The Surprising Ways People Enable Dysfunction at Work

The dark side of our personality can be a strength when channelled appropriately in the right context. That’s because personality doesn’t exist in isolation, but it affects how we interact with our environment, and it is dynamic and revealed in groups, teams, and organizations.

When we talk about subclinical personality styles, we can understand these as traits that don’t meet the threshold for a mental health diagnosis but still shape how we think, feel, and behave. We’re looking at patterns that are stable, nuanced, and systemically impactful.

The real test of our quirks isn’t just how we manage them individually; it’s how they shape our relationship with others and play out in complex systems and power dynamics. When you put a dozen different personality styles in a group and set a task for them, you create a complex network of interactions and interdependencies. This system determines who leads, who follows, who rebels, who brings people together, and who drives them apart.

Understanding personality helps to understand the roles people typically play when watching this network of interactions play out. Broadly, we can see maladaptive personality styles cluster into three patterns of relating to the world, and each has a unique relationship with power. Each can build a functional team or derail it in spectacular fashion.

Cluster A: Withdrawn and Paranoid Styles

This group has tendencies toward being paranoid, solitary, or unconventional, and operates from a place of detachment and distance. They are internally focused, often suspicious of others’ motives, and prefer to keep a safe distance.

How They Build: In a healthy system, this cluster of personality styles is the organization’s early warning system. The paranoid colleague’s hyper-vigilance can act as a finely-tuned radar for threats everyone else misses. They spot the subtle tells in a negotiation or the flaw in a plan that seems too good to be true. The solitary professional can have a deep and uninterrupted focus required for technical breakthroughs, irrespective of conflicts and office politics. The unconventional thinker offers the eccentric, out-of-the-box perspective that saves a company from groupthink. They can act as outsiders on the inside.

How They Break: This cluster’s dysfunctional relationship with power is not as a user, but as an ineffective foil. When a destructive leader takes charge, someone who is always suspicious has their suspicions easily dismissed. Their valid criticisms are written off as, “Oh, they’re always paranoid again.” The leader uses their predictable skepticism to make all opposition look weak or irrational, thereby strengthening their own position. The solitary style simply disengages, hoarding critical knowledge and creating a silo of one, while the unconventional member’s protests are so eccentric they fail to gain traction. They see the problem clearly but are unable to build the relationships and trust needed to challenge it.

Cluster B: Aggressive and Dramatic Styles

This is the cluster we typically associate with power and its abuse. The aggressive, the impulsive, the dramatic, and the confident are all outwardly focused, energetic, and masters of grabbing the spotlight.

How They Build: These styles are the engines of action. When channelled constructively, their relentless drive can move mountains. An aggressive leader’s appetite for risk can propel a company into a new market, creating opportunities for everyone. A dramatic manager’s charisma and storytelling can galvanise a team, turning a dull project into an inspiring mission. Their boundless energy and confidence are magnetic, making them natural networkers, salespeople, and motivators who thrive under pressure and persuade others to follow them into the fray.

How They Break: Here, the danger can come in different forms: the misuse of power and the willing collaborator. Those who are aggressive risk takers or the unstoppable self-promoters can become the archetypal destructive leaders. They demand loyalty but offer none, take credit for every success, and see people as instruments for their own ambition. But they can’t create a counterproductive culture alone. They need an audience, they need collaborators, and they can thrive when those around them get caught up in the drama, enjoy the proximity to power, or feel the need to be of service, irrespective of what they are enabling.

Cluster C: Anxious and Sensitive Styles

This cluster of people who tend to be sensitive, selfless, or perfectionistic is driven by a deep-seated anxiety about getting things wrong. They are rule-followers, people-pleasers, and are profoundly uncomfortable with conflict.

How They Build: These individuals are the bedrock of any high-functioning organization. They are the selfless collaborators who put the team’s needs first. They are the sensitive colleagues who notice when someone is struggling and quietly offer support. They are the eagle-eyed and attentive project managers who ensure everything is accounted for and every deadline is met. They create stability, uphold standards, and do the painstaking work that turns a bold vision into a reality. They don’t seek the spotlight; their reward is a job well done and a harmonious team.

How They Break: This cluster’s downfall is their propensity to become the silent enabler. A destructive leader depends on this group to succeed. The perfectionist’s obsession with process and quality can be exploited to justify endless work, leading to burnout. The selfless employee’s desire to keep the peace means they will absorb the stress, take on extra burdens, and smooth over conflicts rather than confront bad behavior. The sensitive person’s fear of criticism keeps them from speaking up, even when they know something is deeply wrong. With the best of intentions, they become the silent majority whose diligence and conflict avoidance provide the foundation on which a dysfunctional leader builds their empire.

What’s Your Default?

We all have a default setting that is influenced by our personality styles, and is a template for how we think, feel, and behave, mapping out how we instinctively react to authority, conflict, and ambition. The challenge is to recognize our own patterns.

Are your suspicious instincts serving as a needed check on power, or have they made you an ineffective critic? Is your ambition a rising tide that is raising many ships, or are you getting caught up in someone else’s drama? Is your conscientious nature the bedrock of the team, or is it creating more busywork for the people around you or propping up a system that needs to change?

Personality isn’t destiny. But when we’re under pressure, it’s the script we default to. In times of stress, conflict, and adversity, sometimes the roles we default into are destructive or counter-productive, even when supporting others, working more diligently, or becoming even more cautious than usual feels like the right thing to do.

It can be useful to observe the outcomes of those behaviors, instead of focusing solely on the intentions or motivations behind a style of thinking or acting. If you want to change your behavior, look at the role you default to playing.