Archive for the ‘Managing Difficult Employees’ Category
Can Employees Be Given Too Much Autonomy?
Short Article #44
Q. DEAR MARK: I understand the need and benefit of work-independence, but can an employee have too much independence? What are some of the signs? –Eric
A. DEAR ERIC: While it’s a very effective tool for motivating and retaining good employees, granting work independence (autonomy) can be too-much of a good thing. Besides, the best approach for further empowering employees may have little to do with more autonomy.
There are three signs to look for before concluding that more job independence is definitely needed in your workplace:
No. 1, is your employee overwhelmed? Are they missing deadlines frequently? Has their morale or attitude grown more negative recently? Do they appear more stressed, tense or short on patience than normal? If so, then visit with your employee and find out what’s going on. Even the most dedicated employee can only take being ‘overwhelmed’ for so long.
Granting more autonomy can help in this situation, but only if you do two things: allow your employee to delegate appropriate amounts of their workload to others, and secondly, if you make expressly clear the overall goals and priorities which will impact the employee’s work going forward.
Employee Disengagement or Low Morale?
Short article # 28
Is there a difference in disengagement and low morale? Perhaps, as author Terry Kabachnick asserts in her book, I Quit But Forgot To Tell You.
Low morale is not disengagement. Low morale occurs when an employee gets frustrated with the work load, the work environment or their supervisor. Disengagement occurs when an employee ceases to care, ie. Their heart’s just not in it anymore…!
How bad is disengagement? A Gallup poll a few years ago revealed that 74% of American workers admit to being disengaged, this costs U.S. organizations $350 billion annually in lost productivity.
What are some of the signs of disengagement?
Stop Negativity Before It Spreads
Chronic negativity generally involves just one or two individuals but affects everyone on the team. Negativity is caustic. Negativity metastasizes. Negativity creates a dark cloud.
People who regularly complain, gripe, nay say and criticize, are chronic negativists. And chronic negativists are still liabilities even if they exceed performance requirements.
You can’t change the attitude of a chronic negativist they must do that for themselves. But, there are a few ways to manage them effectively:
Difficult Employees Are Like Moles
Have you ever played the arcade game that gives you a mallet and the goal is to punch down the mole when he raises up from one of a dozen places, then quickly retreats? I have, but I’ve never been any good at it! The mole is fast and unpredictable, I’m slow and linear.
Dealing with a difficult employee can be like that game. Why? Because they’re the ones who stir up conflict with teammates, consistently arrive late or leave early, constantly text on their phone, make endless excuses for missing deadlines or poor work. Just when you think you’ve got them straightened out, another problem (mole) surfaces which you must address (punch down).
