How to manage difficult people

10 Management Tips for Dealing with Difficult Employees

Dealing with people, difficult or not, is a subject that never gets old. It is a field that experts in communication could discuss nonstop. Though these talks are interesting, they usually end up with nothing but unlimited hypotheses and nothing concrete. And what is a tired entrepreneur who is experiencing troubles with their stuff looking for?

Who are difficult people?

“Difficult people” is a way too abstract term. We use it to refer to “someone who doesn’t share our views” as well as “someone who is mentally unstable”. Ordinarily, our employees are perfectly mentally stable and shouldn’t necessarily share our views. So what makes them difficult? Usually, it’s their attitude towards work, colleagues and/or their weak performance.

The “Dealing with difficult people” term has many meanings, too. It varies from “avoiding them” to “making them do what you want”. When we talk about difficult employees, we normally mean people who we value or who we truly want to help, so the mentioned meanings don’t work here.

Thus, if a CEO or a manager is looking for tips on dealing with difficult employees, they aim to make the employee do their best, professionally and socially.

Got an employee who is wreaking havoc on your work process? Let’s see how you can deal with this situation.

Here is the list of 10 practical tips to help you deal with difficult employees and effectively organize your team for greater team management.

1. Do your research

When dealing with a difficult employee, be reasonable. Do not jump to conclusions. If you noticed the signs of inadequate behavior, try to understand what provoked it in the first place.

There is no worse thing in professional communication as prejudice. Do your research. Check if the difficult employee recently took some days off, observe if something changed in their habits. For example, they started coming home later. Or they don’t have lunch with colleagues as usual.

What could possibly happen? Is it stress? Maybe some unusual family circumstances? Lack of appreciation?

Make sure nothing challenging is happening in your employee’s private life. Otherwise, you’ll make their complicated period in life even harder and just aggravate the difficult situation.

2. Give a clear message

Start with the simplest – talk. We tend to think what’s obvious to us is obvious to others, too. It’s a delusion. Have a private, candid talk with the employee that is hard to deal with.

3. Document the things you said

Talk and then repeat everything by email or a message in a corporate chat. There are a few reasons you have to do it.

First, your difficult employee could be a visual type of person; they can miss what was said but would catch every word written. Second, documented discussions will help you prove your point if the situation will last longer as you expected.

GanttPRO is online Gantt chart software that helps collect every team member and all the information in one place with the quickest access to documents.

4. Get involved

This could be a challenge but do get involved. Sure, you have a lot of responsibilities and taking care of your employees’ feelings might not be one of them. You have a whole HR department to worry about it, right? When everyone in your team has great soft skills, this system works. But when there is a difficult employee in it – it cracks.

According to a survey conducted by a nonprofit group called Mental Health America and the Faas Foundation, 44 percent of employees believe that they are always or often overlooked. This could be a reason for difficult behavior!

No need to become friends. To start, get involved in your employee’s office life. Have lunch with them. Ask if they feel comfortable at work, if they need something. Hear them out and show that you care. Employees who feel their voice is heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to perform their best work.

Also, tell something about yourself – it helps, too!

5. Build trust

Show your employees they can trust you. Always keep your promises. Ask why they didn’t meet the deadline before judging them. Do not gossip about someone with other employees. Be professional, but supportive. Be a boss you always wanted to have.

6. Offer help

If the situation doesn’t change, the difficult employee keeps performing weak or communicates toxically, make an offer. Cut current responsibilities off; offer a different position, etc. Make the changes on a temporary basis and wait for the outcome.

Also, you can offer them attend a professional employee training, a team-building party, or maybe create a new lunch tradition, like playing kicker on Thursdays or any other team-building games, etc.

Sometimes difficult employees don’t know why they are this way. Voice your concerns in a kind manner and help them understand what’s wrong. Because if it works, you’ll both win.

7. Follow up

Global studies reveal that 79 percent of people who quit their jobs cite “lack of appreciation” as their reason for leaving. So, track the progress.

How to Deal with Difficult People: 10 Expert Techniques

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Doesn’t it seem like we deal with difficult people in almost all phases of our lives?

I’ve often had to deal with difficult people at work throughout my career. Sometimes it’s been my supervisor, other times it’s been my fellow associates and even other times, it’s people in other departments.

Then there are our families. I know it’s not just my family that can be extremely difficult to deal with. I’ve heard enough stories from friends to know that a lot of people’s families drive them to the brink from time to time.

And don’t even get me started on dealing with the multitudes of people we have to deal with at companies we interact with. Be it the cell phone company or the person that was supposed to fix my roof last year. I had to follow up every week for almost 4 months before they finally came and fixed something that should have been done in the first place.

Why was that so difficult?

There’s probably not an easy answer for why some people are difficult to deal with. The reasons are as varied as the people are. We are all different and sometimes, it’s shocking that we get along as well as we do.

Instead of analyzing why some people can be so difficult, let’s focus on what we can control — our reactions. Let’s look at 10 expert techniques to deal with difficult people.

1. Use Lots of Kindness

Look, I get it. When dealing with difficult people, the gut reaction is to be difficult right back. When it feels like someone is attacking you, your first thought is to defend yourself. I’ve been there and still get caught up in that when I don’t slow down and take a pause.

What I have found in almost every difficult situation is kindness goes a lot further than being difficult. When two people are being difficult with each other, the situation tends to escalate to a point where nothing will get accomplished.

On the other hand, when you use lots of kindness with a difficult person many times, it diffuses the situation and you get more of what you want. This is one of the top techniques for dealing with difficult people.

2. Be Compassionate

Ever heard that saying about dealing with your own problems? That if you and a bunch of people shoved all your problems into a circle that you’d most likely take your own back once you saw everyone else’s? I love that.

The point is none of us really know what other people are going through. When dealing with a difficult person, it could be they are going through a very tough ordeal, or dealing with a really big problem you wouldn’t want any part of.

Many times when you show compassion to a person who is being difficult, you’ll find they respond in a positive manner. So many of us get stuck in our own heads and in our own lives that we don’t open our eyes to when others could use some kindness. Give it a try the next time you think about it.

3. Find Something in Common

Ever noticed how when you’re talking to someone for the first time, finding something in common creates a strong initial connection? We all love to feel like part of a group, like we belong. This is a great expert technique to deal with difficult people and one you should keep top of mind.

It’s always nice to find out we went to the same university as someone, it creates a kind of kinship. My daughters are both teenagers now but I used to feel a parental bond with someone when I found out my daughters went to the same school as their kids.

When we can find something in common with a difficult person, it can help make for a smoother conversation afterwards.

4. Stay Calm

Have you ever received an email from someone at work that immediately had you seeing red? This has happened to me on more occasions than I care to remember.

Working with a difficult person on a project can be infuriating. At my less rational moments, I’ve received an email from a difficult person whose only purpose seems to be making things harder and more confusing. When I haven’t paused before responding what usually happens is, I fire off an email that will only serve to make things worse.

Typically, if I can find the patience to stay calm and wait a while before responding, the results are much better. The ability to stay calm when dealing with a difficult person will help you greatly.

5. Share Your Side

Sometimes, being able to articulate to a difficult person where you are coming from will make a big difference.

For instance, if you’ve been running into brick wall after brick wall and the difficult person is your last avenue for resolution, sometimes that makes a difference.

Some people get caught in a standard script of how to deal in certain situations or when someone asks a certain question. If you can provide some context around your specific situation, sometimes that makes a huge difference.

You could let them know you’ve trying to solve your problem for months and you’ve tried X,Y, and Z but can’t get anywhere. Sometimes this is all it takes to open the empathy gates to some extent and get some help. Give it a shot.

6. Treat with Respect

I don’t know a single person who likes to be treated like they are stupid or incompetent. When dealing with a difficult person, always remember to treat them with respect. Once you start attacking someone and acting like they are stupid you might as well be slamming the door shut to get anything done.

Treating someone disrespectfully will almost always make things worse and at a bare minimum make the other person not want to do anything to assist you. It’s the same as remembering the golden rule “treat others as you would like to be treated”. Our mothers are almost always right.

7. Ignore Them

I’m a huge proponent of not interacting with negative people in my life. Why should I? All they seem to do is provide negative input and I don’t need any of that.

By the same token, sometimes the best course of action with a difficult person is to ignore or avoid them. This of course will depend if you can ignore them.

For instance if this is a fellow co-worker that you don’t have to work with much, it may be best to simply ignore them if you can.

Same thing with neighbors or certain people at stores or even potentially customers. Sometimes difficult customers are simply not worth dealing with. Their needs could be better served elsewhere and it’s not always a bad idea to let them know they could probably find someone else who could assist them in the way they are wanting.

8. Control What You Can

Many things in life we can control and many things we can’t. It’s always best to focus on what we can control.

When dealing with a difficult person, think about what you are able to control. Maybe there’s someone else you can deal with instead of the difficult person. They may be simply the first step in the chain.

Recently, I was attempting to work with the marketing department on a new initiative I was putting together. I was told to contact a certain person for help because that’s what had always been done. When I contacted the person, I never got a response. I sent multiple emails and left several voicemails and never heard back from this person. After getting extremely frustrated from never hearing back, I simply started asking other people in marketing.

Lo and behold, I found several people that were willing to help me with my project and with a smile. I basically worked my way around the difficult person. Control what you can.

9. Look at Yourself

Another one of the 10 expert techniques to deal with difficult people is to take a look at yourself. As in turn your focus inward. Is there something that you are doing that is making dealing with someone harder than it needs to be?

For instance in general, I am in a pretty good mood. I interact with people all day just about everyday and overall, it goes fairly smoothly.

Sometimes, I’ve got a lot of my mind and am trying to solve a problem of some sort inside my head, even when talking to other people. It has been pointed out to me that I can come across as short, abrupt, and condescending when I am spending a lot of time inside my own head and also interacting with others.

So in this instance, my short condescending responses can make an already agitated person even more upset. Basically the way I respond is adding fuel to the fire.

Take a look at how you are interacting with difficult people to ensure you aren’t making it worse.

10. Overcome Your Fear of Conflict

One of the best techniques for dealing with difficult people is overcoming your fear of conflict. Many people are afraid of conflicts and this can lead to having difficult people walk all over them.

Dealing with a difficult person is challenging enough but if you don’t stand up for yourself and establish boundaries, it’s even worse. Just about everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Don’t allow yourself to be treated poorly by a difficult person.

I’m not advocating intentionally starting conflict. What I am advocating is not fearing conflict in the event a difficult person is treating you poorly. Too many people allow others to have control over them by not standing up for themselves when needed.

Conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. In many instances, it’s good because it can allow a resolution to come to fruition: How to Turn Any Conflicts into Opportunities

The Bottom Line

Difficult people are all around us in every aspect of our lives. I’ve certainly worked with many difficult people over the years as well as in everyday interactions with people in a wide variety of settings. I’m hopeful these 10 expert techniques to deal with difficult people will help you the next time the situation arises.

Communication with other people is such a huge key to living our lives. It’s well worth learning some techniques to deal with difficult people to help us all live happier lives.

How To Handle Difficult People At Work?

How does it feel working alongside somebody who you’d rather avoid? Don’t you sometimes get crazy at work because of the action and attitude of your coworker?

Well, let’s be honest. In every organization, we encounter a fair share of difficult people. And we all find it challenging to deal with difficult people at work. But that skill is worth rewarding.

Difficult people at work comes in different forms. Like, say, some keeping talking but is never ready to listen. Some others are terrible criticizers and dishonest to their own responsibilities. Again, there are bullies, negativity spreaders, demanding bosses, gossipmongers, and terrible team players with uncompromising employee habits. Other than these, some common behaviors of difficult people at work include-

Trust me; if you let these people and their issues go unaddressed, your work-life gets worse. How? Read on.

Why You Must Deal With Difficult People At Workplace

Once you realize that you are facing difficulty from a coworker, you generally tend to ignore them. As days pass, you try to console yourselves that relationships get better with time. Sooner or later, the day will come when you will feel miserable going to your workplace. You will feel angry; you will feel pained. All your efforts to not address your difficulties will seem unjustified.

Rather than endure such problems, it’s easier to communicate frankly with the other person and discuss your dilemmas Thus, choosing to live long-term with a difficult situation isn’t a choice. If you are convinced, here are some best ways to help you deal with difficult people at work.

Seven Ways To Handle Difficult People At Work

1. Stop over-reacting and ask yourself.

Always begin with self-examination to assess it’s the difficult person’s activities that are troubling you. Make sure that you are not over-reacting. Ask yourself if you always experience difficulty while dealing with similar people. Do you know if your trouble is short or long-termed? Do you know how to deal with the same for a quicker resolution?

2. Don’t react, if you know that works.

People always try to get a reaction out of you. If you react, they get the chance to repeat themselves. So the next time a coworker says something provocative, try not to react that soon. You can either ignore them or respond in a way that would depict that you are not concerned about their comments. It would put the conversation to rest.

3. Let the difficult person know how you feel.

If you see that, without reactions, things get bitter, let them know how you feel. Be smart and clearly walk up to your coworker or boss and inform them that you do not like how they are treating you.

Try not to burst into your office, asking for answers. Instead, you can do it in a private mode of conversation. Attempt your best not to explode while you are conversing with them. Disclose to them precisely what they are doing and how it is causing you to feel.

It is also important to be pleasing and agreeable as you talk with the other individual. They may not know about the effect of their words or activities on you and accept their mistake. Again, some people might deny it or attempt to clarify your concerns. To keep it balanced, you must try to reach an agreement about positive and supportive actions going forward.

4. Follow up.

Do you see any signs of improvement on the other side? Or you see it getting worse? Decide if a subsequent follow-up conversation is required. Decide if it will have any effect on your image?

Choose if you need to keep on going up against the troublesome individual without anyone’s help. Decide if you still want to confront the annoying individual all alone by yourself. Try to know if other colleagues are in your support or not.

If you find that you still want to make peace, hold another discussion. If not, move on to the next idea of involving your manager.

5. Talk with your manager/boss.

It may sound like a radical move to take, but often a message from those further up the chain is what they need to reform their ways. Note that, to have a difficult conversation with your boss, you need to prepare accordingly. You should be careful with your approach, and predetermine what works with your boss.

Be sure that you are calm when communicating to explain what is troubling you, how it impacts your job, and how you wish it to be addressed. Take notes with you, if required.

It can be a good practice to record your colleague’s disrespectful behavior, which you can provide as proof when you speak to your manager. You can talk to the other employees who might have an issue with the difficult person-carefully. It is because group approaches often persuade the manager that the behavior’s effect is broader and deeper.

6. Don’t take it personally.

At the point when somebody is continuously discourteous and rude to us, we can start to think about it literally and feel like we have accomplished something incorrectly. It might be there is something in particular about you that the individual doesn’t care for.

Such employee behaviors may be originating from that individual’s thoughts and beliefs; however, that doesn’t mean you have done something wrong. Keeping this in mind will help you to confront the person, confidently.

If all these approaches fail, you can try to limit your access to a difficult person. Also, if possible, you can request to get transferred to a different department within the organization. If you do that, you may never have to deal with the rough coworker again. And then there is the most drastic move that we usually reserve for extreme times- quitting the job.

7. Find a new job.

Sometimes, irrespective of how hard we seek to fix a problem, a person can never alter his or her way. But their behavior should not come in the way of your happiness and success. You have to know whether the positive qualities in your present circumstance outweigh your troubles or vice versa.

It will be best to move on and start looking for other opportunities if it doesn’t seem to be changing. Even though leaving your recognizable work environment may be upsetting, when you sink into another condition away from that negative conduct, you’re sure to feel much better.

How to Deal With Difficult People

Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Amy Morin, LCSW, is the Editor-in-Chief of Verywell Mind. She’s also a psychotherapist, the author of the bestselling book «13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do,» and the host of The Verywell Mind Podcast.

Mixmike / Getty Images

Dealing with chronically «difficult» people and maintaining ongoing negative relationships can take a toll your health. This type of chronic stress can affect you both emotionally and physically. Because of this, it’s a good idea whenever possible to diminish or eliminate relationships that are filled with conflict.

What do you do if the person in question is a family member, co-worker, or someone you otherwise can’t easily eliminate from your life? Sometimes you just have to deal with negative people, but knowing how to do so effectively can help keep stress at bay.

This article discusses how to deal with difficult people who are in your life, for better or for worse. It also covers how to create healthier patterns and get help if you need it.

Keep Conversations Neutral

Avoid discussing divisive and personal issues, like religion and politics, or other issues that tend to cause conflict. If the other person tries to engage you in discussion that will probably become an argument, change the subject or leave the room.

Focus on being respectful and kind, even if you don’t agree with them. Rather than arguing, try to model the behavior that you would like to see in order to avoid escalation.

This strategy can often be effective when it comes to coworkers, friends, customers, or extended family members. This strategy is less effective for the people closest to you, such as your immediate or close family.

Family therapy may be helpful for improving the family dynamic. This can improve communication, reduce conflict between family members, and may help the difficult person improve their behavior.

Accept the Reality of Who They Are

In dealing with difficult people, don’t try to change the other person; you will only get into a power struggle, cause defensiveness, invite criticism, or otherwise make things worse. It also makes you a more difficult person to deal with.

Seeing the best in someone is important; however, don’t pretend the other person’s negative traits don’t exist. Don’t tell your secrets to someone who gossips, rely on someone unreliable, or look for affection from someone who cannot give it. This is part of accepting them for who they are.

Try not to place blame on yourself or the other person for the negative interactions. It may merely be a case of your two personalities fitting poorly.

Determine the Difficult Person’s Need

While it is important to accept the person for who they are, that does not mean that you can’t make an effort to understand their underlying problem. You might say something like «tell me more» to learn more about the issue and help them feel understood.

If you are in a situation such as at work or a family gathering, try giving that individual a job or task. Not only can this keep them busy and help prevent conflicts, but it can also help that person feel like they are making a meaningful contribution.

Know What’s Under Your Control

Instead of stressing out about not being able to change the other person or leave the situation, it can be helpful to focus on the aspects of the situation that are under your control. You cannot control other people, but you can manage your response.

One strategy that can help is to work on building your frustration tolerance. Rather than feeling annoyed and distressed by the difficult person’s behavior, you’ll be better able to reframe how you think about the situation.

Stress management approaches can be one way to care for yourself and improve your coping ability. Take steps to ensure that you are getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, and getting support from other people in your life.

Change your response to the other person; this is all you have the power to change. For example, don’t feel you need to accept abusive behavior.

See the Best In People

Try to look for the positive aspects of others, especially when dealing with family, and focus on them. When someone is engaging in challenging behaviors, seeing their good qualities can be difficult. Developing your optimism and reframing skills can help.

The other person will feel more appreciated, and you will likely enjoy your time together more. This may also help them change their behavior for the better, or at least help make them easier to deal with in the short term.

You don’t have to be close to everyone. Merely being polite goes a long way toward creating harmony.

Create Healthier Patterns

Remember that most relationship difficulties result from a dynamic between two people rather than one person being unilaterally «bad.» The chances are good that you’re repeating the same patterns of interaction. Changing your response could get you out of this rut, and responding in a more effective way can improve your chances of a healthier pattern forming.

Healthy communication skills such as practicing active listening may help you better engage with a difficult person. Avoid saying «I understand,» which often comes off as inauthentic and patronizing. Instead, focus on phrases that might help defuse conflict, such as «I’m sorry,» «I hear you,» or «I’ll try to help.»

Be sure to cultivate other more positive relationships in your life to offset the negativity that these challenging relationships can bring.

Get Support Where You Can Find It

It is also essential to build healthy relationships with supportive people. When you are dealing with a difficult person, it can be helpful in the short term to have a trusted friend or loved one who is a good listener. Another practical way to process your feelings is through journaling.

In addition to relying on people who have proven trustworthy and supportive, you may also want to consider longer-term forms of support such as finding a mentor or talking to a therapist. This will help you and the other person by taking pressure off the relationship and removing a source of conflict.

A mentor may be helpful if you are struggling with conflict in the workplace. They can offer tips and support that can guide you through the challenges you will face in your career. A therapist can provide support and help you with strategies to relieve stress or reframing situations.

Set Limits

Use assertive communication to draw boundaries when the other person chooses to treat you in an unacceptable way. Boundaries are what you will and will not accept within the context of a relationship.

What Are Boundaries?

Boundaries are what you will and will not accept within the context of a relationship. They set the standard for how you will be treated and identify your personal bottom line. Establishing boundaries is essential to taking care of yourself and maintaining healthy relationships.

There are a few steps you can take to set boundaries with difficult people. Start by communicating your limits clearly and concisely. Be clear and direct. State what you will and will not accept in a calm and confident manner.

Know when it’s time to distance yourself and do so. If the other person can’t be around you without antagonizing you, minimizing contact may be key. If they’re continually abusive, it’s best to cut ties and let them know why. Explain what needs to happen if there ever is to be a relationship, and let it go.

Press Play for Advice On Setting Healthy Boundaries

Hosted by Editor-in-Chief and therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares how to set boundaries in a healthy way and the mistakes that are best to avoid when you begin to establish those boundaries. Click below to listen now.

How to Manage Difficult People in Your Team

One of the biggest problems new managers face is juggling team management with other responsibilities. According to an analysis by the Center for Creative Leadership, about 68% of new managers struggle with this problem.

In team management, managers mainly deal with difficult people and challenges involving underperformers, skills mismatch, slackers, and workplace conflicts.

Although workplace conflicts resulting in confrontations are quite common in most companies, not all managers are adequately trained in handling such problems. This is particularly true for the 60% of new managers who have claimed that they never received any form of training in transitioning into their first role as a leader.

Most managers opt to face confrontations by staying optimistic. However, in reality, the more you keep scaling, the more you keep growing, the more you are going to start facing more of these conflicts along with challenges in dealing with clients, partners, vendors, and so on.

That is largely the reason why most organizations out there are implementing strict employment protocols. The earlier you ward off potential employees, the easier it will be.

So, if you are a new manager or a new business leader and you are currently or constantly dealing with problematic employees or struggling over confrontations with difficult people, here are some tips to help you out.

1. Review Expectations

Here is a simple truth that most people often forget: a job is a job.

A job comes with tasks description, requirements, and expectations. Those expectations have to be met, which is why it is critical to lay these expectations down at the onset of employment so that the employees would do their part of the job.

If they want to be retained for a longer period of time or be up for promotion, they not only have to cover the very bare minimum for survival and staying employed, but they also have to put in something extra which can make them stand out.

Nevertheless, employees are expected to deliver the type of work that they are supposed to be doing. Review these expectations set during confrontations with the difficult people in your team.

2. Manage Velocity

Now for some, a job is a job; and for others, the job is a career.

If an employee treats his job as nothing more than a source of income, then you can expect that they only cover the bare necessities or the bare minimum of the job description just to stay employed. That is becoming a common problem as it implies a lack of motivation.

Some organizations in the US have started experimenting with different types of rules like firing the bottom 10% of their staff to get rid of the weakest link because “An army is only as powerful as its weakest soldier.”

It is pretty much the same thing in business. So managing velocity is important because velocity is the grouped type of value or progress that the organization, the department, and the team can deliver to the outside world.

And if we manage velocity through 1-10 scale, let’s say that we have a team of five people, four people with a velocity of eight which turns into one person with the velocity of four or a velocity of three. It basically means that your total velocity is around seven or so, or six and a half even simply because of one person who is under performing. While the other folks who were extremely laser focused and working hard and whatnot, the entire team’s velocity is brought down by this single individual that is barely working at all.

So again, when you are having an uncomfortable conversation, sometimes it is due to the fact that the overall velocity is brought down by a specific individual. And again you have to understand that this is a job, and the team should move forward, be profitable, and should deliver value to meet the company’s expectations. If someone is jeopardizing this, you need to have a pep talk.

I’m not saying you need to fire them on the spot but you definitely have to communicate to them. And if necessary, warn them once or twice, and put them on a Performance Improvement Plan.

Communicate these sanctions and as much as possible, provide them opportunities to get better before it is too late.

3. Ensure Alignment

Ensure alignment between the individual and the job description. Sometimes, you have a great fit—someone who is a great talent but is an underperformer at their specific job.

So one question that you may want to ask is, “Have we hired this person for the right job?” Maybe this person is a better fit for a different type of job, for a different department, or for a different skill set. Depending on their expectations or their strong suit, you can pick the right types of activities that match the specific individual. Consequently, this will lead him to think of his job as his potential career.

Because let’s face it, people who aim for a career, and who really enjoy their jobs, are going to be more motivated. They are going to spend more time and more resources. And once they become invested, it will change the conversation.

4. Evaluate Return On Investment

Return On Investment (ROI) is what I usually discuss with people who are not performing well, or even with vendors and partners.

You want to have a positive and as high as possible ROI from every single individual of the organization or at least, your department. So, you expect to pay a certain amount of money for salaries, advertisement through taxes, sales, or sponsorships, and then have a net profit which must exceed all of your expenses and basically be profitable. The goal is to be safely profitable, not just barely making a living out of the business.

And of course, this means that every single individual for the most part has to earn their pay one way or another, right?

This is applicable to any type of job. Some are revenue-generating like sales, and several others that are crucial for the business such as: for a website development company, developers; for an accounting firm, these are accountants. There are also some necessary roles for most businesses such as legal, accounting, finances, other operation jobs like cleaning services, and whatnot.

The better an employee is in a category, the more valuable an employee becomes.

It is only right to evaluate the efficiency of your investments in people, whether one meets the expected ROI or not. If a specific individual fails to meet the expected ROI at a certain percentage, then there could be a problem with their salary, performance, or productivity. As the manager, you need to examine these metrics.

Categories may overlap so there are nuances in measuring ROI but basically, business relies on generating revenue and saving expenses by preventing damages.

Depending on the problematic aspect, you may have different conversations with your people. The bottom line is that in business, look at everything through a professional, not a personal lens.

Effectively manage difficult people by being ready to call out and confront misbehavior or poor performance and ensure clarity in your conversations. Above all, your decisions as to whether an employee stays or not should be data-driven.

5. Value Results

Sometimes, managers nitpick for no valid reason. In other cases, there are really unacceptable behaviors that require confrontation.

However, if you fire someone who is producing real and massive results just because they are always late in coming to work, the repercussions could be detrimental to your business.

Are your other staff members as brilliant and productive as him?

If not, cut him some slack and let him do his magic. Again, at the end of the day, it’s all about Return on Investment. If he manages to generate 5 times the workload of his fellow colleagues in 4 hours a day, you may as well trim his working hours even further.

This may very well motivate everyone else to start working smart and generate results.

The only reason you would reward presence over results is a support/call center type of role that requires availability due to incoming calls, tickets, or emails. Otherwise, make sure you nurture his talent and inspire everyone else on your team through his accomplishments.

6. Handle Resistance

Resistance is almost inevitable especially when you introduce a change in policy or new workflows. Whenever possible, consider working closely with those who struggle in keeping up with the changes.

Employees often expect that the workflows are straightforward—a natural defense mechanism inherent in a lot of us. When confronting a difficult employee over his resistance to policy changes, consider the following tips:

Stressing on the long-term opportunities of being open to new policies can help ease the challenges in dealing with the team as a whole.

7. Maintain Professionalism

Some managers take the aggressive route in confrontations but I wouldn’t suggest you head this way.

Managers are in charge of leading the strategy and finding the right path to accomplishing the company goals and keeping the team spirit together at the same time. This is why as you manage difficult people, it is always crucial to stay professional in your communications and discussions.

Introducing conflicts to the company communication would alienate some employees and lead to worse internal conflicts, gossip, and a lot of extra stress which would affect the company morale.

I would much rather strive for authority based on respect—conveying the level of trust to your team that corresponds to the company goals, and ensuring that your management strategy is protecting the team’s interest.

The more professional you are as a manager, the better you are, the more profitable the company is, and the more respected the team would be.

8. Focus On Organizational Goals

One of the crucial questions to answer as a manager is: Who do you serve?

Most people would pick getting promoted to senior management or increasing cash. While others could also be struggling to gain the approval of the following:

You cannot please everyone, so your people need to focus on your main objectives and that is to contribute to the success of the organization, and not the individual interests.

Discuss the priorities of your employees and check whether you are all after what is best for the company. Sometimes, all it takes is getting them back to what truly matters at the end of the day.

9. Stick to the Defined Terms

Most companies define some sort of a “Core Philosophy” that covers the main goals and beliefs of the team as a community. Different units may have different personalities and temperaments which is fine as long as they are in line with the core principles of the company.

Similarly, eCommerce stores have “Terms of Service” that outline the deal and set the right tone accordingly.

Having differences with your subordinates is more than normal. Innovation and creativity are often born this way. If managed right, there can be a lot of room for growth with productive discussions.

What matters here is working in the same direction.

Depending on your contract or agreement (within your company or with your clients), sticking to the terms and the core pillars would solve the majority of the problems. Conflicts may arise for different reasons—lack of adherence to a productive etiquette, disagreement in future goals, or being picky regarding grammar or code quality.

Finding a common ground and trying to sort out the pressure is absolutely required.

Sticking to respectful tone and justifying requirements in a productive manner would allow for a good discussion and often lead to an agreement. If someone is too stubborn or there occurs a massive gap between both approaches, consider meeting in the middle. Once all means have been exhausted, terminate the relationship ending on good terms and handle the leave seamlessly.

Managers leading large teams need to always bounce between day-to-day activities and targets with team members and the global organizational responsibilities.

You are expected to create a roadmap over the next 6 months but still, find time to support a junior manager in a specific project. In managing difficult people, jumping between coordinating project budgeting and resource allocation with handling a regression or scope creep can be very draining. Add to that the need to fight fires every now and then with the different office commotions.

Just never take for granted any opportunity to turn a situation around and de-escalate conflicts. The way you manage difficult people in your team can have a massive impact on the entire organization.

It is easy to run a business or manage a team when the company is profitable and everyone is accountable. But, work is not always rainbows and unicorns. External and internal disruptions require balance and nurturing every now and then.

Yes, tough conversations at work can be very intimidating for all parties involved.

What essentially helps is understanding the nature of business and reminding everyone what they have signed up for.

Things can end up on a positive note or get resolved through a number of different management techniques other than the ones mentioned above.

What was your most recent confrontation or misalignment at work that you had to deal with?