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Find the Fault Line of the Fault-finding Teammate

Faultfinders are the office con artists. They try to prove their intellectual superiority by finding fault with others. Yet they usually have no alternatives to offer. Instead well-timed and well-aimed criticism is their currency.

Faultfinders think nothing of discounting a colleague’s hard work by seizing on tiny flaws in her presentation. Valerie Pierce, the author of Quick Thinking on Your Feet: The art of thriving under pressure, calls such speaker abuse, “a very lazy way of winning the argument, since we don’t have to bother with the content of the discussion.”

Yet the strategy packs a punch, Pierce says. “This is very powerful as it diverts the attention of the victim. When you are on the receiving end of this, it can be totally debilitating.”

Fortunately the faultfinders can be easily disarmed. And one question usually does the trick: “Can you suggest any alternatives?” That puts the spotlight on the critic, where it should be. When that happens the critic usually has very little to say.