February 26th, 2011 
jvremec2 Ways to Deal With Difficult Staff
Author: The Motivation Doctor
Let me ask you a simple question; do you have any ‘difficult’ people on your team?
One of the subjects managers ask me to speak about more than any other is: ‘How to Deal with Difficult Staff.’
You might disagree, but hear me out on this; in my experience as a manager, I found that there are very few really difficult staff. The people on your team don’t necessarily, think, look or act the way you do, but that doesn’t necessarily make them ‘difficult.’ It just makes them different!
The other day, I was listening to a teacher on television, talking about how he was unable to handle ‘difficult’ schoolchildren. After listening to him for awhile, it became apparent that the problem didn’t lie with the children, as he was trying to suggest; but more with the teacher. He just didn’t have good communication skills.
If you have a difficult team member, or even more than one, you may feel there’s not much you can do; however, stay with me.
Instead of concentrating on dealing with difficult staff; it is much more productive to stop them being difficult in the first place. Spend less time ‘fire fighting’ and more time on ‘fire prevention.’
If managers and supervisors can create the right working environment for their team, then they’re less likely to experience difficult staff.
Here are two ways to deal with difficult staff:
1. Spend some quality time.
I didn’t say ‘quantity time’ I said ‘quality time.’ One or two minutes of quality time on a regular basis are far more productive than a one hour review every year.
You need to get to know your individual team members better and they need to get to know you.
Build a relationship with each individual; you’ll gain a much better understanding of them and how they’re handling the job. It will also give the impression that you care about them and shows that you’re there to help with problems both business and personal.
Find out as much as you can about them, their background, where they’re from, families, pets, hobbies, sports and their views on the world.
Discover their philosophies and faiths; how they think and how they feel. Just think about it like any other relationship – what do you want to know about this person?
Now I’m not suggesting you sit around all day gazing into each others eyes or spend half the night talking to them on the phone. I’m suggesting you do this over time, and slowly but surely, build up your understanding of the Person.
Don’t get nervous; this isn’t prying!
You might also be thinking that your team members won’t want you to get to know them that well. Well let me reassure you – most of them will, if it’s done discretely.
Almost everyone wants to know that someone is genuinely and positively interested in them. They may not always give that impression by their demeanour but trust me – they want to know you care; they want acceptance from you.
If they know you care about them, then your relationship will be much more productive.
2. Concentrate on what they do well
Here’s another way to deal with a ‘difficult’ employee.
Try concentrating on what they do well and tell them about it. Spend less time with, and even ignore bad behaviour.
It’s not uncommon for managers to invest 90 per cent of their energy responding to negative performance and only 10 per cent strengthening positive performance. If you ‘reward’ good behaviour – you’ll get more of it. If you ‘reward’ bad behaviour – you’ll get more of it.
It’s also very easy for a manager or supervisor to fall into the trap of condemning one of their team as a no-hoper or a problem child.
It may turn out that this person shouldn’t be on your team, and you may need to help them find another position.
However as Abraham Lincoln once said about someone he had a problem with –
aI don’t think I like that man, I must get to know him better.a
Some food for thought; get to know each member of your team much better, concentrate on what they do well and you’re less likely to have difficult staff.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/2-ways-to-deal-with-difficult-staff-923416.html
About the Author
Alan Fairweather, ‘The Motivation Doctor,’ is an International Speaker, Author and Sales Growth Expert.
For the past fifteen years, he’s been turning ‘adequate’ Managers, Sales and Customer Service people into consistent top performers.
He is the author of – ‘How to be a Motivational Manager’ A down-to-earth guide for Managers and Team Leaders.
To receive your free newsletter and free ebooks, visit: http://www.themotivationdoctor.com
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I was asked by a relative to critique the cover letter below. (I seperated / numbered the sentences for ease.)?
I feel very critical, consider it pretentious, and can’t figure out how to be constructive and not just critical. Could you share your thoughts on how to make this cover an effective intro to what I think is a very good professional resume?
“1. I am a motivated individual with a high level of professionalism.
“2. My success with students is evident through my continued drive to stay abreast with current pedagogical practices as well as motivational strategies and my ability to transfer those to the classroom.
“3. My expertise has been sought out by colleagues and administration many times throughout my . . .
“4. It is my goal to further my professional career to be able to have a broader impact to educational professionals locally, statewide, and nationally in order for standards to continue to rise for the betterment of students and communities.
“5. My communication and organizational abilities are evident through an increased role in staff training and developing sound and proven curriculum.
“6. Innate ability to adapt, rise to meet and exceed challenges and expectations, and articulation both written and orally have pleased my superiors for many years and will undoubtedly continue.
“7. My above mentioned professional successes are drawn from sound research, training, and personal development.
“8. I am knowledgeable of the myriad of historical, philosophical, current educational trends, best practices and ethics necessary for teachers and administrators to be enlightened.
“9. It would be my pleasure to meet and discuss ways I would be able to seamlessly join . . .
“10. Please feel free to contact me to discuss my qualifications and credentials.”
Well, it does sound a little pretentious. If this is a representation of the way your relative thinks, you can’t change that. Just say it sounds fine and give it back.
There are a lot of nit picky things that could be mentioned, but given the tone of this resume, I’m not sure your relative would be willing to listen, despite what s/he says. But I’m betting this is a guy, because it doesn’t sound like a woman.
In number, it should be ‘oral’ not orally.
number 5 doesn’t make sense, but I wouldn’t go there…..
number 4 is pure fluff, using lots of big words but saying nothing
number 2 – my success with students etc.etc. this should say something about the students – if you are bragging about your success with students you have to show something they have accomplished, not blather about continued drive to stay abreast.
I want to do something nice for my day care, will they be offended?
My son’s new day care center will close for two days in Feb so the staff can attend a training conference together. In our state, they must all have 16 hrs of training annually and CPR/First Aid (not counted as part of the 16 hours of development training). I have worked in day care before and worked as a resource person for day care/parents-I know how tough the job is and I truely appreciate them for doing this-hey my child will benefit directly if they keep up with training. The owner of the center and I talked one night at p/up and she was saying that some staff fuss a bit for the cost of the training and getting a room and see it as a burden. Since the owner has a limited budget (if you find a way to make big $$$ in day care-let me know) she can’t cover all the costs. It was just a talk, but now it has me thinking. Would it be wrong, or impolite, to give the center a Visa gift card to help with gas and lodging on the training trip? I want to show my support, not ruffle feathers!
Thanks for the input-I should have said it would be done in a discreet manner. The owner and I met at an Early Childhood summit so I think she was ok with venting a bit to me. As for day care and it’s affects-as a social worker with an educational background in child development, I can assure you that quality day care does a lot to build great kids who are well adjusted, positive members of society. If you are lucky enough to stay home-then great. The rest of us who must work to support our families know that the struggle to find a good day care is not easy and that most of us are greatful to have the chance to partner with teachers who care about and understand our children. In this day and age, most mommies have to work and I can say that the research I have read shows that children actually benefit from attending a good day care. I guess that is why several stay home mom’s send their kids to the one I use:)
Coming from a former preschool teacher who now has a day care in her home, that is an extremely generous and thoughtful idea. I can’t imagine that anyone would be offended, especially if you were giving discreetly. I wish more parents were as considerate as you!
Cassandra, you need to shut your trap! There is no excuse for the hatred and nastiness you continuously spread to working parents. I feel sorry for your children, it must be incredibly stifling and painful to live with someone who is so judgmental and condescending.
MGT501 – Human Resource Management?
CEO of ABC Company has observed inefficiency of staff members. He doesn’t want to fire people from the company and also the objective is to increase the efficiency rather to decrease the cost. Some advisors advise CEO to hire more people to overcome this problem and some are saying that existing staff needs training and development. The matter of fact is that the existing staff is capable enough and has the ability to perform better. But there is a problem that few managers are very influential and put negative impact on other employees. They are politicizing the organization, forbade employees to work hard and create messy situation. On the other hand Jobs are well defined and assigned tasks are specific so removing any person may create problem in running operations. CEO is now thinking to replace these culprits (managers) only with some efficient and professional people to overcome this problem and the best solution to increase the overall productivity of the organization.
In your opinion what CEO is going to do; Downsizing or Rightsizing? Give reason in one sentence only (reason should not exceed more than 30 words to avoid negative marking).
Rightsizing.
Reason:-
Downsizing refers to the permanent reduction of a company’s workforce but Right sizing refers to corporate restructuring, or rationalization, with the goal of reducing costs and improving efficiency and effectiveness.
In your opinion what CEO is going to do; Downsizing or Rightsizing?
CEO of ABC Company has observed inefficiency of staff members. He doesn’t want to fire people from the company and also the objective is to increase the efficiency rather to decrease the cost. Some advisors advise CEO to hire more people to overcome this problem and some are saying that existing staff needs training and development. The matter of fact is that the existing staff is capable enough and has the ability to perform better. But there is a problem that few managers are very influential and put negative impact on other employees. They are politicizing the organization, forbade employees to work hard and create messy situation. On the other hand Jobs are well defined and assigned tasks are specific so removing any person may create problem in running operations. CEO is now thinking to replace these culprits (managers) only with some efficient and professional people to overcome this problem and the best solution to increase the overall productivity of the organization.
In your opinion what CEO is going to do; Downsizing or Rightsizing?
In your opinion what CEO is going to do; Downsizing or Rightsizing? Give reason in one sentence only plz?
CEO of ABC Company has observed inefficiency of staff members. He doesn’t want to fire people from the company and also the objective is to increase the efficiency rather to decrease the cost. Some advisors advise CEO to hire more people to overcome this problem and some are saying that existing staff needs training and development. The matter of fact is that the existing staff is capable enough and has the ability to perform better. But there is a problem that few managers are very influential and put negative impact on other employees. They are politicizing the organization, forbade employees to work hard and create messy situation. On the other hand Jobs are well defined and assigned tasks are specific so removing any person may create problem in running operations. CEO is now thinking to replace these culprits (managers) only with some efficient and professional people to overcome this problem and the best solution to increase the overall productivity of the organization.
In your opinion what CEO is going to do; Downsizing or Rightsizing? Give reason in one sentence only (reason should not exceed more than 30 words to avoid negative marking).
Although the correct direction is to “rightsize,” downsizing creates a better bottom line, that is, a better gross net profit.