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Brilliant Steps to Turn Difficult Employees Into Great Employees · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Difficult employees are dangerous to manager authority, happiness and career prospects.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: You are unhappy, underperforming, negative, disruptive, lazy.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, any problematic employee has the potential to cause major problems in the team and badly damage team performance.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Dropping team performance is a key reason a lot of managers lose their jobs.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: When you know exactly what to do, have the confidence to take effective action and can win the support of your boss, you will never again worry about taking on a difficult employee or even a difficult or underperforming team.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I am sharing brilliant steps to turn difficult employees into great performers and do so in a way that is fair, reasonable and builds team trust.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is not theory.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: These are actual practical steps that I have learnt the hard way and have used very successfully turning the worst team in a business into one of the best multiple times in different companies.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've turned a lot of difficult employees into great employees.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I've won best team prizes and added millions extra in company profits through teams that were downtrodden and struggling 12 months before.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need special powers to use these steps, only good people skills that most managers already have.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Confronting poor behaviour or performance can be really difficult when you don't take the right preparation steps.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Take the right preparation steps and talking about the issues becomes pretty straightforward.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Team members don't take offense, they don't get upset or feel like they're being picked on.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Staff don't get defensive.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, take the right steps and team members are expecting you to speak to them and they welcome that chat.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for the fastest way to get rid of a person from your team, this training won't help you.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for the best way to turn difficult employees into great employees and in the process significantly improve the trust, motivation and performance of the whole team, this is for you.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: These steps are not about being nice, winning friends or making yourself feel good.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: They are absolutely about doing the best thing for your team overall and increasing team output as quickly as practical to help the business and you.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Turning difficult employees into great performers is not about taking a couple of actions here and there.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Take an unplanned piecemeal approach, as most managers discover, not much happens.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: To get real improvement, to make it very hard for difficult employees not to improve, a group of interdependent or linked actions is needed.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Using all the actions together in a framework creates the conditions for improvement.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, I know from personal experience that removing a difficult employee and replacing them is a lot more time consuming, expensive, painful, and delays improving team performance a lot longer than improving the team members you have.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Improving beats removing, hands down, in up to 85% of cases.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So let's cover the 8 interdependent actions to turn difficult employees into great performers.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: You need to do all of these actions, some in parallel, some sequentially, to get real improvement.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'll quickly run through the eight actions and then discuss some of the really important things to do well so you can get real measurable results from taking these actions.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: The eight interdependent actions to turn difficult employees into great employees are firstly set really clear expectations to create a fair, level and understood playing field.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, build good levels of trust throughout the team.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Third, understand the gap and why that gap exists.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, plan how to take the difficult employee from missing to beating expectations.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, gain your boss's unwavering support.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth, create high levels of incentives and accountability.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Seventh, provide feedback and mentoring to teach the difficult team member how to improve.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And eighth, know how to increase pressure to improve fairly step by step.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know it sounds like a lot.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be intimidated.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: You are probably doing a lot of this already.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Getting improvement is about dialing up what you are already doing to high levels.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is about removing barriers and creating big incentives for the individual to want to improve.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: The better you do all these steps, the more the individual will be falling over themselves to take advantage of this great opportunity for them to improve.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking this up.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is what taking all these steps well will achieve for up to 85% of your team members.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Up to 85% of the time, you will end up with a great team member without needing to replace them.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is brilliant for increasing team performance quickly and winning your boss's unshakable confidence in you.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: With my very first properly difficult employee, I was having meetings, giving feedback and asking him for improvement.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: He effectively laughed at me and the problems got worse.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I was very stressed, worried, and frustrated until I spoke to my boss.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: She was brilliant and coached me through exactly what to do.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was incredibly lucky to have such an amazing boss so early in my career.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I used each of the eight actions that I've just outlined to you.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: My problem employee went from being a massive pain to being no problem at all.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: The conversations went from ineffective, difficult and stressful to being just another task to do, no big deal, and I got great results quickly.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing exactly what to do gives you this transformation.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Next, I'll be explaining the necessity of creating a fair, level and understood playing field, an essential step to turn difficult employees into good employees.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new here, enhance.training provides resources, courses and coaching for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: To get more resources and help at each stage of the process to turn any difficult employee into a great employee, type enhance.training backslash 2F2 into your browser.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You have a ton of options available here, so do take a look.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Creating a fair, level and understood playing field to turn difficult employees into great employees.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Creating a fair playing field is ensuring all of your team members know exactly what is expected of them.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: You take this step with the whole team first by talking through what you want and following it up in writing.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking to the whole team communicates clearly that the expectations apply to everyone equally.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Being fair, reasonable and proportional with your expectations builds trust.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Explain why you want the team to meet these expectations.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: They should leave feeling my boss's expectations make sense and I am happy with them.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: You want the team to feel some ownership of the expectations.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Only after setting the expectations with the whole team should you then start speaking directly to the difficult employees.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them how and why they are falling short of expectations.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them what they need to do to meet expectations.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Be clear, direct and diplomatic.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: To be fair, objective and clear, you and every member of the team should be able to measure or know when they are beating or missing expectations.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: How performance against expectations will be measured is a key part of creating ownership and awareness of expectations.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Make where the line to beat expectations is as clear as possible to everyone.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Next, the psychological power your boss's support provides to turn difficult employees into great performers and why this is so important.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: If your boss doesn't know what is happening and what you are doing to address the problems with difficult employees, then it is just you against the difficult employee.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: This doesn't create much pressure because the difficult employee knows you can't fire them or take them into a disciplinary etc.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: on your own.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: When your boss knows exactly what the problems are and is giving you their full support, then it becomes a group of people against the difficult employee.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, with your boss's knowledge and support, the employee could be removed from their job.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Psychologically, this is quite different from you acting on your own.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Always get your boss's support when a few informal conversations don't start getting the improvement you need.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: For extra help to make getting support and permission a formality, even from very risk-averse bosses and HR teams, type enhance.training backslash 2F2 into your browser and select creating compelling business cases for formal action.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: This explains exactly what to do and gives you a ton of examples to quickly get the support you need.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Next, what to achieve with your corrective conversations when managing difficult employees.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: When you sit down with your difficult employee in private, I think you should be aiming to achieve five things from these conversations to create improvement.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: These are firstly find out why an individual is being a difficult employee.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Ask a lot of questions and listen.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: You need good levels of trust to get meaningful answers from them.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: There are six main barriers to getting improvement.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Find out which ones are present in this particular case.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, set or reset clear goals and targets for the individual to reach where they are missing the expectations that you have set for the whole team.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Third, create a roadmap or blueprint of the actions that they need to take to get from where they are now to where you need them to be.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: These should be practical and actionable.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Fourth, flag what is going to happen when they beat expectations and also mention what will happen if they don't.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is important to retain trust, create pressure to improve and be fair to them.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth, throughout your conversations, assess the employees' potential.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is their potential to meet and beat the expectations that you have outlined.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: If they're not willing to put in the effort to improve or they're not capable of meeting the expectations, then ultimately you will need to move them into a more suitable role or remove them from the team.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Your conversations should be a two-way street.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Listen at least as much as you talk.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: The more trust you have, the more you truly intend to try to help them, the more your difficult employee will open up and the more likely you'll get improvement that you need.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're really struggling to have that first conversation, or if you are not getting any improvement from your difficult conversations, type into your browser enhance.training backslash 2F2 and take a look at our first Corrective Conversations mini course.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: This breaks down everything that you need to know, so having the conversations will become no big deal for you or for them, plus you'll know how to make these conversations create change and improvement.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Actions speak a lot louder than words.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Following any conversation about improvement, you are looking for actions to demonstrate your difficult team member is trying to improve.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't get improvement, take this next step.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Another really important tool to get improvement from any difficult employee is to have a system of steps to ratchet up the pressure to improve.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: You also need to provide additional support to enable your difficult employee to improve.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: You have told your difficult employee what to expect of them and how they can improve, literally the steps they need to take.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: You now need your difficult employee to take those steps.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Human brains like patterns.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Patterns create habits, unconscious behavior, ways of thinking, etc., that make change harder.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: To learn and change, the brain needs to create new pathways, spend more energy, etc.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: For most people, changing and improving takes quite a bit of effort.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Putting in that effort needs to be more attractive than not putting in the effort for change, for actual change to happen.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: By increasing the pressure step by step, you are creating even greater incentives for the person to change and improve.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Start with informal conversations and feedback, then make them more formal, then move into performance improvement plans or pips, and finally start disciplinary procedures.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Each of these davidges becomes more serious and the individual is closer to losing their job.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Most people want and need to be employed, to have money coming in, to have something interesting to do, a role that gives them social status, etc.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Few people want to lose their job on somebody else's terms.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Alongside increasing the pressure, I always advise the manager to put in considerable effort to help and support the individual.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: By providing help and support, you reduce the barriers to getting improvement, which makes improvement more likely.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: You are also using social and group rules, you know like reciprocity, to increase pressure on them to improve in a very nice way.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: So create a clear plan of how you are going to increase pressure on this difficult employee to improve, stage by stage, and how you are going to increase support for the difficult employee so barriers are lower and improvement more likely.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is the combination of both that is so powerful and nearly always creates improvement.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, to get team performance improving quickly, in my experience you have to target any difficult employee, underperformers, etc., and get them to improve.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: To increase team performance, you need the bottom section of your team improving.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: This pushes up the performance of everyone else in the team, resulting in a much bigger improvement in team performance than just one person's contribution.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Improving is much easier, quicker, and less risky than removing and replacing as a strategy to improve team performance.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: To do this effectively, take all eight actions listed out together.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: All of them are needed to drive meaningful and significant improvement.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: To get a lot more help for you or managers in your team, type enhance.training backslash 2F2 into your browser and take a look at the webinars, resources, and courses to give managers the expertise and confidence to manage any difficult employee and transform them into great performers quickly.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on brilliant steps to turn difficult employees into great performers, please email me at support at enhance.