Difficult people can negatively impact team performance and morale. Here are some type of problematic employees and how to deal with each one of them:
The Victim aka Perfect Victim (PV)
- Everything that goes wrong is the result of someone else being unhelpful, too demanding or getting in their way
- Every suggested alternative only creates new difficulties
- Always looking for excuses to evade accountability
- Be on your best no-nonsense, straight- talking behaviour
- Be open and relaxed
- Tell them what you can and can't do to help
- Remind them of their accountability
- People who hide, hoard or simply don't provide information to others in their organisation
- Incorporate documentation and information sharing as a daily routine
- Works on an individualistic level, lowering team morale and causing staff resentment
- If a flaw is pointed out in their task, they crumble and take the criticism overly harsh
- Have an honest and positive conversation with them - away from their peers - so they do not feel the urge or pressure to display or prove that they are right at every turn
- Someone who struggles to adapt to new technologies or approaches
- It might be anxiety or stress but they are defending something they feel is essential
- Admire and highlight their strengths and embrace and understand their fears.
- Help them overcome their fear by establishing rituals and routines and helping them follow through with it
- Chronically late comers
- Consistently late employees can impact the bottom line and are a negative influence on other employees
- Make them understand what's required of them - what time they are supposed to start their work day and what is your policy on dealing with them
- Understand the reason of them being late and either accommodate or take disciplinary action against them
- Someone who is always more interested in online shopping, water cooler chat, playing cards, texting or surfing the internet rather than actually getting work done
- Sometimes the onus of completing tasks might fell on their other team members as the slackers doesn't pull their weight
- Dig deeper to understand if they are struggling emotionally or mentally due to some personal problem. Try to lead with empathy and help them open up
- If the above is the not the case, let the person know in a professional, non-confrontational way about the problem and why it's not acceptable
- If the problem persists, approach the HR department and constantly review their performance and reward their progress to boost morale
