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Problem Employee? – Attack the Behavior Not the Person

Written by: Roger Ingbretsen

Article Overview: Dealing with a bad attitude can only realistically be accomplished by dealing with a person’s behavior. They have no doubt already been told about their bad attitude, so if you start the conversation with “I need to talk to you about your attitude,” they already have tuned you out. Concentrate instead on the “specific behaviors” you have observed, which come across to you and others as an attitude problem.

Problem Employee? – Attack the Behavior Not the Person

As a leadership coach one of the constant irritants cited by my clients is that of the “problem employee.” If an employee with a “bad attitude” is sending your blood pressure into the unsafe zone, apply the following techniques.

First and foremost, understand that trying to fix the attitude will do no good. Virtually all of my research points to the fact that the 80/20 rule is played out in most “fix it” rehabilitation programs of any kind. Eighty percent will end up back in jail, back on drugs or back to continuing bad habits, which are detrimental to an individual’s personal well-being or success. Twenty percent will change and most often the change is as a result of a life changing event of some kind. With regard to attitude, research shows that a person's core attitudes are pretty well fixed by the time she or he is 3 years old.

Dealing with a bad attitude can only realistically be accomplished by dealing with a person’s behavior. They have no doubt already been told about their bad attitude, so if you start the conversation with “I need to talk to you about your attitude,” they already have tuned you out. Concentrate instead on the “specific behaviors” you have observed, which come across to you and others as an attitude problem.

Get very specific and deal with one, or no more than two, behavioral problems at one time. Is the person spending too much time socializing? Does the person constantly talk about others? Does the person leave a mess for others to clean up? Does the individual use vulgar or crude language? Does the person not own-up to their mistakes or poor quality work? Is the person rude or inconsiderate? Does the individual not join in as a team player? Is the person constantly late for appointments or meetings, do they take longer breaks than others or generally goofs-off on the job? All of these behaviors are different, but all of them are commonly marked with the “attitude problem label.”

A very effective process to use with your bad attitude individual is to start with a short discussion with them on a Friday afternoon. Cite the “specific behavioral problem” you have observed. Keep it short and to the point. Tell them to think about the problem over the weekend and come back to you on Monday morning and show you “in writing” what “they will do to correct the behavior so it will no longer ever be a problem again.” Many individuals given the chance will try to put the monkey on someone else’s back. They will get into the denial or victim mode. Don’t even let the discussion go there. Key the discussion to no more than 4 -5 minutes in length. You need to lay the monkey squarely in their lap. The behavior is theirs to correct.

Often, just finding out that others are aware of their bad behavior is enough to get the person to decide to change. If they do not want to take on the responsibility to change their behavior, it should be made clear that this may not be the right job fit for them. It is their decision to make.

As leader of people, you need to deal quickly and decisively with your problem employees. The rest of your good employees expect you to. If you don’t, they will not respect you and eventually not give you or the organization, the support it needs to be successful. Remember; do not spend time trying to fix your problem employees. Attack the problem not the person. Point out what they need to do to remain a part of your team. Spend as little time as possible with your employees who have a bad attitude.

Special Note: Do spend most your time with your good employees and… constantly in a genuine way, let them know how important they are to the success of the organization.

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Article Tags: 3 years, appointments, attitude problem, attitude research, bad attitude, bad habits, blood pressure, core attitudes, crude language, drugs, irritants, job, leadership coach, no doubt, poor quality, quality work, regard, rehabilitation programs, team player



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