"How Do You Deal With a Consistently Challenging Employee?"
By TJ Haygood, CPC, CTS

How do you do it?  You know the kind of employee I am asking about.  The employee who consistently complains, gossips, undermines your authority, resists corporate changes, takes too many breaks, talks too long on the phone, surfs too much on the internet, etc.  How do you handle a challenging person in the work place? 

Do you try to ignore them and hope they go away?  Or do you bottle up the frustration inside and then explode at home or in the office? Many times, the situation rarely gets better.  In fact, the behavior can often become worse, which opens the possibility that some of your more productive employees may begin to leave.

As managers, we must face the fact, "one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch." Yet the time and energy it takes to warn them, document their misbehavior, then ultimately fire them and recruit a replacement is very consuming.  When some managers find themselves in a quandary like this, they often do not know what to do.

A recent article posted on CareerBuilder.com by Anne Loehr, provides some practical concrete solutions on ways to best deal with what the author refers to as "Unmanageable  Employees (UEs)." She talks about the Five-C Framework that is essential to managing UEs.   My favorite one is "Commit or Quit."  Once clear communication is given to the employee, it is then up to the employee to commit or quit. 

High performing companies and proactive managers know that they cannot tolerate unproductive behavior too long without implementing a process to help correct, coach, or exit the behavior from the group.  In fact, many clients use our confidential recruiting services to help them identify a more suitable replacement.  Likewise, when manager's are the undesirable source, employees will use our confidential service for their replacement.  Always know, you have options. 

Ask us about our one-on-one career coaching service and career development training classes if you need some help dealing with a challenging situation.  We give you options to consider.  Solutions are always available.     For more information on the article, click on the following link: More Info on How to Manage Challenging Employees.