Complaining about crappy managers is a favoured pastime. Admittedly, I've done it plenty of times – for example, here, here and here. The attention on bad bosses, however, diverts attention away from crappy employees, who happen to be just as prevalent.

There's one in particular we're focusing on today: the insubordinate. This is the employee who refuses to follow instructions, does their own thing, and somehow gets away with it. (Which probably speaks volumes about the toothless management in place, but anyway.)

"So fire me..." Credit:Rich H Legg

Last month in a workshop I was delivering I was told something I'd never heard before. One of the participants, a team leader, mentioned she'd asked her unoccupied employee to serve a customer. The employee's terse reply was: "No." The manager repeated the command, to which the employee retorted: "No. What are you going to do? Fire me?"

Here's the really concerning part. In that room were a dozen managers, some from big companies, others from small businesses. What was curious was a majority had experienced similar insubordination in the preceding months.