From my observations, the prevalence of yes men being offered positions due to their ability to provide unquestionable support is breathtakingly common. I have seen this situation repeat in the government service at an alarming rate.

They are not the best qualified, the best performing, the hardest working or the smartest. What I will grant them is their ability to adapt, to drop to their knees when required and offer their support unequivocally in the form of yes to any request. How they are selected is generally through a weak leader who requires a posse of people to back him up. They would not normally be selected to staff these positions in a competitive selection process. Now they owe a debt of gratitude to the person who selected them and they do as they are told and fall into line.

They will not challenge the authority of the weak leader, this is exactly why they were selected – he doesn’t want any challengers to his authority. If they have not earned this position through their own knowledge, skills and abilities then are grateful beyond belief. They will fall into line obediently and support the individual who granted them this unearned power.

So, how do you take down this group? Firstly, you do not target the leader as many would suspect. You target the weakest member of the group. They are drawn to this arrangement not because of their own strength but because of their own weakness. Firstly, the weakest member is removed from this protective group, that weakens the whole group. Then, the next weakest member is targeted, now the other members who looked to the weak leader are becoming concerned, can this group leader not protect them?

This has an effect on the group, who will be targeted next? The implied protection this group was offering is crumbling, the leader is exposed as weak, their influence diminished and the leader is becoming exposed himself. Now the remaining members are not only concerned, they are stressed and agitated, they are feeling threatened. All of a sudden, there is a revolt in the ranks, place them under pressure and see how they handle such pressure.

The results are interesting, all of a sudden this becomes fun, watch them buckled under the pressure you apply. Never lead with your biggest point, begin with a smaller issue that is actually of little relevance to you. Move to a point that is unimportant to you, argue this point with 100% energy, this is really a side issue that is unimportant to you so you actually care little anyway. Negotiate a settlement, be willing to concede points that are unimportant to you.

Make concessions to be flexible, be constructive then pull back, don’t let them settle then increase the pressure further. Vary the intensity, but under no circumstances become personal, the minute you become personal is the minute you lose. The strategy is to apply pressure, they never earned the position, so make them regret they ever joined this group because they never earned it. Ok, so they were gifted privileges, all of a sudden, these privileges hardly seem worth the minimal effort they are expelling and the stress is not worth it.