13 Ways to Manage Difficult Employees
Your judgment may be influenced by a dislike for a particular employee’s personal approach. Take a step back and drive toward an impartial, business-minded evaluation of performance.
To further develop a fair assessment, ask team members to lend input without leading their responses.
Set specific objectives in writing so the difficult employee can’t say “but I thought you meant …” in the future.
Sometimes, a struggling staffer improves more through peer pressure. So encourage your top team members to give an authoritative “push” when appropriate.
Schedule feedback sessions more frequently for these workers, perhaps even once a week.
No professional benefits from a non-stop brow-beating. To begin a session, finding something nice to say before discussing any issues.
It also helps to begin a one-on-one by asking, “How do you think you’ve been doing?” That way, you get a sense of whether you’re on the same page or if your expectations need to be further clarified.
It’s not “I need you to do better …” It’s “We need to work on these improvement points together for the good of our team.”
Helping a problematic employee doesn’t mean you lower the bar. Make it clear that long-term success will depend upon reaching needed but doable performance measures.
By getting angry or upset, you’ll only position yourself as someone to be avoided. Stay calm.
Don’t let a job well done on the part of struggling staffers go unnoticed. You’ll spread good karma, while sending a message about the quality of performance you expect.
Maybe you placed a hire in the wrong position for his or her skillset and interests. Before terminating anyone, consider whether there’s another role that may be a better fit.
Make sure you’ve already covered the traditional “three strike” steps: A verbal warning, followed by a written one, and then a “final” written one.