Although it is nice to imagine that everyone you come into contact at work, especially those you lead, will have respect for you and the work they are doing, this is sometimes not the case. In fact, you may often come up against employees who are “difficult” in terms of the way they conduct themselves professionally.
This can make it extremely hard to lead them effectively – they may undermine you, fail to take their responsibilities particularly seriously or miss deadlines even when assured of their importance. However, they may be talented and therefore worth keeping hold of, even with all of their faults. In addition, firing them may sometimes be problematic for the company in legal or financial terms, meaning that they might have to be retained regardless of how frustrating it is to have them around.
Employees like this therefore have to be handled and led carefully in order to make the most of what they have to offer and minimise any disruption they might be party to. There are a number of ways in which this can be achieved, as long as managers conduct themselves with the utmost professionalism and clarity of communication.
Taking part in learning and development exercises in a professional sense has been proven to also affect personalities in a positive way. Encouraging a difficult employee to further themselves professionally may, then, bring about a change in their attitude that will make them easier to work with, especially if they are guided and helped by a dedicated coach or mentor, and turn them into a great asset for the organisation. In fact, Thales L&D state that: “Learning is the catalyst for all change and transformation. Whether it is for individuals or organisations, without learning you just maintain the status quo and do not have the opportunities to grow, expand and thrive.” With this in mind, a difficult employee should be given as many opportunities as possible to develop themselves for the benefit of everyone involved.
Directly ask the employee what the issue is. They may not have been expecting to be asked, and it may be something that you or the company as a whole can empathise and help out with. In addition, if they realise that someone is on their side and interested in their problem, a lot of the tension may be defused. Don’t be afraid to offer feedback about the things you’re not happy with in addition to the things you are happy with, and don’t wait for scheduled reviews to offer it. Sometimes the only way to snap someone out of a particular attitude is to be honest with them about it, and highlighting the things that they’re doing wrong may just be the way to improve their performance. People often don’t realise that their attitude or actions are causing problems for other people, because we often try to ignore it in the hope that it will get better, rather than confronting it. By all means, temper that criticism (and make sure it’s genuine criticism and not micromanagement that might be well received) with positives, but make sure you’re clear about what you expect and whether you’re currently seeing it.
There is merit in both assigning a problematic employee a task within their comfort zone, and a task which stretches their abilities. On one hand, you may not want to put them in a position where they are given too much responsibility, but then some employees respond well to being given a task which utilises their skills and occupies them. Assigning tasks that the employee thrives on and can complete to a high standard with the minimum of disruption will help the general atmosphere within the team and company.
If you do have to confront someone about their conduct, use it as a chance to work with them to come up with a plan so they can turn things around. Use the SMART system to ensure that the plan is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound, and schedule reviews to see how things are going. Above all, ensure that everything is written down and documented so that the facts are straight if the worst comes to the worst. Hopefully, though, the employee will be able to rectify things with the help and support of you and their colleagues.
