12 ways to frustrate the team

frus·trat·ed/ˈfrəsˌtrātid/Adjective

1. Feeling or expressing distress and annoyance, esp. because of inability to change or achieve something.

2. (of a person) Unable to follow or be successful in a particular career. 

If you really want to frustrate the team to no end, maybe even get them to quit on you, or get you released from the position.  Here is some advice that could help.

1 - Ignore them.  Don't call them back, don't email them back, just avoid them. I'm not talking about delaying, that just comes with being a leader, getting back to everyone sometimes takes all day long. I'm talking complete blackout!

2 - Cancel meetings at the last minute or worse yet schedule a meeting especially when they have to go to great lengths to get to this meeting, distance, crazy times convenient for you, but not for them.  Then cancel the meeting.  Or when they do show up, let the meeting be pointless.  That will really get to them.

3 - Correct them in front of everybody, especially in front of people they know, their leader, their peers, their mentees. Careful not to do this in front of really important people to them, like their husband, you might have bitten off more than you can chew. 

4 - Change directions a lot.  Say you want to do something a particular way and then at the last minute change it and don't give any rationale as to why.  Or blame it on someones failings, in front of everyone!

5 - Be ambiguous.  Give them either a vision and no strategies, or all strategies but no direction. Go silent about the details, leave them wondering.  And then when they sort it out themselves hold them accountable for certain tasks and goals that were unmet. And point it out in front of everyone how they failed.

6 - Ask them for stuff they couldn't possibly have.  They bring the program to the event and you ask for a volunteer list.  They come back with the volunteer list and you ask for decorations, they come back with decorations and they are the wrong ones.  You can keep it up all day long if they are really stubborn.  

7 - Keep them guessing at what you want. When they do present ideas to you say a lot "I can't see that!" or "I don't have a vision for that." then whatever you do, don't share the secret vision. Be careful because God could give them the vision and then give them your job!

8 -  Micro manage every little detail.  They learn how to do it your way. Manage everything.  Don't develop anyone.  If you really want to get them frustrated and this technique takes a little time but so frustrating.  Teach them a skill, a performance task.  Let them do it for a while, let them get really settled into it.  Maybe even, getting them to think this is their thing, their gifting, their calling.  Once you see them getting excited about it and relaxed micromanage every single detail. Failure is not an option here, you could even say things like "I expected more from  you, your gifted in this, how could you fail." or make sure that whatever they do in this skill it is never good enough. 

9 - Take all the credit!! If you want to sound super spiritual make them look really prideful if they get the least bit confident in their area.  

10 - Keep the focus on shallowness, what they wear and how they wear it.  Don't even talk about impact and significance. Notice the tattoos and the piercings, but forget about character and heart.  That stuff only matters for you anyway.  It's your bus ride to the top not theirs.

11 - Blame the devil. If anything goes wrong that could possibly be linked to you, cover yourself with the "I made the enemy mad and he is attacking me."  Whatever you do, DO NOT apologize!  Apologies are for suckers!  This is a great cover and way to redirect their frustrations.  They will even stick it out even longer with you to frustrate them even more because of this. 

12 - When they want to speak to you about all the frustration, be ready to turn it on them.  Twist what their saying to make them feel like it is all their fault. Then tell everyone on the team what they did, how they were undermining your authority.  This will frustrate the whole team because now the whole team is re-thinking their wanting to talk to you.