Carl, The Critic
Carl, one of the inspectors on your team, never seemed to like you from the beginning. But don’t worry, the vast majority of human beings appear to be not liked by Carl. It is rather obvious that he resents your recent rise to team leader after only six years on the job. Carl has been an inspector for 22 years, which is 10 years longer than the second most senior person in your group.
Carl thinks he’s an amazing inspector—but, in fact, his skill level is better described as being better than four out of five of his colleagues. To his credit, Carl does have the technical experience and willingness to handle tasks that others find difficult and/or undesirable. However, Carl’s defining characteristic is his unwavering commitment to persistently correct his teammates’ behavior. Carl appears unable to let the behavior of others go by without verbalizing every one of his critical observations. Carl is a big tough guy and most of the people in your group deal with him by caving-in during confrontations. Lately, he’s been referring to you as “General” and you’ve heard (shock of shocks) that he has been critiquing your instructions in front of team members.
We have been discussing the advantage of planning influence opportunities beforehand. Considering the tools of influence, how can you influence Carl to improve his behavior?
Sample Solution