Martyr, there’s a strong risk that you’ll get dragged down with them, sacrificing your own career or work-life balance without needing too.

If you’ve got a Martyr in your organisation, here’s how to deal with them

If you’re their leader, make sure you’re sharing your own principles. Even if those are different from the Martyr’s, it’s a good way to re-connect with them. Then you can ensure that they know the bigger picture priorities, and why compromise is needed to make some progress towards important goals. And check that you haven’t set them up to fail, with impossible tasks, constraints they can’t control, or a highly risk-averse culture.

If you work for or alongside a Martyr, don’t tolerate their criticisms or judgements of you. And don’t let them turn their back on you. Instead, knock on their door and ask for the kind of mutual compromise that makes sustainable progress possible. Make sure you’re not relying on them to help you develop your career – they’re too ready to unconsciously sacrifice. On the whole Martyrs are sensitive to other people’s needs so will often be very open to any kind of approach.

If you want to help develop a Martyr, your focus should be on exploring what’s behind the negative judgements they make about others and the unhelpful beliefs that might be leading them to self-sacrifice.

Beyond Judgement: The Martyr’s Path to Influential Leadership

At their best, a Martyr can be a transformative leader, able to influence not judge, and so can sweep away roadblocks and be supported by passionate followers, all sustained by a healthy work-life balance.

Have you encountered a difficult Martyr in your workplace?

How did you deal the challenges they presented?