Carrie Mason-Draffen - 151 Quick Ideas to Deal With Difficult People

When it comes to problem employees, your most powerful tool is a zero-tolerance policy. Establishing such a policyand adhering to itensures that you will address inappropriate behavior consistently and decisively.

Adhering to the policy is crucial. A major New York corporation noted its zero-tolerance policy in defending itself against a sexual-harassment lawsuit filed by a female employee. But the company didnt follow its own rules and a federal agency found in favor of the woman.

Your zero-tolerance policy should make it clear that the rules apply to everyone, from executives to janitors. Such a policy calls for you to give all accusations of inappropriate behavior a full airing, even if they are swirling around your star salesperson.

You should make sure everyone in the company knows your policy. Distribute copies and require employees to sign and return an enclosed sheet acknowledging receipt.

Peter Handal, president and chief executive officer of Dale Carnegie Training in Hauppauge, New York, said that because of their importance, zero-tolerance policies should be communicated in more than one media: in a manual, via e-mail, and in meetings. He recommends that you revisit the policy at least every six months.

Assignment

Produce a wallet-size version of your zero-tolerance policy. Distribute laminated copies to employees.

If you just talk about things like that once a year, theyre not as important to people, says Carnegie. It gets repetitive, but that is the way to learn the message.

Epilogue

A zero-tolerance policy is like a moral compass. If you ignore the direction to which its pointing, youll lose your way.

Kathy supervises the support staff at a medium-sized company. She sought my advice because she was at the end of her rope with a defiant secretary. The employee set her own hours. She routinely clocked in at 9:30 a.m., a half hour later than the office starting time. And she clocked out at 5:30 p.m., a half hour past quitting time.

To make matters worse, the woman often spent the last hour of her shift socializing. Kathy repeatedly directed her to clock out when she finished her work. But the employee ignored the requests and continued to schmooze until her personal quitting time. One day Kathy threatened to clock her out. But the employee shot back with, Thats illegal. And she was right.

Assignment

If you have trouble rooting out unproductive work habits in your office, resolve today to seek an experts help.

The situation deteriorated even more when other staff members began to follow the womans lead. Kathy wanted to fire her. But the company owner nixed that because her work was up to par. Kathy was losing the emotional tug of war.

Still, she wanted to reclaim control. So she reached out for help. I advised Kathy that since the secretary, who is paid hourly, is clearly lollygagging past the official quitting time, the company doesnt have to pay her for that time. After all, the company isnt forcing her to extend her hours. Her talk became cheap, even free for Kathy.

Kathy must keep detailed records to explain the discrepancy between the time clock and the womans pay, just in case the uncooperative secretary files a complaint with the Labor Department. But after all those skirmishes, Kathy might even find extra paperwork welcome relief indeed.

Epilogue

When problem employees re-interpret your office practices, its not your office anymore. Its theirs.

You dont have to run off to get a degree in psychology to learn how to deal with problem employees. But you should avail yourself of some knowledge.

In the past few years, several high-profile company executives who were tried on corruption charges claimed they were out of the loop when their subordinates committed malfeasance. Those I-had-no-clue executives proved in spectacular fashion how much an uninformed manager has on the line when it comes to problem employees.

They can ruin your business, drive away customers, and disrupt the office dynamic. If you feel at a total loss about tackling such problems, try a little knowledge. Take a seminar on resolving personnel conflicts, read a book, collect information online, or listen to a tape or CD.