Managing Negative People

Almost all managers I have worked with and nearly all of my projects have had at least one employee who is not the absolute great. Okay getting rid of the politeness, some of the people who work with (and sometimes for) us are absolute devils. They are difficult to deal with, can’t get along with others, are negative, critical, mostly self-loathing, victims of the system who have taken up the charge to instigate (and investigate) everyone and everything with a very cautionary (and detrimental) plan. These people seem to find flaws in the best of situations. They often (wrongly) believe that no one else works as hard or as much as them, and think that every action is a part of a large dark strategy.

But that’s not the bad part. The issue is that most of the managers spend an inordinate amount of time, thought and energy on them and feel held hostage to these negative folks. The managers often hover on the verge of letting go of the negative people but are (for a variety of reasons) unable to pull the trigger.

This is a bad state to be in at any time. Having this happen to a project – and that too from a critical irreplaceable resource is an absolute nightmare.

Expecting a team straight out of a Disney special may be unrealistic, but if you have a team member who carries a dark cloud to work everyday, YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION.

Respondents to a survey conducted by Fierce Inc. ranked negativity higher than laziness, passive aggression and gossip in the list of the most harmful qualities in a co-worker. Ignoring cases of negativity only encourages negativity and is extremely expensive and damaging to the organization’s resources – human and capital.

Below is my recommendation of the steps you should take to nip the issue in the bud. Remember – they are not easy or comfortable. But you have to ensure they are done and done right.

1.     Identify negative behavior – recognize individuals with bad attitudes. Do not write off negativity. Many people dismiss negative behavior with off the cuff remarks liks “that’s him being him” or “that’s just his personality” or “She’s just a little difficult to work with – give it time, you’ll get used to it”. The reality is that no one gets used to negative people. The ones with options jump ship and you are usually left with the only ones who will tolerate a bad work environment.  

Remember: as a manager, it is also very important that you LISTEN. Often, when an employee is acting difficult, the manager ‘turns off’ to what is actually going on. Many times, managers have already decided that the employee is negative and the situation is hopeless. A good manager would look for opportunities of creating improvement in the situation. Try and understand the employee’s point of view. It is possible that there exists a genuine issue that is making the tough employee act negatively.

2.     Confront the person (not just the situation): Develop a plan to confront the person. Many managers just ask for a quick meeting ‘Send the negative Nancy to my office and I will sort this out’ is probably a bad start. Plan your meeting, create the list of issues that you want to discuss, create a calm, safe and private setting for this meeting. Create buffers – plan for a longer meeting than you think is needed, ensure that you are prepared. Script your conversation if you are new to this. in the meeting, ensure that you understand the issue, reject excuses, ensure the employee understands that he controls the attitude and that complaining and fault finding is a “Choice”.

Remember: Manage your self-talk. It is common to see many managers thinking about the person in their minds – either getting convinced in the first few seconds that the person is good and is a victim of the circumstances; OR; that the person is an idiot who will never change. Chances are that the truth lies somewhere in between. Please always take the neutral and non-threatening stand to ensure the employee is able to discuss the situations as accurately as possible.

3.     Reinforce positive behaviors: Make the employee responsible for the solution. Clearly indicate the goals, timelines and play out scenarios. Listen to the thoughts and ideas of the employee and gently ‘nudge’ the employee towards healthy and positive behavior.

Remember : in many cases, the negative employee is looking for a resolution of his “issues” more desperately than the manager. The employee doesn’t usually find a place to vent out the frustrations and has lost trust in the organization to help him. Keep this thought in mind when addressing the situations and you will surely come out a with a win-win solution. E.g. task the employee with the goal of ensuring the manager (you) hear something positive about the behavior from the team in the next meeting (or next week / month etc.).

4.     Follow up: the first meeting is just the beginning. It is extremely important to ensure follow up meetings and discussions to monitor progress. This will help you in forcing the right behavior.

Remember: a small appreciation of the employee – just the right amount at the right time – will go a long way in ensuring the employee sticks with the recommended plan.

So far, we have looked at what the manager can do with the employee – planned meetings, direct feedback, positive re-inforcements and follow ups. At the same time, there are a LOT of things the managers can do by themselves to improve the overall situation. Below are the top few things that are needed for the team:

1.     Invest in Team building and positivity: ensure that the team understands that they are ‘together ensuring peak performance’ rather than competing with each other to prove themselves superior. Spend time in sponsoring programs and activities that make staff happy – games, team fitness programs, strategic outings and simply improving the ambience of workplace goes a long way in improving overall team behavior.

2.     Provide clear and crisp feedback: Many managers spend time complaining about the negative employees but do not spend as much time with the employee of what they need to do differently or how their current behavior is hurting the team.

3.     Documentation: I cant stress this enough. A lot of times we find managers whining about the negative employee who cannot go to the employee to discuss the issues because they do not have a list of the issues. Not documenting a known issue will make you ineffective as all the points raised in the meetings become debatable. The problem – when you dig deeper – is usually one of the two: (a) Misplaced hopefulness – hoping that the employee will improve (without external stimulus), OR, (b) Lethargy – some managers have all the data for their team’s performance, but there is no data on the improvement areas for the team.

4.     Consistency: If some behavior is NOT OK, ensure that you are not ‘Sometimes OK’ with it. It is imperative that you are consistent with your views, and set standards that you are willing to hold to. Being consistent is one of the top values that bring clarity to the minds of the team members.

5.     Set consequences: Ensure that the team understands the consequences in case of non-compliance. You must be able to share with the team member something like this: “The issues we discussed are <list of issues>. what you need to do to change is <List of action items> and once done, the new situation will look like this <overall improvements envisioned>, however, in case things don’t change, here is what will happen <substantial negative consequences e.g. Formal warning letter, passed over for promotion, get laid off etc.>” If the people do not understand the incentives and repercussions of the situation, why would they change at all?

6.     Understand and work through the organization’s processes and practices: Ensure that the employee (especially in very large organizations) is not able to take the manager hostage in all the policies, practices and code of conducts etc. Spend time (if not already) in understanding the HR repercussions that the behavior deserves. Ensure that you have ensured all reasonable efforts have been put in – especially before terminating the employee (if the situation so demands)

7.     DO NOT POISON THE WELL: this happens so frequently. Poor managers bad-mouth the employees to all they meet rather than address the situation. No matter what the situation. DO NOT TRASH TALK to other employees. This will create a perception of negativity being common (or worse – acceptable as a part of life) ! Please – Just Don’t Do It…

8.      Be Courageous: Do not pawn off the negative employee to another team. Do not make excuses and do not put it off waiting for someone else to do it. There have been many cases where the employees understand clearly that being negative will get you a different role (and in some cases) a better role. If you are not courageous enough, you will see negativity spread like wild fire in your own team.

Share your views on the points above. I am very interested in understanding what worked for you and what your personal experience has shown.

I am incredibly thankful to the sources that some of the above points have come from. A list of all the excellent sources is given below.

References

1.     Adair, J. (1983). Effective Leadership. London: Pan.Google Scholar

2.     Bailey, F. (1973). Debate and Compromise. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar

3.     Burnes, B. (1996). Managing Change: A Strategic Approach to Organisational Dynamics, second edn. London: Pitman Publishing.Google Scholar

4.     Baldwin, G. (1996). ‘First among peers: an essay on academic leadership’, HERDSA News 18: 6-9.Google Scholar

5.     Harries-Jenkins, G. (1970). ‘Professionals in organisations’, in Jackson, J. (ed.), Professions. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar

6.     Danielli, A. and Thomas, A.B. (1998). ‘Occupational identity and organisational change among university management teachers’. Paper presented to the international conference Higher education close up, University of Central Lancashire, 6-8 July 1998.

7.     Johnson, T. (1972). Professions and Power. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar

8.     Leigh, A. (1988). Effective Change: Twenty Ways to Make it Happen. London: Institute of Personnel Management.Google Scholar