How to Deal with Difficult Employees/ People

Difficult People Exist in Every Workplace.  It seems that some people are just born to be difficult. Difficult people are easy to recognize--they come late, leave early, don't turn their work in on time and have an excuse for every failing.

Difficult people present no problem if we pass them on the street or in the supermarket. Nevertheless, when we have to work with them difficult people can become major irritants.

Wait, there's more. These difficult people harass you and others, ask too many self-explanatory questions, neglect details, distract you and repeatedly challenge you and others. Even worse, when they interact with customers, vendors and people lower than them on the corporate hierarchy, they can be impolite, arrogant, misleading, inappropriate or simply wrong. Do you know anyone like this? Naturally, no one wants to work with difficult people.When dealing with problematic employees, productivity decreases, frustrations rise, morale goes down and customers and vendors get upset.

 

How to Handle Them?

The first rule in the face of an unreasonable person is to maintain your composure; the less reactive you are, the more you can use your better judgment to handle the situation.

Don't ignore the problem.  Most often, managers will simply ignore problematic staffers. Ignoring the situation is the wrong solution which can lead more a progressive problem. It is important to take action as soon as the negative behavior pattern becomes evident--when left untouched, this problem will only go up.

Research the problem personally. Approach the person with whom you are having the problem for a private discussion. Prepared with accurate data and examples, the manager needs to then take this person into a conference room or office--away from others--and calmly address the issue. To begin, the manager needs to ask the employee if he is aware of any ongoing issues to determine if the difficult person is aware of the problems.
 

If the employee is "unaware," the manager needs to describe the unacceptable behavior. The employee might interrupt to disagree or deny the existence of any issues. Nevertheless, the manager needs to continue by giving clear examples of the unwanted behavior.
The manager also needs to allow the employee to respond to the allegations. If the difficult employee refuses to believe that the allegations exist despite the evidence, the most the manager can hope for is an intellectual acceptance of the possibility that a problem exists.

Help the problematic employee to get back on track. Once the employee begins to understand that these negative behaviors are real and experienced by others in the organization, the manager or someone from human resources should begin to coach the difficult employee in displaying more acceptable and appropriate behaviors.

 The employee needs time and practice in "trying on" new, more suitable behaviors. HR and/or the manager need to provide specific feedback to this employee on the success or failure of his efforts in minimizing the negative actions and implementing ones that are more positive.

If all else fails, termination may be necessary. If the employee continues to deny his inappropriate behavior and refuses to try to improve the situation, the manager needs to place this person on the fast track towards termination.  

Not doing so is damage to the other employees and the success of the organization.

As the saying goes, You can’t fly like an eagle if you hang out with turkeys!” Whether you’re dealing with a difficult colleague or an annoying relative, be diplomatic when you need to interact with them. The rest of the time, keep a healthy distance.

In conclusion, to know how to handle unreasonable and difficult people is to truly master the art of communication. As you utilize skills, you may experience less grief, greater confidence, better relationships, and higher communication abilities.

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