Which of the following behaviors do you find to be the most frustrating to experience from a subordinate?

Our reader poll today asks: Which of the following behaviors do you find to be the most frustrating to experience from a subordinate?

• They’re disrespectful to you 14.18%
• They’re ungrateful for what you do for them 7.09%
• They’re argumentative about the work you ask for 11.02%
• They’re passive-aggressive and don’t do their work 27.82%
• They lie to you 39.89%

Don’t Lie and Do Your Job. The top frustrations noted are lying (40%) and not doing assigned work (39%) either by overtly opposing it or passive-aggressively not complying with instructions. The question for you leaders is why are your people lying to you or not complying with doing the work you’re assigning them? Are they afraid to tell the truth and deal with consequences? Are they avoiding rules or standards that hinder them doing their job well? Are they not well enough trained or equipped to do the work? Are your instructions unclear? Do they lack the context for why their work is important? It’s easy to look at your subordinates and highlight which of their behaviors frustrate you. It’s harder to take a step back and ask how you might be doing things that contribute to them demonstrating those behaviors. Take a moment and have an open conversation with them to understand what’s driving these dynamics. You might be surprised to find that their behavior is being driven by yours.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.