Manage Behavior/Attitude Issues. It's Your Leadership Responsibility.

One of the best parts of my coaching work is supporting front-line leaders and middle management (the toughest jobs by far). I was on a call earlier this week with one of these awesome individuals to plan out our next steps in their team development process (department-based team).?

A little back story, one of the team members attended (looking angry most of the time) but did not participate in our first team meeting. The manager and I discussed this after session one, the hope was the team member would come around (in my 25 years experience this has never happened). The team member did not attend session two, how much better do you think it went? Bottom-line, the team member has a BAD ATTITUDE that was distracting in the first meeting and of course is hampering this leader and the rest of the team from being their best at work.?No one works at their best when “walking on eggshells”.

Some bad attitude examples that we discussed included aggressive/angry verbal communication, moody, looking angry/disgusted/frustrated/upset (a lot of the time), unapproachable, and difficult to work with (from a collegial/collaborative standpoint). This attitude and corresponding behavior are not isolated to the other team members, it has also impacted other people in other departments. The catch (if this is one), is the team member does a good job with the customer. Interesting? Wonder why he/she refuse to be this wonderful person with everyone? It is not about being able to, that is for sure (attitude and behavior is a choice that is in our control).

YOUR #1 RESPONSIBILITY AS A LEADER AT ANY LEVEL IS TO ENSURE A GREAT WORK ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUR PEOPLE. #2 and #3 include supporting their success and leveraging team synergy to achieve their/your goals (1+1+1=4 or more). Manage attitude/behavior issues, they are DANGEROUS and DESTRUCTIVE to all of your core leadership responsibilities.

A couple suggestions:

1. Use the resources at your disposal. This may include your HR and legal teams, especially if you are in a unionized environment. Know the rules, processes, and use the tools.
2. Collect your data (specific examples of the attitude/behavior and impacts). It may be a little harder to get your arms around the qualitative attitudes/behaviors, but describe them, the situation, and the impacts and you will be on solid ground.
3. Review your situation, plan of action, and conversation plan with your expert support team before meeting with the team member/employee.
4. Consider a meeting observer/witness if recommend by your HR/Legal team.

By the way there is nothing to be afraid of here, it is part of doing business and being a great manager/leader.

Pending your performance management process, here are a couple recommended conversational approaches.

Conversation #1?

Manager: “Thank you for meeting with me, this will only take a few minutes. First, I want to share that my #1 priority is to create a great place to work for everyone on the team and support everyone's success. That is why we are meeting. I need to talk to you about some specific attitudes and behaviors that are negatively impacting your performance as well as the team.” (Share your specific examples without interruption). “What are your thoughts about what I have shared?” (Hear him/her out if they are willing to share anything. You can empathize, "I can appreciate your feelings/view on that." Don't apologize, "I am sorry...".) “I appreciate you sharing your thoughts. I don't want any of these issues to hamper your success in any way. Here is what I suggest…” (provide them with specific actions/expectations of the necessary attitude and behavioral change, I recommend starting small - perhaps one situation at a time). “I will provide ongoing feedback with regards to how you are doing with these changes as I observe them. I will follow up with you weekly on your progress. Are there any other thoughts you have with regards to what you need do to make these changes?” (Hear him/her out, noting any additional action items, needs, etc. that will support the change). “Thank you for your time today.”

Conversation #2 if no change has occurred (if changes have occurred, you should be communicating this on an on-going basis with the team member).

M: “Thank you for meeting with me. I want to discuss the attitude/behavior changes that we discussed earlier. Unfortunately, the changes have not been made.” (Provide your examples). “What are your thoughts?” (Expect denial and excuses, but sometimes there are some legit comments and issues to further discuss, consider those). “I am committed to supporting your success at making these changes, at this point of the performance management process, this information will be documented on a performance improvement plan (PIP). If you are successful at making these changes in the next 30-days, I will update your PIP accordingly. If there is anything else you need to make these changes successfully, please let me know. I hope that you are successful at meeting these expectations. I will be following up with you weekly regarding your performance. Thank you for your time.”

You will see an instant change in your team's behavior and collaboration when you deal with poor performance head-on. No one wants to work with, besides, or anywhere near a person with a bad attitude and poor behaviors. It is a distraction that crushes productivity and causes unnecessary stress. Be a leader, protect your team and build the team culture that you desire. Manage the performance issues.

LEADER UP!