We have all seen how difficult and time-consuming it can be to deal with disgruntled workers. It might be wise for us to look for ways to prevent someone from developing that attitude.
We know that you can’t make everyone happy, but it helps us understand how a situation can spiral downwards.
It happens when employees feel they can’t do their best work or use their skills to the fullest. They might think that you, as the boss, are holding them back.
They may not feel appreciated.
They are bored by their work and no longer find it interesting.
When this occurs, leaders have to look inwards and examine their attitudes and leadership style so they are not contributing to someone becoming unhappy.
Leadership consultant Joseph Folkman wrote about his research in a Harvard Business School article. He found that managers treated the disgruntled employee differently from their delighted employees. When the managers in question started to treat their disgruntled employees like everyone else, the employees’ behavior quickly improved.
So that is perhaps the first thing that you need to think about regarding how you manage. If you are not sure, you might have an executive coach conduct a “360 management “assessment to ask that question of those you work with.
You want to show respect.
A survey of 20,000 worldwide employees by Georgetown University’s Christine Porath ranked respect as the most important leadership behavior. Yet employees report more disrespectful and uncivil behavior each year.
You want to encourage everyone.
That means you need to suppress negativity. Positive f feedback is essential when an employee does well. Even if they do something wrong, coach them so they know how to do better the next time.
Show trust in your team members.
In his book The Speed of Trust, Stephen Covey says, “trust means confidence. The opposite of trust – distrust – is suspicion. When you trust people, you have confidence in them – in their integrity and abilities. When you trust people, you aren’t suspicious of their integrity, agenda, capabilities, or track record. It’s that simple.”
Ensure that employees can learn new skills and that professional development is part of your organization’s culture. According to Forbes, 94% of employers feel training and upskilling are critical, and 71% of employees feel they must continue to learn new skills to meet the demands of their role. Ongoing training satisfies your employee’s desire to learn but will also make them more valuable to your company and the work that they will do for you.
Ensure that you are communicating with your staff. This includes big picture information about their projects, why it is important, what is going right, and what is not. If you don t, people will make up their scenarios.
Make sure that you and everyone on your team play by the rules. If someone receives special consideration, you create an unpredictable work environment that will cause stress and lead to more unhappy workers.
Today’s post is an excerpt from my online course, “Managing Difficult People.” In this one-hour on-demand course, we walk through how to handle most of the common personality types that can make managing difficult. The course is getting rave reviews. Make your work life easier, but check out “Managing Difficult People.”
Dave Edwards Media 