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5 Steps to Manage Difficult Employees · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Managing difficult employees is hard work as a manager.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I explained five steps you should take to make managing difficult employees a lot easier and fairer for all concerned.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: I've tried and tested this approach in over 25 years of team management and it works.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and I've led and managed teams for over 25 years in corporates and household names through to SMEs.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I've won best team prizes in national magazines and at company level.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides online business courses to help professionals, managers and business owners improve their performance.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if you like this podcast, please share it with friends and colleagues and visit us at enhanced.training.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get back to managing difficult employees.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Dealing with poor attitudes, disruptive behaviour, or poor quality work is emotionally and energy draining.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Even worse is when you have an employee that performs work really well, yet is a nightmare to manage or is disruptive to other team members.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: The worst thing you can do as a manager is do nothing.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: As hard as it might be to manage the difficult employee, you must deal with them in such a way that the problematic issues stop.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: I learnt the hard way early on that practic procrastination is the worst possible option.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you know you have to take action.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: The next question is what will you do?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I set out five steps that will make the action you take effective and fair.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Before taking you through the steps, let me explain quickly why being fair is so important.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: A person has been making your life difficult.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why be fair to them when they've not been fair to you?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Every member of the team will know that a person's being difficult.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: They have to work with them too after all.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: That other team members are looking to you to make everyone's life easier.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And they're watching how you do this.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're heavy-handed, a bully or unfair to that person, they'll be wondering am I next?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that won't help your relationships with them, nor with the team morale or culture, and nor will it help the performance of the team.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: To keep the rest of the team engaged and motivated, you must deal with that difficult person fairly.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is important.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And being fair will take extra effort on your part, but what you get back makes it very worthwhile.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So be fair.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the first step, which is to find out why the employee is being difficult.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So step one, find out why the employee is being difficult.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you know what the problem is, then reaching a solution is an awful lot easier.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: There are lots of reasons why employees are difficult.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Do your best to find out what they are and why they're behaving as they do.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: This will make how you manage the difficult employee that much easier.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: So ask the individual or ask other team members and listen to what you're being told.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the reasons might include, you know, firstly, they might be struggling and need help but are too afraid to ask, or they don't know how to ask.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Or they may not like you or other team members on a personal level and this is impacting their work.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or they are not clear on what is expected of them.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe they don't feel valued or appreciated particularly.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Or they may be out of their depth, you know, the demands of the job are above what they can deliver against, and they don't have the will or the capability to bridge that learning gap.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or they might just have a poor attitude, or they might need attention, or have other personal challenges.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: Each of the above problems has to be dealt with.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Some are easy and some are hard.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: In my experience of dealing with many difficult employees, their performance or difficultness can be turned around fairly quickly in most but not all cases.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: It is often in your interests and the business's interests to improve the performance of the employee rather than replace that employee where this is possible and sustainable.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: After all, recruiting and training a new person is disruptive, time consuming, and expensive.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, it can be a lot more expensive to keep an employee that is disruptive or performing poorly and will not or cannot improve.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: We will discuss what actions to take in step five.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So step two, set expectations clearly when you're managing a difficult employee.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is so important to set expectations, and yet many managers don't do this effectively or clearly.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: The British style or culture is traditionally not one of straight talking or telling it how it is.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're usually very polite and nice, talking around the subject rather than getting to the heart of the matter.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: If an employee does not know what is expected of them, how can they meet those expectations?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So the first step in managing a difficult employee is being really clear as to what you expect of them.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: The best thing to do is write down your expectations.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: This will get them really clear in your own mind first, and then set milestones and goals against each of those expectations.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: A key thing to answer is how will you know and how will the individual know when a goal or behaviour has been met?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is really important.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: If this is not clear, then keep going back to the drawing board until it is.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: A good exercise is to formulate and agree the milestones and goals with the person themselves.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: This makes the goals joint goals rather than just your goals imposed upon them.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: They are much more likely to own them.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it is obviously absolutely fine to go back and forth between the two parties until both parties are happy with the goals.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Set and agree the goals before doing anything else.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Put them in writing and then share this document with the employee.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then you've got a reference point.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Step three, mentor or coach the employee.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Next, the most important thing is to support the individual and help them meet the goals you've set with regular or weekly one-to-one meetings.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Use these meetings to mentor or coach the individual on how they can and are going to improve the difficult aspects of their performance.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Tasks and technical knowledge are usually a lot easier to improve than the behavioural aspects in most cases.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Share your experiences and approaches with the individual.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Teach them.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not the experts on the particular area, then find somebody who is who can help them.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: By mentoring or coaching the individual, you're going to find out very quickly what their capability is and what their willingness is to improve.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you're going to be doing this while genuinely trying to help them.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: If they are willing, you have a lot that you can work with.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if they're not willing, then you might not get past go.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Another point is just take a look at yourself too and ask yourself, are you genuinely trying to help them or are you just going through the motions?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: The employee will work out which very, very quickly.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And after all, if you're not willing, then how can you expect them to be willing?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Step four, give honest feedback.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Feedback is incredibly important to improve performance.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Serious athletes get coaches to get lots of feedback so they can improve.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: In the business world, we're not as lucky.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Useful feedback is harder to get yet remains every bit as valuable.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Give feedback to the individual so they know what they are doing well and what they should still improve.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: And giving praise is powerful and it's not done enough in the business world, so make sure you take the time to praise what is going well.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: When giving feedback for areas that need improvement, help the individual to understand what good looks like and the steps they can take to get them there.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: At least once per month you should review the milestones and goals set out in your written document with the employee.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Agree which areas are meeting standards and which are not.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: This ensures no surprises for the employee and makes the process fair to the employee.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Step five.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Take action.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Each of the above four steps in finding out the problem, setting expectations, mentoring or coaching, and providing feedback are actions in themselves.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: But what happens next?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: We will consider three scenarios covering a range of likely possibilities.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: There are of course many scenarios in between, and so adapt according to the situation and the individual.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So the first scenario we're going to talk about is that the individual improves.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: In this scenario, the most important thing is to ensure that the improved level of performance or behaviour continues consistently going forward.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: A great way of doing this is to continue having one-to-one meetings focused on your coaching and mentoring the individual to make sure they continue to improve.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: As a side note, just remember, as a team you will get better results by developing, mentoring and coaching the star performers rather than the weaker members, i.e., as a team you're playing to your strengths.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: The overall team performance is likely to benefit from a sustained mentoring or coaching approach to all team members.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Just remember to apportion your time for the best results for the team, which will probably mean a little bit more time with the star performance and a little bit less time with the weaker members.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Scenario 2.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: The individual has the will, they're trying, but they're struggling to meet expectations.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: The individual is willing and has put in a lot of effort to improve their skills or approach, yet their overall performance is not improving, or it's not improving very fast.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: You are concerned about the capability of the person to do the job.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: In this situation you need to decide if you're happy with this person in the role or if the person will be better off in another role.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you decide or you together you decide that another role is the better option for both parties, then help the individual with the internal move if that's an option, or if need be an external move.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: If the individual does not have the capability, then it's important that you recognise this and take action to support them into a role they are more capable of doing.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: The last scenario, scenario three, is where an individual is not willing to learn or change.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: For whatever reason, you have worked hard to help the individual, but they have chosen not to rise to the occasion, then it is likely that both parties will be better off parting ways.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever you decide the most appropriate route is, make sure that the individual has moved on from your team and probably from the company.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Unwilling staff members will not help the team overall.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Achieve its goals and that person is likely to be happier elsewhere as well.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do not procrastinate on taking fair and sensible action.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be in the best place to judge what action should be taken.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Looking after all the team members, particularly those delivering and contributing to the team overall, is really important.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: You owe it to them to deal with difficult employees.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, dealing with and managing difficult employees is hard and fairly unpleasant, yet it's vitally important for the teams and your happiness and overall performance.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: The worst thing to do is to do nothing.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Doing nothing does not help anybody.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Take action in a fair and supportive way to give the difficult employee the best chance to meet your expectations.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: In many cases, this is likely to happen if you do your job well.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: When a difficult employee does not or will not change or meet your standards, then you need to take action for the sake of the team and the company and the individual concerned.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Don't put this off even though it's hard.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hope these five steps give you a great way to manage difficult employees more easily in the future.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do visit us at enhanced.training and take a look at the courses and resources to help you manage your team.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you like this podcast, please share it with friends and colleagues and visit us at enhance.training.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening and I look forward to speaking to you soon.