By Evans Tu (President & CEO, SYNNEX Group)

Everybody likes having “Mr. Nice Guy” at work. They are friendly, easy-going and agrees to nearly everything they are asked to do. They never get into arguments with other colleagues and are often popular amongst colleagues in the workplace.

Are you “Mr. Nice Guy” at work? Why or why not? As we reflect upon this question, I’m sure every one of us can conjure up an image of a typical nice guy at work. This image would encompass their personality, beliefs and behavior.

“Nice guys” tend to worry a lot about whether they offend others or create conflicts in the workplace. As a result, they put on a facade and avoid being involved at work or taking on responsibilities as far as possible.

In reality, these individuals are often self-centered individuals with timid personalities. As they are unwilling to try new and unfamiliar things, they fail to build and develop their capabilities over time.

“Nice guys” are masters in shirking responsibilities, they often persuade their colleagues to work together with them on a task, so that they can avoid facing difficult situations alone. Despite they might be at the forefront of a certain task at times, they tend to hide away whenever conflicts or tricky problems arise and only resurface when problems have been resolved. As a result, others are often misled into thinking that they have played a key role in resolving an issue.

When “nice guys” are unable to get other colleagues to help them out with a task, they will either come up with different reasons to excuse themselves or find ways to delay doing the task as long as possible.

Over time, proactive colleagues who work with a sense of urgency will slowly realize that the work efficiency and attitudes of these “nice guys” are highly problematic. However, the majority of colleagues will remain fooled by the facade that these individuals put up.

Managers must discipline “nice guys” who are timid and incapable of delivering results. A problem with this however is that these managers are often perceived to be unfair to the respective employee as other colleagues mistakenly believe these “nice guys” to be very capable at what do. This in turn causes a lot of colleagues to lose trust in their managers.

Managers should keep an eye out for these nice guys in the workplace and avoid being fooled by the facade they put up. Not only are they incapable of performing well, they also create future difficulties when it comes to managing and building trust with other employees in the department.