Lovable Bunglers
We all know the lovable bungler, the man or woman who never seems to get anything done, who seems bewildered by tasks of all sorts, who is incompetent by some or more measures, yet is sought out by others for their interpersonal skills. The stereotypical lovable bungler hangs out at the office water cooler all day, talking to everyone who passes by. Most of us think the lovable bungler should be trained or retrained, should be turned into the lovable expert, combining the interpersonal skills with the other skills necessary to accomplish goals. We also all know the antagonistic expert, the man or woman who is efficient, smart, skilled, competent in every respect, yet is avoided by others. We think these unlikable experts should also be retrained, yet we recognize that this retraining may be more difficult. We find ourselves accepting the unlikable expert more than the lovable bungler. We think the unlikable expert is more important to success so sometimes we make no effort to encourage improvement in interpersonal skills.
Every workplace, every institution, every group has lovable bunglers and unlikable experts. Early in my life, I preferred the unlikable experts. I assumed they would be more productive, more useful to the group goals and that I should ignore their interpersonal skills. While I enjoyed the company of the lovable bunglers, I assumed they were to be tolerated rather than cherished.
As I matured and learned more, I realized, once again, that I had been wrong. I realized that while those who are personally enjoyable can often reach a satisfactory level of competence, those who were antagonistic and unpleasant, relying solely on their skill at tasks, never seemed to change. I came to understand that the lovable bunglers were at least as important to the group as the unlikable experts. Now a Harvard Business Review article establishes that my second thoughts were correct. It turns out that groups need the likable, the people who are loved, whether or not they are competent at their jobs. The lovable bunglers perform an important task simply because of their interpersonal skills: They bring people together, they facilitate communication, they make others, who may be more competent, want to be there, want to do the job, want to support the group.
There are lessons here for all of us. For those of us who are unpleasant but good at our tasks, we must redouble our efforts to be likable. For those of us who are lovable but less capable, we must learn to be better at our tasks. But the most important lesson is that we must all cherish both kinds of people. Both kinds contribute to the success of the group, both kinds have something that the other does not and we must strive to merge them by teaching both the bunglers and the experts, by trying to give them what they lack. We need to do our part to help on all fronts. In that way, we can become the lovable experts, do better with our own jobs and make everyone around us better with theirs.
6-20-05
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